Episode XXX: Jenny Strikes Back!
I am pretty tired right now! I mean, I normally wake up at six thirty, so waking up at six fifteen shouldn't be that big of a deal-- except yesterday was Jenny's birthday! So there was a nice long day of straight drinking. Start at, oh, about noon. We walked over to Prospect Park-- the, yes, Jewel in New York's crown-- eat your heart out, Emerald Necklace! (Well, I do miss the Emerald Necklace parks, but as far as actual urban parks go, Prospect takes the cake) About forty-five minutes of chilling out later-- during which I didn't relax because I'm territorial & was looking for folks-- we met up with Kenneth, who showed us to the place Carla & he had claimed. A hidden divot! That is why Prospect Park is excellent; Daedalus couldn't have made it more labyrinthine. The semi-circle of trees also meant dog Claudio could run loose. So, prosecco! Then Lilly rolled up, sans dog Archie. He had been bad! Still, she brought madras! Madrases? Madrasi? & then David & Maggie with epic amounts of food-- the Fordelladorianfraud standards like greek yogurt & fruit & honey & Carla had made sandwiches & then we had brought gin & tonic & blammo! Picnic in the park with a nice buzz on to take the edge off. Crimes! There was wine, & screw drivers & a few hours later I had sunburn on my legs! Then things are a little bit fuzzier the rest of the day...
Jenny & I ended up at Beer Table, killing time. I had a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (black gold, oaky, chocolate, luxurious) which was pretty damn good. It was the darkest thing on the menu, & that makes me compare it to the Harvey's A. le coq Imperial Russian Stout, which I really dug, was really weird, & has the advantages of nostalgia on its side. I thought I'd had it before, & I had! Good for you, memory. Jenny had (& I sipped) the De Dochter van de Korenaar Noblesse (clean, peppery, refreshing, herbal, floral) which I liked too-- it reminded me of the Belgian White at Johnny Mack's. Then, Carla & Kenneth joined us & we all went over to the newish gastro-pub, Thistle Hill; it was fine? Here is the quick rundown: the salad was a yawn, a snooze, not worth it-- plus maybe we get the same vegetables from our CSA that they use. The olives are another skip-- get an assortment from Union Market or wherever. The fried fennel was just basically fried batter; so yeah, all our appetizers were uninteresting. I had the rainbow trout, which was tiny? Kenneth really liked it; it was fine. Jenny's porkbelly is what I had wanted to order before she demanded birthday right of priority. It was pretty good. Carla got the duck confit with cheese & greens & that was...really, really great. The best deal though was Kenneth's burger, which was copious & very excellent. The grade of meat was just exceptional. So yeah; burger & duck? Go that way. There was wine...& then the evening continued! We split from them to go over to Kira & Nino's to watch True Blood. I continue to like Vampire Bill best, though flying Eric is pretty hilarious. We'll see! Anyhow, then we walked home & collapsed into a coma.