"Sayonara, Tokyo Rose."
Once, when I lived in Berkeley, a strange man came up to me and started repeating this line over and over. He said it in a nasty tone, but since I'd become so inured to racial and sexual street harrassment at that point, I kind of laughed it off, puzzled as to whom he meant by "Tokyo Rose." Well, his words would have been more appropriate today.

Okay. I'm finally beginning to come to terms with the fact that I've left New York, one of the great loves of my life. I've been in Rhode Island for the past month, learning about marine life and organic farming, and of course, surfing everyday. Remember when I wrote about the list of things I wanted to do before whatever? One of them was to live in a house by the beach. I actually am living in a mansion 1/2 a block from the beach -- when I wake up in the morning, I prop myself up on my elbows, squint past the rising sun's rays and check out the surf. Highly recommended, this living by the ocean thing. Anyway, after reading Eric's posts about fatty tuna in Japan and slipping in my own drool, I figured I'd put up these pictures of the dogs I chowed at Hot Doug's in Chicago. It's on the corner of Roscoe and California. When you show up, there'll be a line out the door and down the street. Wait patiently and when you get to the register, order the specials, like the lamb sausage with crumbled feta and kalamata olives. I also ordered "the Elvis" -- a polish sausage with the works, pictured here.


You can skip the fries rendered in duck fat, but you must not live without the cheese fries.

The beauty of it all is that I could be in BFE and still be able to blog about the New York premiere of SORCERESS OF THE NEW PIANO: THE ARTISTRY OF MARGARET LENG TAN, 6 p.m. at Pioneer Two Boots Theater (East 3rd Street off Avenue A) on Saturday and Sunday, September 23 and 24. MLT will be there for a speciall pre-screening toy piano recital and post-movie Q&A.

I interviewed Margaret for GR a while back in her Brooklyn brownstone with all her dogs and Schroeder-sized instruments. I love that she is a classically trained pianist, and in fact, the first woman to earn a doctorate in music from Juilliard, yet subverts that whole thing by tinking away on these baby-baby grands. She even gave me a miniature piano she made out of a recycled MetroCard (NYC subway ticket) which I will post a picture of once I figure out where I put it.

Tickets: $9 at the door
Limited capacity/Advance ticket purchase recommended: http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/sorceress.htm Tel:(800) 595 4849

I'm not in London or L.A. I am sort of in between right now. I left Manhattan almost a week ago, and one of the last things I tossed out of my apartment was this big furry duck that was given to me by a hopeless romantic one long-ago Easter holiday. If said duck-gifter reads this, all I have is this to say: It has brought me enormous joy, particularly at the end, when I had my friend chuck it out my window so I could see if it could fly.