New Year's Eve: dinner in on the Upper East Side, then The Black Door in Chelsea and Drop Off Service (14th and Avenue A in the East Village). A good time was had by all.

This week: played tour guide again, this time with Mom. Tuesday visited the World Trade Center site, Wall Street, St. Paul's Chapel (again), Trinity Church, NYU, Times Square, Rockefeller Center and lunch at Peanut Butter and Co. Wednesday walked in Central Park, visited the Time Warner Building and Lincoln Center. Dinner at Rosa Mexicano (on 1st Avenue) and saw The Producers at the St. James Theatre (John Treacy Egan as Max Bialystock and Hunter Foster as Leo Bloom). Thursday spent a rainy day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dinner in Little Italy at Lombardi's. Finally, on Friday saw the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes. Spent the morning and early afternoon around Rockefeller Center (saw part of the Today show), visited St. Patrick's cathedral and walked Fifth Avenue. And of course, who could leave New York without having dinner at Eat Here Now?

See pictures here.

Done with being a tourist!

Slate's best jazz albums of 2005

This week: played tour guide with visits to Little Italy, Ground Zero, St. Pauls Chapel near Ground Zero, Battery Park, Wall Street (see pictures linked below of the NYSE decorated for Christmas), Rockefeller Center (for the Christmas Tree), Times Square, NYU, etc., etc. Lots of dining--I forget all of the restaurants, but they included Il Piccolo Bufalo (Little Italy), Patsy's Pizzeria, Pam Real Thai (again), and Cabana. Spent a half day in Philadelphia.

Saw Chicago at the Ambassadaor Theatre with Huey Lewis as Billy Flynn. Aside from my usual complaints about amplification--and bad singing in general--this show was a lot of fun. The sizeable jazz band--cutting back the orchestra in this production is not an option--made all the difference.

Saw Die Fledermaus at the Met. Not much to say about this--a straightforward production, and all-around great singing. Bill Irwin played Frosch, the drunken jailer.

See lots of Christmas pictures from Philadelphia and New York City here.

Tonight: the play "Thom Pain (based on nothing)" at the DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15th Street near Union Square.

Today: random walk through Dumbo, Brooklyn and lunch at Grimaldi's Pizzeria under the Brooklyn Bridge. Some views of the bridge here. Had to walk off my pepperoni pizza with a long walk on Lexington Avenue from 23rd Street to 64th.

Tonight's dining group: to Pam Real Thai, 49th street between 9th and 10th (Hell's Kitchen).

Tonight: Dinner at Dojo (W4 at Mercer) in the West Village (picture snagged from the web), and the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden (Kansas vs. St Josephs and Michigan State vs. Boston College).

Speaks for itself.

Tonight: drinks, dinner, and more drinks in Gramercy Park. Early drinks at Maker's (3rd Avenue), Gujarat vegetarian Indian meal at Vatan (3rd Avenue at 29th), and coffee/drinks at Push Cafe (294 3rd Ave just south of 23rd Street).