Order the lobster soup: dumplings served in a pungent, beet-red vegetable broth, steamed before your eyes in a glass contraption resembling a coffeepot.

NEWYORKER: David Burke Kitchen

At the next playgroup, I asked the lady at the front desk to pass my e-mail address on to her. (By the way, Mary isn't her real name -- I changed it to prevent scaring her off.) I was beet red as I walked Kylie toward the subway station, and was doing frenetic hop run behind the stroller.

CNN: A kind of courtship: Finding a mom friend in the big city