A Week Full of Friends

This past week I had some opportunities to socialize, so do you know what I did? I socialized!

Tuesday night there was a farewell gathering in the park for Nicole. Of course I didn't get a picture of Nicole, but look! Here's a picture of me!

I can't exactly remember if Ned said he wanted this picture on the internet or not. He probably said he did.

Then the next night Tara organized a trip out to Fu Ran in Flushing for a friendly Chinese feast. I didn't take pictures of any of the food! I was too busy eating. We had amazing cumin lamb ribs and a whole fish in spicy bean sauce that had the flavoring of tacos al pastor...wonder what was going on there, scientifically...and a lot of other great stuff. We even got to eat in the party room.

Then Saturday night was Ty and Emily's 20's-themed engagement party. Like a genius I didn't get any pictures of the couple, but you can see what they look at a Chinese restaurant in the above photo. And here's Emily right here.

It was a great opportunity to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while, like Chris

And Joe and the Sowards

But Jeff was there, too. Looking just like James Joyce.

Oh here's Ty

and there's Brook

And here's Chris again

What was everyone doing over there at the table?

Just checking out all the Polaroids from the photo booth.

oh and here's my boss Kristin

On the way home, Marge behind bars on my block

And then, as if that wasn't enough, late Sunday night I met Bryndee and Helen (in from Salt Lake for the US Open) for bedtime tacos at the El Idolo truck.

Ok, well. there you have it. Let's hear it for friends!

Best Boat Break

Do you see what happened up there? A few months into this new-blog experiment and I slip into the naming routine from the old briggie.blogspot.com. Old habits, they're hard to break!

Anyway last weekend I was just arriving at work when I got a message from Jeff that he and Noelle were in town and they told me I should come ride the Staten Island Ferry with them. I thought about it a little and decided that meeting up with amigos would be the right thing to do. So I played hooky from work for a few hours. It was the right thing to do.

If you weren't feeling like seeing lots of pictures of Jeff this might not be the post for you.

Or if you didn't feel like seeing sneaky snaps of strangers, either.

When everyone looks like this it means the Statue of Liberty is coming into view.

Stealing yo selfie

I think the idea is you're not supposed to have to do that if you have the stick?

Arriving in Staten Island we weren't just going to jump on the next ferry. We stuck around to appreciate this mysterious burrough. We did so by eating at Dairy Queen.

Return trip...

C'est what?

Sneaking on stangers, continued

And trying to keep up with the crowd when I got back to Manhattan.

Oh Man, What a Nice Weekend!

I had the whole weekend off and even got out early on Friday so I really tried to make the most of it and I don't think I did a bad job.

Friday evening I met up with Kim and Alexia and Levi at El Cortez in Bushwick, a Tex-Mex Tiki Bar. The food was good (check out my chimichanga below) and the decor was epic--check out this Eater post full of pictures of the interior, you will dig it and want to visit. As you probably know, I don't drink, but if I drank, I think I'd love drinking at El Cortez. What higher praise could I give?!

Bushwick sights

After dinner we headed to Bedford where they were giving out free cones at Davey's. I had the "Whop'corn" (Whoppers and Popcorn). 

Neighborhood's neon tree

Saturday. Big Day. Started with a neighborhood and Soho stroll on my way to breakfast lunch.

Have you seen one of these? They are EVERYWHERE now.

Dork Knate? I don't get it.

Carol was in town and I met up with her and Ryan at Mission Cantina. They're always changing the menu over there and currently the menu is: Choice of Two Burritos. On the left: chile relleno burrito. On the right: fried chicken burrito. You might be leaning towards the chicken one on principle, but let me tell you: that chile relleno one is the burrito you really want.

Also got ceviche tostadas and guacamole. Had to try to fill that table.

Post Cantina? Morgenstern's, of course.

There's this peach ice cream now that everyone is saying you gotta get.

Had an hour or two of freetime...

Before standing in the Red Hook ferry line with Lauri and Carol. It's a big line, you watch a lot of ferries come and go as you wonder which ferry you'll finally fit onto.

I was going to go with them to Hometown Barbecue but ferries were getting so delayed and I needed to be at Lincoln Square before 7 so I sent Lauri and Carol off to Brooklyn like I was seeing them off at the airport and stayed behind in the city.

Street model with tourists.

I'm probably the last person on earth to take some pictures inside the new Fulton subway interchange.

But it's highly photographable.

Having missed out on Brooklyn barbecue, I met up with Chaunte at the Mighty Quinn's in the West Village for a little Manhattan barbecue. I tried their new smoked and fried spicy chicken sandwich. Spicy chicken sandwiches: so hot right now.

And then, get this, we went up to Lincoln Center for a 25th anniversary screening of Metropolitan, my favorite movie that I forget to list when listing my favorite movies.

FOLLOWED by a Q&A with director Whit Stilman and nearly the whole cast! Like they were only 2 people short of the whole cast, it was great.

Everyone's crazy about Chaunte's summertime pants.

All the attention gets embarrassing.

Finished up Saturday night with Ty's birthday party. No pictures, though. It was dark and there were lots of people to talk to.

Sunday Emily surprised everyone by showing up at church with her 12 year old niece. No pictures of that because we were in church.

But here's what new friends do right after they meet: go onto a phone to figure out if they've met before.

Walking home from Prince street. Hanksy strikes again.

Seamore, a new fish restaurant up the street from me, is packing them in.

Genuine Superette a little less packing them in.

The Lion of Little Italy

So, yeah. Very nice weekend. Now I'm home a little early on a Sunday night, reading books and writing blog posts and feeling ready to do the law more tomorrow. Here I come, law! Rested and ready!