i actually had to look at a calendar to try & remember what exactly happened in the last week. Not like i was running around in umbros and soccer gear like miss park & diane (holler!) but it was definitely a long week..
Last Tuesday we had our book club meeting at rachel’s house; there were about 12 of us or so, sitting around, drinking malbec, nibbling on fruits & chocolate & humus, talking about ‘the brief and wondrous life of oscar wao.’ we all really liked the book, but more than the book, it was really like a social experiment to get in a room with a bunch of people you work with, or kind of know, and some randoms who you’ve met before, and talk about a book– as if youre kind of in english class, but kind of at a dinner party. For the most part, conversation flowed really easily; it was so interesting to see how everyone interacted, the social dynamics; that one girl across the room who was so loud and slightly rude but didnt really realize it as she interrupted everyone; the other girl on the pillow on the floor who didnt say much; without really knowing everyone, you got this odd sense of them just based on how comfortable or uncomfortable they were with the whole dynamic. Anyway, a really fun time (ironically?)– ended up staying until about midnight, which of course was much later than i would have on a Tuesday night, but still.
Thursday we had plans to go see a sneak preview of ‘angels & demons’, but when we showed up at the theatre in coconut grove a few minutes before the screening started (of course we were tardy: the traffic after work to get there from downtown is hell), they ran out of spots and, although they let us in to the theatre to pee, they were on to our games and escorted us out as soon as the bathroom trip was over. Instead, we grabbed some indian food at a new restaurant, where the waiter did a magic trick involving a red scarf (dont ask) and we sampled their regional-plates, like a tasting of several things from one area of india- pretty cool. Then, because we happened to be there, we headed out to a place called ‘cocowalk’- in coconut grove (i think?)- right near university of miami– and, you guessed it, full of college kids who were set to graduate the next day.
Insanely enough, they had a piano-sing-along bar, like the one patty mentioned she went to w diane (my coworkers and i all made this comparison later, as they both lived in boston recently); we started there, but couldnt really handle being around a live band doing covers with lots of drunk kids singing along (the band was on an elevated platform literally in the middle of the bar- no getting around it- could definitely have been a lot of fun if you too were there drunk w all your friends) - alas, we were not. So we headed on. After having a few at an outdoor bar, we stopped in at a place called “Mr. Moes.” which oddly reminded me of the now-gone bear bar on the upper west side- probably bc the inside looked like a dirty old log cabin, and it was full of drunken people making bad choices. We of course, were making wonderful choices: like ingesting “moose juice,” a 32 (if not 40) oz plastic cup full of some kind of alcoholic punch, while walking around, laughing and drunk college kids, and listening to their assorted pick-up lines. When i walked into that place, my first reaction was, “i love this place! Its my new favorite bar in miami.” about 3 minutes later: “i hate this. I want to go home.” love and hate, love and hate. On our walk back to the car several hours later, we passed by the ubiquitous sandbar of cocowalk: yes, another bar called “sandbar.” unfortunately, we would have had to walk around the block to get in, so we decided enough was enough & headed back to the beach.
Friday after work, another wonderful new discovery: the poor man’s montys. Its a bar/restaurant that is basically the same as montys– complete with the pool, oddly themed tiki-style (they were having a pig roast this weekend), and seats overlooking the water; but it was on the miami river, not the bay, and was very difficult to find (alongside the business district, brickell). We then headed to dinner at the river oyster bar or something like that, and had a delicious meal of oysters, ceviche, heirloom tomatoes, and amazing yuca fries. I would eat it all again now if i could. Otherwise, the night was full of good conversation but rather low-key– chanel, nicole & brook, and tracy & me. Then home to bed, in order to get up early for... latin dance class with rachel!
I dont know how she does it but each Saturday rachel has been magically using her friend powers to get me to go to a new dance class; something i never do or have done in ny, but which i find to be a lot of fun down here. It was in the david barton gym in south beach, which was absolutely gorgeous, but also weird– as if it were a gym that was also a night club. Dark. Low lighting. Soft beats. A little intense. Although the bathroom had tons of bumble & bumble products, so a girl cant complain really. Latin dance class was insane– i was the only idiot to not bring sneakers, so i was barefoot, tearing it up, samba, salsa, rhumba, chacha, no joke. Plus the instructor was obviously a highly sexy latin gay man, in black pants like he was patrick swayzee. The ladies loved him.
Afterwards, rachel & i had our long languid lunch (in part to bad miami service) on lincoln road, it started pouring for about 10 minutes (we hovered under the covered part while we finished our wine), and then trekked it up to forever 21, where she enabled me to buy not one, but two trashy pairs of shoes. Yes, forever 21 sells shoes. And they are hot. You dont even know. Not that i have an outfit to wear them with, of course, but i figure it just makes me happy for the meantime to see them on my floor. To complete our day, rachel surprised me by gifting me with an air-popper. I of course rewarded myself by eating popcorn for dinner. Who can beat that?
The rest of the weekend was pretty nothing; Sunday morning i ran in the insane heat, then took some work up to the roof– which i read, but then when finished, rolled over and fell asleep– and then cooked, did some pilates, the usual. This was compensated the following night (yesterday) by a gossip-girl-finale party at chanel’s house, complete with her amazing homemade indian food (chicken curry, nan, rice, samosas and empanadas) and others’ homemade desert (nicole made ice cream, tracy made muffins– and chanel made chocolate molten lava cakes). Insane. I woke up full. Although it did remind me intensely of my lovely ladies in brooklyn and our GG watching nights, it was also equally lovely to have a similar moment here...
Tonight we’re heading to rachel’s house for empanada night! (Empanadas on two nights in a row, when i literally had never had them before i moved here). We’ve been planning on this night for weeks, so finally we are getting into action! Since rachel & adrian are vegetarian, we’re doing one traditional version (with soy crumbles), and im doing the second with spinach & mushrooms. This motivates me to no end to plan an ultimate dinner party once im back in ny, cuban themed: empanadas, roast pork, rice &beans, plaintains, yuca... you will love it. Stay tuned, winter 2009!
Xoxo
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