dinner with friends (lyn)

Four of us plan to have dinner together- Shari, Corinne, Zelia and I.  Shari picks the restaurant.  Her favorite.  A place called The Harrison in Tribeca.  I go to menupages.com and see that it’s a bit pricey.   I am so stressed about money that I try to cancel by lying. 

Around 3 I call Shari and tell her I’m going to have to cancel because I have an upset stomach.  Shari is too good a friend to just accept my lame excuse.  She’s an exceptionally caring person, and would be the first to drop everything and run over to help if I ever needed it.   She begins to quiz me about my illness. Do you think it’s something you ate?  Is it a virus?   Do you need anything?  I do not lie well, and my excuse becomes weaker and weaker as I feel more and more guilt for making up an ailment.  No I don’t feel nauseous.  No I don’t think it’s the flu.  Alexander feels fine.  I don't think it's contagious.  It’s probably just anxiety about college.  “Then come anyway, and eat light, “ she implores.  “No, really.  It’s better if I stay home.“  Then silence.  “It’s something else, isn’t it?”  Shari is such a good friend I’d hate for her to think it has anything to do with our relationship.  So I tell her the truth.   She provides so many good arguments for why I should go (and I really want to).  In the end, she wins me over.  

The restaurant is in Tribeca.  It’s very hip, but not overly so.  We are seated by 8:15.  We order drinks, and though I never drink, I get a Cosmopolitan.  The bread is too delicious to resist, but my compromise is only one piece.  For an appetizer, I order sardines.  I don't think I have ever ordered sardines before but the description is appealing: Sardine Puttanesca-calamata olives, capers, spicy tomato broth.   I have no idea how I’ll count this.  Someone orders a dish for the table --  something horribly named duckfat fries.  They arrive and are devoured before they even have time to cool.

For dinner, I order chicken (which is large and with skin).  I eat all of it, along with the pureed potatoes and spinach that accompany it.  Corinne picks a dessert called Peanut-Butter and Jelly -- peanut butter mousse, concords, banana cake. We all have a few bites, and it, too, disappears quickly.

The conversation never lags.  College hunt.  Our recent vacations that will end on Tuesday when the kids return to school,  Texting and what can happen when one is sent by mistake to the wrong recipient. And other mundane but still interesting topics.  And as always, we end up in a couple of boisterous discussions:  one on the new health care law and one on a particular person who is detested by one of the people present. 

We laugh and eat and argue for three hours.  It is worth every dollar and every point.