ms. Even scary. Men have to be manly. They have to play hurt. They're not into bizarro fashion, but tailoring counts. Feiler observes "an unmistakable obsession with the male body, clothed and unclothed."

        The network's talking heads and ex-jocks each have a wardrobe philosophy. They are obsessed with hair. Who has the best hair in the NFL? "Commentators drool over other men's abs, thighs and gams," he notes. The 11 pm SportsCenter report has been called "Birth Control." Even sex has been affected by ESPN. Of course, I'm thinking repressed gay, or maybe not so repressed. I'm thankful my guy doesn't carry a manpurse. Even so, Sunday at 6:30 I am not allowed to even speak. Steven is watching the Super Bowl. It's not like it's our guys, the Giants or the Jets. Is it their hair? Their washboard abs?? Silently, I take my supper tray into the bedroom, luxuriating in my usual Sunday slothfulness. At half-time he comes in to see if I am still alive. I pretend I am dead.

       
        How quickly last month's revolution becomes old hat. The world's press has left Tunisia to the denouement of its Jasmine Revolution for fiercer revolutions it surely inspired elsewhere. I felt hope for the highly educated, multi-lingual, deeply frustrated men and women in their 20's and 30's whose homes Steven and I visited during three weeks criss-crossing Tunisia last April. Stagnating in low-paying and part-time jobs, some had talked of migrating to the United States or Canada ("where it's cheaper to live") as their only option. They did not speak of nepotism or corruption, not out loud, only of vast unemployment among the most educated Tunisians.

        Of course the world quickly focused on chaos and protest in Egypt. That has left little room for updates from Tunisia. So I emailed the man who designed the itinerary that took us from Tunis to its 2nd cities, to sea resorts fishing ports, villages and country beds-and-breakfast, to the desert and an annual Jewish festival on the island of Djerba. I reached Jerry Sorkin, head of TunisUSA tours, at his part-time home in Tunis.

        "Cafes are packed and politics is the topic at every table," he emailed back. "The television shows are having very candid discussions about the Ben Ali era and the crimes that were committed, discussions about the new Ministers who have been appointed and the nearly unanimous acceptance by Tunisians of the government in transition -- a government that will call for new elections to be held in approximately six months. People are exuberant in their newfound freedom to speak out and to participate in a transparent political process."

        He made a point of noting that throughout the revolution, there have been "no attacks, verbal or physical, towards foreigners, foreign governments, or from one segment of Tunisian society towards another" and that telephones, Internet and all means of communication operated. "Banks, businesses, public transportation and schools are all operating again." The American Embassy has brought back staff and families they sent away and lightened its security warnings.

        Of course the tourists fled. But now Americans have discovered the unimagined Tunisia that Steven and I discovered. The Tunisia so very different from Morocco and Algeria: a friend of America (and Israel), one of the world's few secular Musl

        Some adventurous Manhattan foodies are ready to rush off to Queens or Brooklyn by car or subway at the latest rumor of greatness. Not me. First of all, I don't go anywhere that doesn't take reservations. And then, "good" is not enough. It needs to be better. As for the mysterious Bronx, I've been there three times. Always for spectacular pizzas and old lovingly fashioned fare at Zero Otto Nove. And now I am sending you, because the new Patricia's is definitely worth the detour.

        This vast sweep of dining room with crystal chandeliers, splashy paintings and votives in brick wall niches is the two month-old makeover of a popular pizzeria. A sturdy young man with a shiny shaved head is pouring very hot and intensely truffled mushroom soup over slivers of three 'shrooms sailing a crisp parmesan tuile. This zuppa di funghi is thrilling. To know more about the Borgognone family and what you might find on scion Alex's tasting menu, click here.

        We met at Nyonya on Grand Street over very good Malaysian food and I felt her energy and charm across the table. Since then Steven and I have shared many dinners with Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan and her husband Mike Hale. He's a charmer too, but that's another story. I bought a camera just like Cheryl's so I could snap photos in a restaurant without actually aiming (at lunch, when my live-in photographer is not there). Of course, it's not the camera that has the knack, its Cheryl. After reading her deconstruction of our disappointing dinner at Lotus of Siam, I decided there was no reason to add my two cents. She had said it all.

        I knew her blog had inspired a contract for a memoir and often she would disappear to Singapore, working on the book, collecting recipes, or so I thought. Now I have it in my hands, A Tiger in the Kitchen (Voice $14.95). Recipes, yes, but also a revelation of family roots and fables, unfurled like the layers of an onion, as she attempts to learn, ultimately define, Cheryl to herself. Click here to buy it now. 

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Photographs of Tunisian country woman buying bread, fabulous seafood in a port side restaurant in Sousse, prawns and okra salad at Tulsi and a fabulous scallop at Patricia's in the Bronx, may not be used without permission from Steven Richter.    

              
Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2011.