BITES OF THE APPLE

Louise and I are recently back from a flying three-night visit to NYC. The occasion? The wedding of Louise's 'baby' cousin, Samantha, now in her early forties and a trainee cardiologist. A whole load of other members of the clan flew in from Toronto with their friends, and it was great to see them. Sam and her charming partner Jeremy live in the West Village, just about my favourite section of Manhattan, and the whole shindig took place there. The ceremony was on Charles, and then we went on to the Perry Street restaurant on the corner of Perry and West, right next to the river and with beautiful views of the Hudson. The terrific lunch we had there didn't stop a bunch of us from heading across to Mulberry Street that evening for some pasta.

Which meant that when Diana Gill, my editor at Eos, took me out to Papillon on 54th for another lunch the next day, I wasn't exactly hungry. It's always a pleasure to see her, though, and I finally got taken around the HarperCollins offices and met her assistant Will Hinton and the publicist assigned to me, Greg Shutack. Worth the trip.