speakeasy dollhouse

firstly, congratulations to J and B for tying the knot. wishing them many years of happiness together.

the day started with a leisurely brunch with Angela, who I haven't seen in eight years. she looks the same and it was all very natural and easy. Hearth, the restaurant has a dish called trotter fiorentina, which is supposed to be one of the top ten brunch dishes in new York. they served me up the wrong dish, a pork steak with rosemary, so gave that to us for free and gave me my trotter dish too. both were delicious. very different and great to alternate mouthfuls; there'd be a meaty, rosemary crunch one minute followed by a gooey, juicy mouthful the next.

 had my first geocaching experience, the first was hidden on a lamppost and the second was under a railing. it remains to be seen whether I'll get hooked onto it.

we then went to the world's biggest fancy dress shop ready for our outing to a speakeasy whodunnit in the evening. S's purple patch continued and we got a free drink at the bar before the play started. I need to bottle that guy's luck.

 speakeasy dollhouse is based on the true story of the writer's grandfather. he was killed by the local barber, who was then acquitted. every audience member is given a role and we're encouraged to get dressed up. the interactiveness of the whole thing meant ridiculous dialogue and confusion. I'd find myself listening in on a conversation thinking that it was part of the play before realising I was eavesdropping in on a personal conversation by random punters. oops!

I wasn't there to witness it myself but it sounds like the line of the night from amongst our friends went something like this: (friend ambles over to the judge character in the play), 'hello, judge. nice to meet you. I'm in politics too.' judge: 'oh yes? what kind?' friend: 'oh. um. you know. general politics.'

we then ended up at the Essex, a restaurant in the lower East side. I am perplexed still by how they managed to get their lobster ravioli so uniformly stripey. there were bands of yellow and black, which I think is made from squid ink, but how do they get the lines of colour so perfectly straight? what a mystery.