Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

This past weekend I took a vacation from normalcy and actually got a social life.  I know, right?  But there was just something about my mood this weekend, combined with the gorgeous weather that New York was offering, and I was primed to get out amongst the people and have a really good time.  Which is precisely what I did.

We already know that Saturday was spent concocting a Plan B on the run, when my meditation instructor called in sick.  When I got home late-ish Saturday afternoon, I half-watched some of the Olympics on TV but then gave up and retired to my air-conditioned room to make a me-sized dent on the bed and watch an episode of "The Hollowmen" on DVD.  I swear that show is freakishly accurate.

I was seized by a bizarre compulsion to go out and despite the weather threatening to turn bad, I texted Westo and said it was up to her to devise a social plan.  Yes, I outsourced the planning but I knew that if one of us was going to have a clue what people did on Saturday nights in this town, it would be Westo.  You know it's true.  And I wasn't totally mean, I dictated the night's parameters: we had to have pasta and red wine, and we had to stay in Westo's neighbourhood.  Ever the good sport,  my friend accepted the challenge.

So fast-forward an hour and we were standing on a street corner in the West Village, waiting for a table to open up at the gorgeous Malatesta Trattoria.  The little restaurant was packed, and had opened up all its side windows to usher in the fresh air.  Every now and again, fat droplets of rain splotched us, and the heavens were truly threatening to open up, so we had wimped out and decided not to take one of the (many) empty outdoor tables.  Instead, we alternately gave pleading looks and vicious stink-eyes to the diners inside, willing them to stuff in the last of their tasty morsels and surrender their tables to us.

The meal was incredible - simple, yet hearty and plentiful.  We had the Chianti, as planned.  And we split an appetizer of four assorted crostini (prosciutto & mozzarella, goats cheese, sauteed mushrooms, and tomato).  We shared a basic mixed side salad that complemented our respective pasta dishes beautifully.  We rounded out the meal with a rich, decadent chocolate mousse.   I didn't spill anything down the front of me, which was doubly helpful as I was wearing a new, sequinned top (operating on the assumption that wherever we went for dinner, if I dressed like the human disco ball, I'd be so dazzling that the hostess would give us a table faster).

Come Sunday morning I was up again, this time to head to brunch in NoHo (local speak for the area "north of Houston").  Shars had booked us a table at the popular "Five Points" restaurant.  As I had a coffee at home beforehand, I looked up the restaurant to make sure I knew how to get there, and a took a peek at their brunch menu.  Huevos Rancheros, kids!  I was so excited.  You know how I feel about this dish - it's fun to say, AND fun to eat.  I was sold.  Brunching is very popular here in New York and even though we had an early-ish reservation by the city's standards, as we enjoyed our meal in leisurely fashion, the restaurant filled up quickly and pretty soon there was a crowd of people waiting for tables, milling around in the bar area at the front.  My huevos did not disappoint, and I can't tell you how lovely it was to just shoot the preverbial sh*t with the girls and not be in a rush to go anywhere or do anything.

After our meal I could feel a food coma setting in, so we parted ways and I headed to the air conditioned sanctuary of my local cinema to soak up the new Batman movie.  It's a bit disconcerting to notice the NYPD presence outside of the movie theatres these days, but I guess we can't do much about that.  The only thing we can do is to enjoy the movie and I totally did.  Tom Hardy playing Bane was a great choice - even though you could only see his eyeballs.  That dude is a TANK.  I read afterwards that he put on 30lbs to play the role, and wore 3" shoe lifts, AND he did martial arts and other fighting training.  Ding ding ding!  Genius.  Even Anne Hathaway didn't make me want to vomit, so that's a good thing.

When you read my weekend back, I don't sound incredibly social but believe me, this was a jam-packed weekend by my usual standards haha.  I really had a wonderful time and I'd forgotten how nice it is for someone else to make your meals for you, and enjoy them in a restaurant setting.  I might have to make a bit more of a habit of this.