Had dinner in the Village

Had dinner in the Village at Valdino's (still my vote for the best pasta) tonight with a friend from Atlanta. She couldn't get over how many people were just wandering the streets, and how many were walking their dogs. And it was Monday ... not busy outside at all.

After dinner we walked around, admiring the shops and apartments -- wondering which were single family dwellings and what they were like in the days of Edith Wharton. It was such a simple night -- the kind of night that makes me glad to be in the city and be grateful that I don't have to get in a car to get from one place to the next; that I don't live in the 'burbs; that I can spend a couple hours in a tiny hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant with great pasta, good Chianti and really interesting conversation. Not rushed, not with an agenda to get somewhere else. Just a nice evening, enjoying the moment.

Sometimes you need those kinds of nights to remind yourself just how good it is to live in New York.