when i said...

starting the evening off right
originally uploaded by o.p.b.

..."i'll be back," i meant it.

what better way to start off a long weekend off right than by sipping cocktails in the chilled air high on a rooftop deck? this time around, i had a great host and tour guide. there was never a dull moment and hardly a minute's rest in the entire weekend. the agenda was easy: to eat my way across manhattan, or at least manhattan below twenty-third street since h, my host, isn't allowed to does not venture above twenty-third street. much.

in addition to the meat packing district, h introduced me to the pickle district, which just so happens to be closed on the jewish sabbath, although the gelato place next door is open then. imagine, gelato in a pickle district. sounds like a pregnancy thing to me. but i digress.

on friday night we ventured out to see the local production of hell house, a sort of haunted house with an evangelical christian bent to it. i came away from it repeating the phrase "stop right there, satan!" if i had a bad pair of white feathered "angel wings" you might think i was indeed an angel. many people often make that mistake. there was a lot of public art exhibits going on that night too, so we wandered around while waiting for our turn to venture into hell house. h was disappointed that the group of six or seven girls wandering the streets, clad in identical pink skirt-suits and matching pillbox hats, didn't give him one of the fake mustaches they were passing out.

while we were on our way to the pickle district we stopped into a puzzle of a little french café. after we found our way into the café though a series of scobby-doo-esque rotating brick walls, i made the mistake of asking the waitress what the "l.e.s." on her shirt meant. h just put his head down and said a silent prayer. i thought it had something to do with french since the café was called «l'épicerie». or could it have been code for "lesbian." after we finished with the pickle district we made our way to the rice pudding district and indulged the sweet tooth in each of us. we passed through the lighting district and cooking ware districts on our way back home. that night we went to see an improv comedy show and then out for some adult beverages to wind down.

we woke up sunday morning and went for a bike ride along the east river heading toward the the biyali district. when we arrived at the biyali district we were surpised to see it was closed. the whole district. closed. on the christian sabbath and not the jewish one. the only saving grace was that the adjacent donut district was open! a tres leches for me, an apple cinnamon for h and we were back on the road.

we continued our tour through the financial district and then biked around the cape of good hope through battery city park and up along the hudson river until we got to twenty-third street and then headed back for showers and then off to brunch with mister brooklyn himself: k. it was great to be able to spend time with both of them and just laugh. and eat. yumm! [the food and the company!]

after brunch we went off to the cupcake district to have an afternoon schnäcken.

i could not have asked for a better weekend. thanks a ton to h for putting up with me and putting me up. i owe you one, mister. except to be able to spend time with more men. you know who you are. i've said it before, i'll say it again, i'll be back.

in the background::new york:u2