M is back

When M comes to town, she brings vacation with her.

I spend the morning cleaning my apartment and working.  Honestly, I have never worked this hard for no money.  I stop by the office and bring my impossibly uncomfortable single pair of Louboutins that I got as a birthday gift three years ago.  I feel great in them, though my feet would disagree.

M arrives around 4.  I help her unpack her car.  We begin with one suitcase on rollers.  Then a garment bag with three things hanging.  A tote full of sheets and a pillow (she’s kind enough to bring her own bedding as I have no washer and dryer).  Another suitcase filled with shoes.  And finally, a box with some sheets I bought for Alexander’s room but was delivered to her.  I say to the doorman, “So, based on all this stuff, how long do you think my friend is staying?”  “Not long, “ he replies.  “I’d guess about a week.”  “Two nights,” I respond.  But should there be a major weather event, M’s brought enough to comfortably stay a month.

M is the perfect guest.  Fun to be with, independent, neat, and happy doing her stuff while I do mine.  We hang around my apartment for a couple of hours, then go to dinner at Restaurant  83 ½.

It’s a friendly, local restaurant. When my mom was visiting a month ago, we had dinner here, and it was fantastic.  As an entrée, I order the duck again, and it’s just as good as last time.  M hates animals that fly, and I have to promise her the duck (even though it doesn’t fly) will come featherless and not be shaped as a bird.  The kitchen keeps my promise.

M orders the branzino, after getting assurance from the waiter that it will come headless, tail-less boneless and skinless.  Unfortunately, the kitchen does not comply this time.  M’s branzino comes covered in a silvery skin; she cannot look at it, let alone eat it; she sends it back and gets a disappointing salad instead.

On the walk home I don’t see a reason to ask M if she liked the restaurant.  But I do say, “I thought the burrata and tomato salad was great.”  “Ya, well, that would be impossible to screw up.  They just buy those ingredients from somewhere else.”