Lady Who Lunches + Shop Local

Lady Who Lunches

So I went to Bar Americain for lunch with Brad from communications firm Thatcher + Co. [turns out he lives here in Montclair] and Art, who is the VP of California-based CarMD.

Since I've written a couple of Drive Down Your Car Costs articles for Good Housekeeping, this meeting was like panning for gold. It sparks ideas for me, and will help me mold future story pitches to my editors. Facts fortify a pitch. And it always helps to put a face to a name, especially when the contact lives 3,000 miles away.

Now for the lunch. It was a working lunch--i.e., I was taking notes in my Lilly Pulitzer notebook about car repair and diagnostic tools for much of the time--but it was delicious. I've never been to any of Bobby Flay's restaurants. I had the special of the day--the filet mignon sandwich--and it came with the silver cup of fries with the special seasoned [chipotle?] mayonnaise. So good. They sell all of the chef's cookbooks there and I was tempted to buy one, b/c Art said his kids made the pumpkin pie from one of them, and it was really good. But with Christmas upon us, resisted.

Loved the energy of my city...and your city. It's really everyone's city. It was crowded--the Rockefeller Center tree lighting was tonight. It was almost too crowded, with the jostling and all. I noticed little things, like that the McDonald's in Times Square is open 24 hours [really?]; that the M&M's World store seems kind of junky and overpriced [sorry]; and that it's impossible to walk by Sardi's and the Broadway theaters and not feel excited, even if you're not going into either one.

Shop Local Montclair

Before it gets too late in the season, wanted to share some favorite SHOP LOCAL Montclair gift ideas:

• Tosti Pizzelle. Ever since I saw Lady Gaga talking on her Thanksgiving TV special about making pizzelle [Italian wafer/waffle cookies] with her grandfather, I've been in the mood for them. The locally made Tosti anise cookies are amazing. What an enticing perfume. In lemon, vanilla, chocolate, almond and orange, too. One big waffle cookie is 50 calories and quite good. I now want a pizzelle iron. 9-ounce box [about 13 cookies], $4.99; Kings supermarket, Valley Road.
• Kiehl's beauty boosters. They really do feel luscious, from the Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter to the Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado, and you don't have to drive to Bloomingdale's at Willowbrook Mall or the Kiehl's store in Garden State Plaza to get them. Chelsea Square, the little shop across from the Upper Montclair town clock, has the line, and its cult following, too. Storeowner Vicki is friendly and helpful. Valley Road; free gift wrapping.
• Watchung Booksellers. They have the hot/cool/must-have Moleskine line of notebooks now, plus CDs. I bought the "A Very She & Him Christmas" CD there. Bookstore on Watchung Plaza; free gift wrapping.
• Whole Foods. Lake Champlain Chocolates***. They're pricey, no doubt, but this is the only place around where I've been able to find them when I can't drive seven hours to Burlington, Vermont. I haven't checked the Montclair store's chocolate stock lately, but plan to today.

TCOY

1. Boot camp in the park under gorgeous sky.
2. Walked to and from restaurant on 52nd St. from Port Authority.
3. Nice walk tonight with Fig and Sug, night sky so lovely.
4. Listening to She & Him CD on my laptop as I write. Music truly is a way to TCOY.

***Ooooops, just went to Whole Foods Montclair today, Saturday 12/3, to check the shelves, and could only find one sack of Lake Champlain Chocolates. I hope they will get more, but not sure.