Restaurant Week
This week is Restaurant Week in New York. So after my deposition on Wednesday, I hit the pavement with a couple of people I went to law school with. It was a long and ugly night -- punctuated by realizing about seven times that I had lost either my scarf or my redweld of discarded deposition exhibits or both. Each time, someone appeared out of nowhere and found all my missing accoutrements for me. And they say New Yorkers aren't friendly...
The evening started at a place a block from our NY firm -- Judson's Grill -- which was fun though hazardous because everyone's firms are nearby and the chances of being seen by someone you are trying to avoid are high. We moved on, several hours later, to a Latin bistro in Soho, which may have been called Ideya, where I ate lamb and polenta. I think it was on West Broadway. I wasn't paying very close attention by this time. It was marvelous. My dinner companions included not only my law school friend but three funny Australian women who thought New York was just incredibly funny and couldn't believe that a place like it really exists in the world. They all tried to convince me to move back. There reasons ranged from the serious to the silly. On the serious side was the obvious point that "the pay is better here." On the silly side was "we have better buildings. Just look at them." The person who said this waved her hand vaguely out the taxi window as we drove back up to mid-town after dinner. The whole time it was snowing -- it probably snowed for 12 hours straight on Wednesday in New York.
The morning after our impromptu celebration of Restaurant Week, I had to get up shockingly early to get the train back to DC. I cursed Restaurant Week all they down to the station. The snow had stopped and it was a beautifully sunny but freezing morning. I wandered out on the street to get coffee and a bagel and to fill my wallet up with the cash that had disappeared out of it the night before. It was bitterly cold. Then I tried to get a cab. They were all full -- it was rush hour -- I stood in the driving wind with my scarf and coat blowing all around cursing Restaurant Week even more. Finally a cab stopped. As I got in I realized that I had just spent .25 hours standing on 7th Avenue clutching a coffee cup, frowning, and talking to myself. In any other city I would have been hauled away to the loony bin.
I slept the whole way back on the train. Outside it was beautiful. There was about 4 inches of snow covering everything from NYC down to Wilmington. There was snow on every branch, and even sitting on the heads of the marsh grass in the Meadowlands. It was lovely. I was in the quiet car on the Acela, and when I wasn't asleep I gazed placidly out the window at the snow, in total silence. It was like the last scene in the Unbearable Lightness of Being.
posted by Anonymous @ 11:36 PM
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