I’ve updated my 2012 travel plans with some tentative locations.

Although quite a few of the dates listed are subject to change, I’m interested in hearing from people in each of the places listed. If you live somewhere I’m visiting and would like to have dinner with a stranger to be featured on this site, please get in touch.

Oh, and I stole the title of this post from this tremendous song.

Happy new year and all that. My resolutions include going to the gym more than once before December, and finishing a 694-page headache of a book I’ve been reading since April, the title and author of which shall remain nameless.

For the first update of 2012, here’s a holiday greeting card from Julia Kulakova, a Russian Gypsy dancer. I met Julia for lunch and a dance class in New York City last July. Being her student taught me one thing: I really can’t dance.

Click on the image above for the full-size card. In case you think I’ve just been really lazy and this post is out of date, Julia notes that the Russian “Old” New Year — a Slavic Orthodox holiday — is January 13. As she said in her festive email, upbeat as always, “enjoy being happy, healthy and festive! Use or create occasions to laugh and dance!”

Just in time for the holidays, here’s an interview with Santa Claus.

All right, it’s actually Ed Downey, a Maryland resident who makes a living dressing up as the jolly man in a red-and-white-suit. As I learned over dinner, Ed’s got plenty of tales to tell — not only about being Santa, but his colorful life before then.

I won’t be updating Dining With Strangers until the new year when I get back to the United States, so I hope everyone has a great Christmas and 2012.

I had a grad plan to send all my readers Christmas cards this year, but the cards were so elaborate and made of such high quality materials that I couldn’t get them finished in time. All right, that preceding sentence is a complete lie.

One person who has managed to send out a Christmas card is photographer Lars Stephan. A thoroughly likable man, I first interviewed him in August 2009 and then did a Where Are They Now? podcast update with Lars in September 2011.

Click on the image above for the full-size version of Lars’ Christmas card.

It’s been a while since my last dinner interview, but the middle of December turned out to be productive as I met two new strangers.

The first of those two interviews is now online. Earlier this month I spent an enjoyable Saturday lunch with Shamia Hollway, learning about her role as communications manager of the Washington, DC, Capital Area Food Bank. The organization provides nutritious food to the citizens of DC living in hunger.

Hmm, almost a month since my last update on here.

I’m going to just pretend that I wanted my dear readers to have time to savor my recent interviews with former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and actor/artist/write Burt Young. Yeah, that’s the ticket! So, please savor away.

Meantime, here’s a limp offer of future updates coming soon.

On Saturday I had a fun lunch with a very charming woman. My time with her will be interview #40, and it should be online within the week. I’m trying to get that interview online with a quicker turnaround than usual in order to put up a hopefully very festive 41st interview sometime around Christmas Day.

Enjoy those vague offers of updates. Cheerio!

Actor Burt Young doesn’t mind if people recognize him only from his role as Paulie in the Rocky movies. During a brunch interview in New York, Burt told me that he enjoys meeting fans of the boxing films and is grateful for the role.

But there’s far more to Burt than Rocky. He’s an artist in more ways than just the screen, also indulging his love of painting and writing on a regular basis — all of which he was happy to talk about when I visited him in Port Washington. Click here or on the picture above to read about my afternoon with Burt.

The United Nations is throwing Julia Kulokova a birthday party.

All right, that’s not exactly true. Rather, Julia will be performing at a UN gala later this month the same day as her birthday. She’s a dancer, specializing in Gypsy styles, and she told me all about her career during a lunch interview in July.

The UN’s SPICE-Indian Club is holding an event on Friday, November 18, in New York City to celebrate Diwali, Eid and Christmas. More details are on the club’s Facebook page.

Julia will be performing two dances at the event. She was charming company at lunch, and also incredibly patient while trying to teach me how to dance.

Alas, Julia underestimated just how bumbling my British body is once it hits the dance floor, so the results were less than impressive.

Last weekend I spent a very enjoyable weekend in Orlando, Florida. In addition to getting my bumbling body thrown around the Universal Studios rollercoasters (and soaked on the Jurassic Park ride), I got to try two great restaurants thanks to the recommendations of my host and friend Bryan. One was for brunch, the other for dinner.

More on both those places in a moment. But a quick note to also praise Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville at Universal Studios, where I had dinner Saturday night. I already sang the praises of the original Margaritaville in Key West, Florida, a few months ago, and the Orlando venue is worthy of the same plaudits.

DEXTER’S
808 East Washington Street

A popular place. My friend and I were looking for a mildly boozy Sunday brunch, and he suggested Dexter’s. The crowd of people waiting for seats had me worried for a long wait, but we were seated fairly quickly. All the usual brunch standbys are on offer — omelets, French toast, mimosas. My ham, cheese and tomato omelet was very well done, thick cuts of meat and so much cheddar cheese it oozed out following a first cut of the omelet. All washed down with delicious flavored mimosas, the mango mimosa being my favorite.

CEVICHE
125 West Church Street

Faultless meal at this tapas bar and restaurant. A warm and welcoming place serving small plates of Spanish food. Calling the plates “small” is a little misleading because the generous servings at Ceviche mean that you’ll probably be feeling full after the third or fourth plate. My friends and I tried a wide range of fish dishes (octopus, anyone?), meat and more. It was all excellent, flavorful food served by an incredibly friendly waiter. The flan dessert and the red wine sangria were also great. Definitely worth a visit.

Ed Koch is a New York City legend.

The three-term mayor has a lengthy resume that also includes several years as a congressman, a stint in the armed services, and more. Nowadays he’s working at a law firm in Manhattan but keeping just as busy as ever.

I met up with hizzoner for coffee and cupcakes on a recent rainy Friday afternoon. He’s well known for the catchphrase “How’m I doing?” Click on the picture above or right here to find out exactly how he’s doing these days.