New York, New York

On Memorial Day weekend a million New Yorkers leave the city and head for the Jersey shore, the Hamptons and the Catskill and Adirondack mountains. Not me, I stayed in the city, as I love to do on holiday weekends. Its like having the whole city to myself.

It was a very New York weekend. It was the kind of weekend that reminds me why I love this city so much and just how much it has to offer if you want to take it.

Friday night - Turkish food with an out of town friend and fellow blogger. Phyllo dough stuffed with feta, meat, and vegetable, sauteed spinach, grilled lamb and a boneless Cornish hen stuffed with rice.

Saturday - The gym, right next to my apartment, Revenge of the Sith, right next to my apartment, and shopping at the Italian deli, right next to my apartment.

Sunday - Saw "A Streetcar Named Desire" on Broadway. It starred John C. Reilly as Stanley and Natasha Richardson as Blanche. Wow, what a production, it was intense, well acted, and riveting. A very nice take on a classic.

Monday - Shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue for new suits and dinner at "Sammy's Roumanian Restaurant." Located on the Lower East Side in the old Jewish ghetto neighborhood, Sammy's is one of the last remnants of that time in the late 19th and early 20th century when the area was home to more than 300,000 European Jewish immigrants. They serve old style Rumanian Jewish fare in a no frills atmosphere.

Sours, peppers, latkes, potatos, liver, tongue, skirt steak. All the while a guy from Israel is playing the electric keyboard and singing old Jewish folk tunes and show biz songs. It's a must visit for those seeking and older, more authentic, less sanitized New York.