Today was a gorgeous day in New York. “Indian Summer,” according to a man I overheard in the store. “You mean Native American Summer,” I said. He punched me in the mouth.After working for hours and hours and hours completing my 10-page paper on “tragedy” I decided to run out into the world and shop…

I have two friends in from out of town, staying with me. Actually three. But the third is staying elsewhere, except when he’s not—his stuff is here. It’s very complicated.The first two, Raife and Brian, are easy-going sorts. They’re easy to please. Raife’s an actor. Brian’s a playwright and may soon be a dramaturg. With…

First of all, let me say this was INCREDIBLY WILDLY close. In fact, based on six former survivor contestants who voted (Catherine didn’t vote) it was an absolute tie. But since there can only be one winner, I used the audience’s votes from the comments from the last post to determine the winner. Who is…

Well, it’s all come down to this. And by this I mean this lovely logo:Isn’t it pretty? Can you believe it’s been 9 weeks since we began Gourmet Survivor? We began it when I first moved to New York and now it’s almost November. Who knows where the time goes?Judy Collins does.So. Here we are.…

Since I’ve moved to New York, I’ve lived a bifurcated life. There’s my downtown NYU life and my “uptown” Chelsea life. My downtown NYU life involves a bevy of new friends, classes, teachers, projects, plays, meals and exotic dancers. My “uptown” Chelsea life involves Lolita (my cat) and my “old school” school friends—namely, Lisa. I’ve…

From this week’s New Yorker:“It’s nicer to have good wine than nasty wine, it’s nicer to have good food than nasty food, but everyone gets carried away by their enthusiasms.”- Michael Frayn (playwright; “Copenhagen” and “Democracy”)

Flew home this weekend (well, Thursday through Saturday) to celebrate my grandmother’s 75th birthday. Interesting fact: I’m 25, mom’s teetering on 50 and grandma’s 75. Numerologists would have a field day with us. We’re all divisible by 5 which, as we all know, means one of us will be attacked by quintuplets. But which one?We…

Hey loyal readers—my friend Nate would like you to take this Zoomerang survey. It’s mostly about your TV viewing habits and your opinions of the Food Network. Please take it if you have a moment.

Prepare to be surprised followers of Gourmet Survivor 2004. I know I was!Let’s start at the beginning. A week and a half ago I assigned Michelle, Andrea and Nick their final challenge: prepare some kind of baked good (or anything that won’t spoil) and ship it to me. I will eat it and judge it.…