Since today is my birthday, I recently had to make an all-important decision: where would I like to have dinner on my special night? Hmmm. What a yummy choice!

It made me recall places that were special in other years, when the choice was all mine. Even though I grew up in Queens County in New York, my early childhood birthday dinners all seemed to take place at Lundy's, a famous Sheepshead Bay seafood restaurant. Steamed clams, oysters on the half shell, no concerns about raw seafood or the fat and calories in drawn butter that dripped down my chin. Heaven!

I felt grown up in my teen years when my parents took me to Patricia Murphy's, a New York landmark where hostesses passed around baskets of hot popovers and gooey sticky buns throughout the course of the meal. Carbs? Sugar? Not even on my radar screen.

Co-workers at CBS and WABC Radio in Manhattan always had a way of celebrating EVEYBODY'S birthday - any excuse to party! And if the hangover wasn't blinding the next day, well you just didn't know how to have fun!

So tonight's the night. I won't tell you where we're going, but I exercised an extra hour today and cut back on the calories for the past three days so I can pig out and not suffer from guilt or fat tomorow. See, even though I haven't gotten any older, my metabolism sure has!