It's snowing!! Finally, after months of anticipation and a few weeks of cold nights, we got our first snow last night. It makes the 11 degree weather much more tolerable to know that at least we're getting something (besides frostbite) out of it. Now, where did I put those beanie hats....
My weekend (uhh...like most) began on Friday when I got home from work all amped to cook my organic, free-range whole chicken for myself and some lucky guests. I stopped by the store on my way home and bought all the ingredients I needed (you know, onions, fruits, rosemary, sage, etc.) and I got home early enough to start cooking the bird at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately, when I pulled the chicken out of fridge, I realized that the bird had already gone fowl (pun intended) and totally reeked! I was tempted to cook it anyway ("maybe it's just the paper that's making it smell like that"), but thoughts of spelling the world "salmanella" (sp.??) ran through my head and I didn't feel like keeling over just yet.
So when your whole Friday night is screwed up because you bought a chicken a few weeks before you actually cooked it, what other options do you really have? Well, the bars are always open. So I met up with Sean and some of his friends that were going out for a few happy hour drinks and dinner. After eating a mediocre burger, we started hopping mid-town bars and found ourselves at the entrance to a nightclub at about 8:15pm. The cover charge was $8 to get in, but Sean's friend quickly said "No, we're here with 'Mike', the guy with glasses". The bouncer said "Oh, you're with MSI (or MISI or something like that)" and we were like "Uhh...yea...we're from MSI". So we got in for free, and it turned out that this MSI company was having a holiday party inside and had an open bar. So, naturally, we instantly became MSI employees (or friends with "Mike" or "Joe") and our happy hour turned into happy night!
I woke up early on Saturday and headed down to Hell's Kitchen for my monthly gig with some kids from a transitional housing center. This month we took a trip down to Seaport Village to make candles. It was a huge group of volunteers and we had a good time with them at the candle-making facility. It's pretty cook now that I've been on this trip a few times because a lot of the kids know me and I get picked as their "buddy" pretty quickly. Too bad I never got picked for any sports this quick when I was their age ;o)
Saturday night D's mother was in town, so I went with them and Paul & Cathy to Patsy's down near Broadway for an old-fashioned Italian dinner. This place is totally New York style, complete with the serious, no-BS host and the non-smiling older gentlemen waiters dressed in their white coats. This place has been around since 1944 and was one of Sinatra's hang-outs and I can see why. A very old-school ambience to it, it was pretty cool...
Sunday morning I played Cathy a few games of raquetball at our gym. I lost all four games; no wonder I never got picked quickly for sports when I was young ;o). We had some intense games, though, and I'm confident that she will pay for it one of these days! After doing some cleanup and laundry, I met up with Alan for some budget sushi at Yuka. I'd heard about this place for some time but I hadn't actually tried it out. I had a couple great rolls and I walked out of there paying $18 for a full meal of sushi, tax and tip included! Talk about a steal of a deal! With prices like that, I will definitely be eating down there again soon.
I seriously messed up my knee on Sunday afternoon. I wish I could say that I was playing tackle football in the park, or I was running out of a burning house with a pair of babies in my arms, or I was running the New York Marathon. No, this injury is right up my ally and is the result of me running up the stairs in my apartment building and catching the edge of last step with the front of my sandals. I was suspended in mid-air for what seemed like a minute before I went crashing down and landed on me knees at the top of the concrete stairwell. Apparently my right knee landed first because it's busted up pretty good and I got a nice little black and blue lump there. I think it's just a bruise, but it hurt enough to make walking in the morning difficult. Once I got it lubed up by walking in the brisk morning it was a bit better. New York is not very knee-injury-friendly with all the required walking, but I can still get around alright...
Sunday night I got a taste of Christmas when I went to Paul and Cathy's to help with their tree and watch some flicks like Elf. It was nice and cozy inside and snowing outside, so it had a very Christmas feel to it, much like most of the city. New York for the holidays is the stuff legends are made of, and I can see why. It has a very special ambience, but one that cannot be captured with a camera. It's definitely something that I'll remember for quite some time!
