Best Food EVER!

My favorite place in all of New York is Pates et Traditions in Williamsburg, a french creperie where the sun is always shining and the conversation is always tres jolie. I always stick with the same dish when I eat here - Le Popeye. Can you guess what its main ingredients are? The service is amazing, the other diners are almost exclusively French and the Prosseco is delicious and not too pricey - hurrah! Sit outside under cherry red umbrellas and feel the best of French cuisine and laid back Brooklyn come together in glorious gluttony.

Plus, last time I ate here a fellow diner turned out to be James Murphy of LCD Sound System!

Mr Big Stuff

Thankfully, it's many years since I needed a good heartbreak song, but today walking along with my ipod shuffling, I was struck by the important role music played in my youth, when I'd been treated appallingly by some indie boy with good hair and a half decent record collection.

Jean Knight's Mr Big Stuff was always a firm favorite back in the mid 90s when I always seemed to get hug up on the wrong sort. Luckily, I went to clubs where I could belt out the words to this classic - typically followed by Aretha, socking it to us R.E.S.P.E.C.T style. Listening to Jean all these years later, I am still bowled over by the power of music linked to memory and how I am suddenly transported from the streets of Brooklyn to a sweaty nightclub in Liverpool in 1996. Also, I still get the same feeling of being ten feet tall, surrounded by my girls and completely empowered - who needs stupid boys and their black polo necks/chain smoking/ philandering ways when you can dance? Plus, I defy you to listen to Mr Big Stuff right now and try not to walk with a self-confident swagger!

My ipod helpfully gave me the male perspective next with Lee Dorsey's Get Out my Life Woman. Of course, McAlmont and Butler brought the 'screw you I don't need you' up to date (for my late teens anyway) with Yes.. and it's immortal line "I feel well enough to tell you what you can do with what you've got to offer". Take that indie boys!

The tipping point

Ok, I have been told by several readers to actually start venting some spleen on this blog about the worst things in life.. and so now's the time.

Tipping in New York city is painful for a Brit. This very evening I was chased (literally) down the street by a waitress who felt short changed by the cash we had left. No, there was nothing wrong with the food or the service, but the meal and the wine were severely over priced, so with a small tip added to the meal - which we left on the table, I had exceeded my daily budget and that was that. The 'when in Rome' guidelines state that 20% is the typical tip for a meal in NYC. I left less than that - but still left what I could afford. The service was adequate and the food Ok. That was that- or should have been. Now I am going to lie awake worrying about money AGAIN and that I am a bad person for leaving so little. Arrrgh.

As it is food in this city is so expensive, every meal out is a bank breaking experience. Every single check we ever get is a shock - far more than expected, more tax, more tip. Why don't they just add $1 per dish or something and then it wouldn't feel as if I am being robbed at guilt point every time I venture outside my own home for food. I accept that in Britain we give a tip for good service and in America the tip is the waiter's wage - but I didn't sign up to be their employer and I don't see why I - who am earning nothing at all - should suddenly be responsible for all these people.

I won't sleep tonight until I have resolved to go back to the bloody restaurant with $10 and an apology. And that is the worst thing about today by a long chalk.