Eat:
Moroccan: Zerza, 304 E. 6th Street.   Zerza is my favorite date restaurant.   Sometimes I tell people Matt and I fell in love over the sweet meat pie they call “bastilla.”

Sushi:   Jewel Bako Makimono, 101 Second Avenue.   If you skip the wine with your “makimono” rolls, you can have premium sushi at a very nice price.

Italian: John's Restaurant, 302 E. 12th Street.   John's is old-world New York.   Sit in the back room, near the monument of drippy candles, and order bruschetta.

Home Cooking: Mama's, 200 E. 3rd Street. Mama's is the surrogate mother for many East Village orphans—no one else will cook us roasted chicken and green beans.

Southwestern: Mojo, 309 E. 5th Street. Fish tacos, chorizo soup, and cornmeal catfish sandwiches.   It's Santa Fe on Fifth Street.

South American: Caracas Arepa Bar.   Matt likes the Venezuelan empanadas.   I like the café con leche.   We both like the sweet waitstaff that lies when they tell us we speak Spanish well.

Pizza: Little Frankie's.   19 First Avenue.   If you sit in the back, they'll let you hang out all night over your “pizza lorenzina.”

Hamburgers: Paul's Place, 131 Second Avenue.   I feel wolfish eating a Paul's hamburger, but the kill tastes good.

Indian: Panna II, 93 1st Avenue, Suite 5.   Don't be persuaded by the doormen from the neighboring Indian joints who will try to solicit you inside for free banana leaf ice cream; Panna II is the best on the block.

Tea:   Jenny's Café, 113 Saint Marks Place.   Order a Taro Coconut tea, served hot.

More Tea: Sympathy for the Kettle, 109 Saint Marks Place.   Order a mint chocolate latte, served cold.

Coffee: Café Pick Me Up, 145 Avenue A.   Caffeine is my drug of choice and Café Pick Me Up is my dealer.   There really isn't any more to it.

Buy:
Clothes:   Min-k, 334 E. 11th St. Cropped jackets, ballet flats, pearl-handled handbags, and chiffon dress from South Korea.   I'm wearing a Min-K frock in my author's photo.

More Clothes: Suzette Sundae, 182 Avenue B.   The gals at Suzette Sundae carry the best refashioned vintage dresses, slouchy handbags, and suede boots on this side of Tompkins Square Park.   Plus, they'll cut you sterling or gold pendants based on your own designs.

Valuable junk: M.H.S. Flea Market, corner of 11th street and Avenue A.   I live at M.H.S.   It's where I got my kitchen magnets, my favorite “King's Dominion” T-shirt, and the sacred-heart portraits of saints that I hang over my bed.   Just make sure you tell the lady who runs the prom dress booth that twenty bucks is way too much for a gold, glitter petticoat with a stain on it.

New books: The Strand, 828 Broadway.   Everyone knows the Strand is the place to find eight miles of used books.   But few people know the basement is filled with brand new hardcovers at half-price.   Sometimes, new books show up here before they are released in regular bookstores.

Used books: East Village Books, 99 Saint Marks Place.   East Village Books is not the place to go when you're hunting for a title.   It is the place to browse and buy a Dorothy Parker biography for south of three dollars.

Poetry books: St. Marks Bookshop, 31 Third Avenue.   Hands-down, the best selection of poetry books and journals in town.

Watch:
Two Boots Pioneer Theater, 155 East 3rd Street.   Some midnight movies are so gruesome that the management offers free barf bags.