Here's to the ladies who lunch

I've gone clothes-shopping almost every day this week. I am so not a shopping person, but I feel very deserving of expensive and modish garments these days, so I've persisted in my quest for wardrobe amelioration.

At the beginning of the week, I decided that since I was entering the demimonde of the almost-extinct lady-who-lunches, I should, in fact, lunch to round out the experience. Shopping and lunching really is an enjoyable lifestyle, I've found.

One unfortunate aspect of dining alone is that it leaves one at the mercy of the conversations taking place nearby. When I was lunching at Nieman-Marcus, I tried to shut out the mundane blather of the two ladies at the next table (using email, how fun Netflix is to use, what to order on the menu that wouldn't drip on their Ann Taylor suits, etc) , but my ears couldn't help but perk up when I heard one say to the other, "Do you like sex?".

"Oh, I used to, but I haven't gone there for years."

Gone there? That seemed a rather hip locution for someone of her age and class. When I glanced over, they were both looking out the window across Union Square to the building housing Saks Fifth Avenue. I went back to shutting them out and reading my New Yorker.

Today I had to take something back to Bloomingdales that I bought yesterday when I was too tired to assess its fit appropriately. I ventured out in the rain and accomplished the exchange quickly, then took the subway back to Hayes Valley and shopped some more there. I made some extremely unnecessary but entirely satisfying purchases at Nomads, then walked toward the subway. After trying to hold my umbrella and walk in such a way as to keep my "Big Brown Bag" from Bloomingdales dry for a couple of blocks, I found myself in front of Absinthe. The prospect of a solitary French meal while seated on a red velvet banquette, surrounded by a warm, lush, art nouveau interior was too cozy and too decadent to resist. I went in and had the most delightful lunch with a nice big glass of Syrah.

The rain had not let up by the time I finished lunch, but I was ever-so-slightly tiddly and warmed from within, so I really didn't care.

Here are the places I've lunched this past week. I had Rene and Della as companions on Monday and Thursday, otherwise, I was alone:

Starbelly (that crab salad I can't get enough of)
Wexler's (brisket banh-mi - very good)
The Rotunda at Nieman-Marcus (lobster club sandwich, a classic)
Out the Door at Westfield Mall (imperial rolls, chicken clay pot, bbq pork on vermicelli)
Absinthe (caesar salad with fresh white anchovies, croque monsieur)