Love a girl who eats
last week i had post-work drinks that morphed into an all-out dinner with A, a girl who's a friend-of-a-friend, outer-rim-of-my-social-circle sort of an acquaintance. it was one of those serendipitous dates that you go to expecting nothing much, but which turn into greatness in the laughing and waving your hands and finishing each other's sentences well into the night sort of way.
we went to her regular italian around the corner from where she lives. a fellow former expat brat and a speaker of rapid-fire italian she has made friends with the family who runs the place. during the course of the evening she managed to have a long chat, sprinkled with italian expletives, with all of them - including the cook in his greasy t-shirt who has a crush on her and treats her to all kinds of special delicacies.
usually a casual lunch or dinner with the girls means a salad and water - maybe a good, clean but slightly prissy glass of white wine - so i was impressed by her choice of grilled liver and a double glass of rustic red wine. a recovering vegetarian* had no choice but to go with it, too. don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with a good goat cheese salad, but, you know, damn, i like a girl who likes offal**. i take it as a sign of an intrepid gourmand, a gastronomic explorer and, above all, a girl who's hungry and doesn't exist on crackers and lettuce alone.
over the chef's amaretto-drenched stracciatella and black-as-hell espresso we planned out our future bistrot. she's going traveling again but i'm sure we'll keep meeting up over big ol' dinners and hone our restaurateur dream into perfection. you all are invited to the opening.
*long story
**not that i don't love vegetarian girls, too, but..
we went to her regular italian around the corner from where she lives. a fellow former expat brat and a speaker of rapid-fire italian she has made friends with the family who runs the place. during the course of the evening she managed to have a long chat, sprinkled with italian expletives, with all of them - including the cook in his greasy t-shirt who has a crush on her and treats her to all kinds of special delicacies.
usually a casual lunch or dinner with the girls means a salad and water - maybe a good, clean but slightly prissy glass of white wine - so i was impressed by her choice of grilled liver and a double glass of rustic red wine. a recovering vegetarian* had no choice but to go with it, too. don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with a good goat cheese salad, but, you know, damn, i like a girl who likes offal**. i take it as a sign of an intrepid gourmand, a gastronomic explorer and, above all, a girl who's hungry and doesn't exist on crackers and lettuce alone.
over the chef's amaretto-drenched stracciatella and black-as-hell espresso we planned out our future bistrot. she's going traveling again but i'm sure we'll keep meeting up over big ol' dinners and hone our restaurateur dream into perfection. you all are invited to the opening.
*long story
**not that i don't love vegetarian girls, too, but..