2002-04-05 - 7:41 a.m. taste the floor When you live in California, you forget that almost all of the rest of the world allows you to smoke indoors -- in bars, in restaurants, in hotel lobbies. This results in coming home reeking of smoke and booze�somehow, I was smart enough to wash my hair before crawling into bed last night, so I am a happy, fully-functioning person today (though in dire need of coffee and dry toast.) Travelling for business is always treacherous. You end up in many quasi social situations that require you to think on your feet and actively decide what kind of impression you want to make on your coworkers and clients. In my case, my coworkers know of my gourmand tendencies, and have, on this trip, deferred many food and wine decisions to me. Luckily, they have turned out well (especially the 1997 Grgich Hills cabernet with dinner the other night.) What ended up surprising them though is my ability to schmooze. I�m sure they could have guessed I�m good at it if they�d put some thought into it. But, it caught them off guard that I had the clients at my table sharing their food with each other, and ended up sharing cigars and sipping 20-year-old tawny port (which was not on our bar menu) with my new buddies�*special score*: procuring a traditional Sicilian holiday cookie recipe that uses figs. I rock! A special treat last night was the duck confit turnover we started with last night�so lovely. Our dinner guests were able to choose from a huge filet mignon (how big *was* that cow???), crispy pork, or some lovely crunchy-crusted tuna. This barely left any room for the apple tart, after dinner drinks, etc. Somehow, part of the group was revved up after all that to go out and do more drinking�ugh. Just a few more hours of being "on", then it�s off to MOMA and out and about exploring the City for the rest of the day. Several folks are trying to convince me I should visit the Natural History museum to see the Cooperstown exhibit, and a few others are suggesting the Frick. No one is in favor of my going to the Whitney (though, isn�t the gerhard richter exhibit still on there?) I may end up chucking the culture fix and just going shopping for some girlie clothes and a new pair of shiny, black boots� any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09