One of THOSE nights
Friday night I met an old friend out for drinks. I have known him for 8 years. He was one of the first people I met in Brussels. He's a lovely guy. He's hot too. We have always had this 'thing' for one another... He has a cool job too. He built the software Euroclear uses for flight planning and he approves all of the pre-booked flight plans in and out of Zaventem airport himself - so I routinely moan at him about the cargo flight that roars over my house on Thursday mornings at 6am.
There's nothing like old friends who fall right into conversation as if you saw them yesterday even though you haven't seen them in months. That's how we are together. He's going through another phase of reading the classics - he's deep in to Shakespeare right now. Really deep. I think he's the only one I know who's read King John for crying out loud. with Shakespeare, I stick to the juicies, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet you know...Taming of the shrew.
Anyway - he's a food TV addict too - it's nice to hang with someone who jonz-es for the same things you know.
Anyway - I brought Bunny dog with me to Kitty's and we sat and chatted for hours over various drinks - the place was hopping that night - it was fun. We talked about Food Poker, Saturday Kitchen and Something for the Weekend. We talked about our mutual discomfort when we watch Nigella make herself a small snack frittata with 6 eggs 3 cups of cheese and a jar of jalapeños and eat it with her hands because she can't wait long enough to reach over and get the cutlery. We discussed the next series of Master Chef - to start in January. (So excited - SO EX-CI-TED). His best mate tried out for the new series, but didn't make it on to TV.
Through the magic of tipsy, we came to the educated conclusion that in fact, we were ravenous and could no longer talk about food, but had to get some immediately or we would perish. We chose to head back to my 'hood in the hopes of getting to a new Pakistani carry-out in time. We were going to die without curry - of course - odd because it's the first time I have wanted a curry in years.... Sadly We didn't make it for curry. They close at 10 and it was almost 11 - So with very little disappointment, we settled for one of the 6 carry-out pizza places within a block of my house.
We ordered a medium Mexican Pizza (as you do in Belgium)- extra hot. We grabbed a couple of beers and sunk into a sticky, orange pleather couch to wait for our pizza. Sipping beers on a plastic couch at 11 PM on a Friday night - super classy! Cla-saaay! But it was fun watching a group of young teenagers at the only table in the room - they were trying to act all cool. One bossy, super pudgy girl, about 14 years old was doing all the talking. This girl was a pretty big young lady - like pretty much nothing in the food world gets by her without a fight... But of course, she was poking at her pizza crust - You know, the way kids do when they think it's cool to dislike something food related to offset the fact that they look like they eat bowling balls for breakfast? - 'eew, you eat the crust?? I never eat the crust....' (yeah right honey - there aint much you don't eat sweetheart!)
It was funny and laid back and we were giggly and hysterical in turns. When with some friends, it's nice to just do whatever. It's easy.
We managed to talk well in to the night and get through 2 bottles of good wine and about 20 CDs. Just one of THOSE nights when everything clicks in to place.
May I just say, there's nothing more satisfying than watching a handsome guy with sleepy, bed head and stripy, boxer shorts scrambling down the stairs to catch the beginning of Saturday Kitchen. Ahhh. Bliss
posted by Brussels Confidential @ 10:41 AM
<< Home