it's even better than you think it is...

picnic nosh
Originally uploaded by queenesther.

my friend's birthday was yesterday. unfortunately, i woke him up with his birthday present (i was too excited to wait until the afternoon) -- a genuine honest-to-gosh spirograph, with all of its parts, right down to the original (totally dried out) pens. how 70's is that? he couldn't believe i found one. frankly, neither did i. the kicker? i took him to the battery for a picnic of white wine and oysters. i don't drink, so we got some tea for me on the way there. and we didn't bring the plastic wine glasses i had because he was afraid that the park police would take the wine away (which was italian and evidently, very good). i wanted it to be a take from that quote from hemingway's novel a moveable feast. when i made his birthday card, i put this in it:

"As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank the cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and make plans."

i want my friend "to be happy and make plans." so far, so good.



interesting thing. the cooler of a dozen or so oysters turned into a horn of plenty when i realized the african in the market that helped me pick them out gave me much more than i actually paid for. i love it when that happens...