grey marble

July 3, 2004


A four hour lunch

Yesterday Lin and Jean offered to treat me to lunch for my birthday (now almost a month away). I'm slowly settling into my late-early-thirties. Originally, we were to meet at Honmura-An, a soba restaurant on Mercer. I arrived to find it closed for a summer holiday. It will reopen July 7th. I called Lin and we quickly decided on Balthazar. Outside Honmura-An, I found Jean's friend Carina and, after introducing myself, told her of the change in plans.

Our waiter was animated, pantomiming the boullaibaise preparation as he described it. At first we couldn't decide if we liked him or not. In the end we did not. Lin had a lamb sandwich, Jean the ceviche and the ravoli appetizer, Carina the ceviche, and I the cod entree. We ate and talked. Lin was about to leave on her honeymoon (to Peru). Jean talked about coincidences. Eventually the conversation shifted to dating.

Lin came laden with gifts and she presented me with a Joop! long sleeved shirt. She told me she had bought it in Berlin, and then told me she had originally bought it for her husband Michael. She had presented him with two, one blue and one green, and he had rejected the green one. She said she was telling me in the event I wore the shirt when meeting Michael and he commented on it. She then showed us some clothes she bought for Michael at Banana Republic. One of the shirts was one I had been eyeing. In the future Michael and I will be dressed the same.

Between lunch and dessert we had a shift in attendees. Carina had an informational interview to attend. She said her goodbyes, and we wished her luck in finding a job in New York. She's from San Francisco, but is looking to give New York a try; she grew up New Jersey and has seen her friends here multiply.

At three Guillemette arrived and we ordered dessert. Jean had a berry tart, Guillemette a chocolate something, and I the caramelized banana tart with banana ice cream. As the afternoon wore on, we got up to leave one by one. Lin left to pack. Jean went to drop off film before heading to South Street Seaport to see the Frames. I stayed behind with Guillemette as she interviewed a subject from our table.

And then it was time to go. The restaurant had filled and emptied and was beginning again to fill. Our waiter had left to be replaced by another. The host smiled and said goodbye as we left, and then Guillemette and I stopped on the sidwalk to talk about the weekend to come before we said goodbye to each other. Then I walked south to meet again with Jean. Posted by eku at July 3, 2004 10:02 AM
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