We took the train late Friday afternoon. It was sooooo cold. Thank God the station is just across the street. And thank you, David Gunn, CEO of Amtrak, for responding so generously to a Letter From Farklempt from our last train trip to New York. We came in on time, and got the first cab to Andy & Neal's apartment, where we perused their wedding album. Joanne and Aaron joined us for dinner. Their lives are full of building and planning. They'll be married in Prospect Park at the end of August, choosing caterers, bands (Andy Statman, no less!!, dresses. They are designing and rebuilding the abode that they purchased in Park Slope. Aaron's book Honku: A Zen Response to Road Rage, is about to be published by a division of Random House and should be a best-seller (see his web page). Joanne is producing a dance program that will be incorporated into Sesame Street on PBS.

Thank God they have time to eat, because they came to the right place tonight. Neal & Andy outdid themselves.

We began with appetizers of olives and pistachio nuts, served with a pink Spanish garnacha. Then Neal & Andy lit the candles, I made kiddush, and Carol made hamotzi over the raisin hallah we brought from Barney's in Providence. Sorry, New York, but this is the best hallah in the world--better even than Zomick's.

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Then a delicious potato-leek soup. This was followed by grilled tofu in a soy sauce, polenta with shitake and oyster mushrooms, and......Dinner was surved with a powerful Umbrian super-Tuscan. For dessert, fresh strawberries, bananas, and kiwis with two kinds of sorbet, and cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, brought by Aaron and Joanne. It was a wonderful evening (although it wouldn't have killed me to eat a little fishball or a chicken leg).