We Are So Hot

Updated Celebrity Sightings!

After a weekend of errands and a sinus headache, Sunday was too warm and sunny to continue cleaning out the third floor family room as Mr. Pom intended to do. We decided to go to the city, after a promise extracted by Mr. Pom then we would go to the city, not just through the city.

Mr. Pom loves to drive in the city. He just doesn't  like to park in the city. It's not the parking per se, he just sees the city as one big electronic game and he is Mario as we race the light, careen around a cab, slalom through the pedestrians, and screech to a halt. There are rides into the city that are still talked about by my sisters and mothers, and Mr. Pom is perversely proud of his ability to navigate midtown traffic and the contortions of the meatpacking district while inducing nausea in his passengers.

So I didn't panic too much when the highway was backed up and he decided to get off at 125th Street and drive down Broadway. I haven't been around the Columbia University Avenue since I was in college, and was surprised how many sidewalk cafes had sprung up.

But we weren't stopping there.

Midtown: more crowds, heavy traffic, Some wild, giant glass lens being installed in Rockefeller Center.

But we weren't stopping there.

Found Daisy Mae Barbecue, which Mr. Pom's company sells to.

But we weren't stopping there.

Flew over to Ninth and took the lights all the way downtown. And we were stopping there, since I was now carsick and had a splitting headache, which is why I forgot to take a photo of the restaurant and had to use the one from the website.

We went to Pastis and only had to wait a half hour for a table on the sidewalk.

The food was great.

The service very accommodating when we asked to move from our table in the direct sun to one in the shade. I was sweating from places I didn't know exuded sweat. Not conducive to eating poached eggs, but made my whiskey sour go down well. (Whiskey sour: a drink from the 60's. Should have stayed there, too.)

But when you go to a restaurant in the heart of the trendy district, you really don't go for the food, albeit great food was served. No, you go for the circus that is New York.

When we drove around for a parking space, we almost ran over these two:

It's hard to tell from this photo, but she is posing in the middle of the intersection. Barefoot. Hope she didn't pay too much for these headshots, though they were there for about a half hour. Not sure about her outfit - muddy brown top and a Danskin style skirt. Eh.

She was upstaged when the bride and groom appeared. The groom was carrying a bundle of large calla lilies. I guess the bride was tired.

There were lots of Euro types with shopping bags from pricey stores.

And dogs, small, large, fierce and friendly.

There were also Famous People. We know that because photographers with giant cameras were staked out on the corner. Unfortunately we do not know who the famous people were.

We think these may have been Famous People.

The tandem bike was quite large and new. They drove it around the whole time they were waiting for a table.  His sneakers were sparkling white and his T-shirt still had the fold lines from the store. The wife was wearing a long, clingy dress, not a very safe garb for bicycling. All of which led me to believe that they were Famous People or Wanna Be Famous People.

Though I suspect if they were Really Famous, they wouldn't have had to wait for a table. Unless they wanted the Riding My Bike with My Kid Like a Regular Guy Photo Op.

[Editor's Note: a faithful reader, Rain Treaux, has identified our celebrity as hip hop impresario Damon Dash. Check out this link for the whole story. Thanks Rain!]

I was thinking hard yesterday.

And I'm quite certain that we were seated next to the actress Dana Delaney. She had on no make up, and her hair, which is no longer black with blunt cut bangs a la China Beach, is now brown with red highlights and  was up in a clip, and she was wearing a very plain casual skirt and a black and white striped sweater. She was very quiet and unassuming but when she opened her mouth, it was definitely Dana Delaney.

I think. Which would make it my second actress seating next to me this summer. Not that I keep track of those things.

There were more sweet sights, like this little one with her pink tutu and red sparkly Dorothy shoes.

I missed the photos of the guy/gal with bright yellow and orange hair, the Hells Angels that thundered by, and the thirty-something dude walking around with a large, black parrot on his shoulder. I did have to eat at some point.

After our late brunch, we stopped for gelato: coconut and caramel de leche for me; pistachio and Baci (chocolate and hazelnut) for Mr. Pom.  But before we left, we had to visit our favorite shop,

Satisfied, we drove home. Quickly.