Social eating

Yesterday I joined Simone and David at Century 21. I wasn't planning on buying anything; I was just being social. I left with a pair of shoes, two shirts, and two ties. One of the shirts is too small. I decided to check my size and had someone take my measurements. She said I was a 14 1/2 neck. I'm not.

I had met them on Spring Street at a store called Just Shades. They had bought a lamp, but didn't like the shade. Unfortunately, the store was closed. We decided to get sandwiches from Cafe Habana while we were in the area. Simone suggested the chicken and mole. It was fantastic.

We walked to Century 21. The day was beautiful and much warmer than I had expected. I draped my coat over my bag. After shopping, we went to Chinatown for congee. I said I probably wouldn't get the congee; it was too warm for it. We sat down, and I looked at the menu. We all ordered sliced fish congee. I ordered snow pea leaves. I said I should learn how to make them. I said I wanted to buy a wok. The food was delicious.

Saturday afternoon found me at the Four Faced Liar, a bar on Bleecker Street. Reb had told me she was coming up from Virginia to give her first New York reading there. I hadn't seen her in years.

She looked the same. She was sitting at the bar. I pulled up a stool and sat beside her. We caught up with each other's lives, her baby, her plans to start a print-on-demand poetry press, my job, my trip to Morocco. At three, the bartender started the reading. He said that in an hour, the bar would be host to 40 Texans in town for a wedding. Reb read first.

After her set, she walked slowly back to her seat. And then she collapsed. A woman caught her as her body sunk to the floor. Seconds later she came to. "Did I finish my reading?" she asked. "Did I disrupt the reading?" We assured her that she finished. She said she hadn't fainted in a long time, though we had talked about iron deficiency earlier. She said she was fine. She said she remembered reaching the bar, thinking she wanted a sip of her juice; the next minute she was looking at the ceiling.

Just as the reading ended, the Texans began to enter the bar. Reb looked around and noted that most everyone else had left. She said she was going to linger. I gave her my number in case she was free later in the day and left to run errands and have a snack.

Eric called me to tell me he was having lunch with Sonjia at Hiroko's and asked if I wanted to join. I told him I'd be right over. When I arrived they were reading magazines. I asked if he came for the food or the magazines. Sonjia said it was for the magazines.

I had a pumpkin pie and flipped through the magazines. We talked about films and dissertations. Sonjia said she was in a dissertation group with Hua. I mentioned chocolates, and we went to Kee's after lunch. Sonjia had never seen my apartment so I invited them up.

After they left I watched a movie. Mimi called and asked me to dinner. We decided on Ivo and Lulu and agreed to meet at 8:30.

Sebastian was on the phone with his mother when I arrived. He said it was going to be a quiet night and invited us to linger. I asked him why, and he guessed that people were at Halloween parties. Mimi arrived shortly thereafter. We ordered the avocado and spinach appetizer. She had the magret du canard, I had the confit. We shared the apple souffle for dessert. The confit was amazing.

I hadn't seen Mimi in a while and we spent a long time lingering over our meal, talking of this and that. My the time we left the restaurant, my throat was sore, and I was exhausted. Mimi got into a cab. I debated going to Laurent's housewarming, but sleep got the better of me and I went home to bed. Posted by eku at October 31, 2005 8:57 AM