Right at the very time of this entry I am sitting on the upper porch of my friends’ house in Ft. Liquordale, Fl. I arrived here this afternoon after spending the week in NYC and the break is very welcome.

I love NYC and I also it love when I leave. It’s not a city that I can live with or in, but when I’m there I’m quite happy and without complaints. Except for the insane subway service changes perhaps.

I was there for work, although I really wouldn’t call it that, hosting two parties and doing a little charity event. Hosting means that I lend my name to the flyer and I show up all hoping to increase the crowd for the promoter and bar owner(s).

Monday was my arrival night and I met up with my old friend Greg Endries at our little place called “Nowhere” in the West Village and then, well, that night really didn’t end; it kept repeating itself with different venues, people and times. All in all it was the same alcohol laden debacle.

Tuesday was my girl Jamie aka: TheFruitFli at her thing, “Tijuana Tuesdays” at the Ritz in Midtown. My old buddy and all time fave DJ, Randy Bettis was providing the musical stylings and bff, recording artist, Brian Kent was there helping to use up my free drink tickets. Home @ 5am.

Wednesday was my charity event where I auctioned off a jock strap and called a couple of bingo rounds with Jamie, but not before having a few lovely plates at Craft Bar in Chelsea. I got home after 4… again.

Thursday was spent spending in SoHo with another awesome buddy, and future possible roommate, the smashing Jason Wimberly. We started out at Balthazar in Soho and found ourselves at Joe’s Jeans where we discovered a sale. I then took him back to Craft Bar where we indulged on red wine and handmade whiskey drinks. Even though I got home at 11 and slept almost 12 hours it still wasn’t enough; at this point a complete gastronomic transplant was in order.

Friday was the big day, the one I was supposed to be saving up for. Brian was spinning at the Eagle in the meatpacking district, how appropriate, from 8-10 for customer appreciation night. Open bar and food! Most of my dinner was served over ice. We headed to Eatern Bloc in the East Village where I was to host a birthday party. It was so packed that the only thing I could really do was stand in the only available corner and chat with passersby doing shots with the bartender. I got home, not my own, and was up to at least 5.

Saturday up at 11 to catch my flight home to Ohio where I’d spend the night, pack some better clothes and come to Florida. There had been about an inch of snow when I touched down in Cleveland, it was 60 in Manhattan.

It’s 80 here and I’ve put my boots in my Samonsite in favor of my Adidas flip flops. It’s the gym, a haircut (I have a photo shoot) and general relaxation poolside for the duration.

I raced home from downtown after my shoot making it to Santa Monica in a record time of 18 mins to meet BW for a belated birthday dinner at Son of a Gun on 3rd St. It’s owned by the same pair who own Animal, but this place is a move in the other direction; a more seafood oriented spot.

We were the first to arrive, it was quite small, as most of those spaces tend to be on 3rd, and we were seated in the corner, my favorite spot to eat. I immediately saw the oysters which is exactly what I had been craving all day. In P’town I lived on them and ate them almost every day. They were Kusshi from British Colombia, small, clean and not as fishy as some other varieties. We ordered a half dozen as BW, as brave as he is, was a bit weary to have any; he tried one and decided that it’s just not for him.

This was the kind of experience that I wanted to enjoy so I took great care in ordering everything one at a time, much to the dismay of our waiter, to avoid being inundated with plates. Our next course was Steelhead Roe with a Maple Cream and Pumpernickel and amberjack crudo, galbi vinaigrette with a watermelon radish. Steelhead is a type of fish that resembles a cross between trout and salmon and if a dish could sing this one would be in perfect pitch. Everything about this was spot on, the saltiness of the roe was in perfect harmony with the sweetness of the maple cream which was essentially a maple whipped cream, so light it almost wasn’t there and just sweet enough to match the roe. The pumpernickel gave it a savory crunch that rounded everything off flawlessly. The Amberjack crudo, amberjack aka Kampachi and crudo, Italian for raw, is a tuna tartatre dressed in a Korean style vinaigrette that I found to be quite interesting, again keeping everything orally sound, the texture of the fish matching perfectly with the salty vinaigrette was highlighted by the sweetness of the watermelon radish, do you see a pattern emerging yet?

I’m a big fan of mid courses, especially salads. We chose the lettuces, arugula, pomegranate, almond, manchego, sherry salad to cleanse the palate and prepare for the next act. Nothing fancy here which was the goal, but I have to say that the construction of the salad made it a bit difficult to enjoy. The leaves were far too large to accommodate such tiny components like the almonds and pomegranate seeds in one bite but still a lovely intermission.

For the headliner we decided to split something and luckily, as is usually the case we both were stoked about the alligator schnitzel with heart of palm and orange. When this dish came to the table I was quite surprised because I had always known hearts of palm to be somewhat dense pieces of fiborous plant material. This dish however had shaved ribbons garnishing the dish with a generous portion of orange segments. (I forget the sauce) now the thing that tied this dish together that was not listed but luckily worked incredibly well was the sauce………with vanilla. It’s always nice when you end a culinary experience with something amazing and delicious.

I really enjoyed this spot and would come back for sure, I haven’t had a meal that was so focused on the pairing of textures and tastes in a long time. It was clearly well thought out and presented even better.

I give it a 7.

We passed on dessert as neither of is has much of a sweet tooth and decided to spend the rest of the evening at one of our favorite watering holes Micky’s in WeHo. We were both home by midnight feeling very accomplished and well fed!

A few weeks ago I packed up the boys and headed to Montana. One of my dear friends bought two houses up there in a quaint little town called Gardiner about an hour away from Bozeman. To give you a little perspective on the kind of town Gardner is, the nearest Target or Home Depot is in Bozeman. So a little heaven – and a little hell.

Scott and I had a mission: To get the place ready for renters; doing small repairs, hanging photos and helping figure out what was needed. Not surprisingly, the landscape was stupid beautiful. I was also introduced to the reciprocating saw, my new favorite toy.

Driving seems to be my theme lately as I’m driving across the country for the seventh time. Stay tuned…

I met Ma Hazzard in San Francisco last week. It was her first time. I thought it’d be great to finally do all the touristy things that I’d never done. In addition to Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, Muir Woods and the Castro I surprised the Mother unit with a chauffeured trip through Sonoma Valley wine country.

I arrived the day before on a Thursday morning, 3 hours late, to fierce winds and ridiculous rain. Mom however arrived the next morning to big blue skies and sunshine; I couldn’t have been happier…wait, that’s a lie, I would’ve been much happier had I known that where I booked her hotel was crack city central; no wonder it was so cheap. As we made our way up the subway escalator we noticed a man hugging a lamp post, it was only after we got close enough that I noticed he was falling out on heroin. Mom grabbed my arm and I told her not to make eye contact and stay indoors.

We had a great time touring the city and. It was especially nice to see this great city again through a fresh pair of eyes. My favorite part would have to be the tour through Sonoma… I am a huge fan of Pinots and we tasted some amazing ones, not having to worry about driving was especially fantastic. My only regret is that Mom left on the best day of the week; it was 70 degrees, sunny and filled with naked sunbathers in the Castro.

After a very social evening and an indulgent ending at In N’ Out burger I woke up this morning hoping to round it all out with a trip to the Farmer’s Market in West Hollywood.

The avocados are beautiful, even though they take 10 days to ripen, they are well worth it.

There is an entire booth devoted to mushrooms, one for sprouts, one for nuts and seeds another one for artisan bread, a fish cart.There is something about purchasing my food from those that grow it that puts me in a great, grateful mood. I was going to buy some halibut, but decided to consult my recipe book and plan for it next week. Any suggestions?