the march towards decrepitude

The month of April heralds the start of spring and - more importantly - the birthdays of Evil Twin #1 and Evil Twin #2. I tend to be sad around birthday time; I get all weepy because another year has passed and things change and people lose touch and we grow up. But, in reflecting upon my 28th year, I wasn't as weepy as I normally am. Maybe it's because I've been so busy at work that I don't have time to wax nostalgic. Or maybe it's because I have come to accept that things change and, in the immortal words of Steve Winwood, it's better to just roll with it.

Funny how much things can change in just one year. This time last year, I was licking my wounds after a very painful breakup and as a result was certifiably "boy crazy." I had crushes all over the place--work, clients, old friends--and even did some embarassing things while under the influence. Never again will I tell someone how I "feel" after tequila. That's all in the past. This year, I had one of the best meals I've ever had (and that's saying a lot) on my birthday, with someone that I am head over heels for. Dinner was a surprise and I had no idea where we would go.

He took me to L'Impero which is a beautiful italian restaurant in Tudor City. We each had a lovely glass of wine--I had Riesling and he had a really yummy Montepulciano. I had sweetbreads for my first time--they were fried and we all know that everything fried is good--and were served still warm with white asparagus and mushrooms I've never heard of. Even though I know what sweetbreads are, they were really tasty and I am a big fan. I would eat that salad every day if I could. For my main course I had lobster risotto. And our dessert was a heavenly banana and giandua tart. I can't even begin to explain how sublime the food was. I guess for $100/person it had better be freaking good. And I can even say that it was worth it. To top it off, he gave me the sweetest card ever that I read over and over. And, on top of a fantastic meal, he got me fancy schmancy artisinal chocolates and fancy schmancy bath gel. He really does know me too well. All in all, a fantastic birthday.

Since my real birthday was during the week, I had to wait until the weekend to celebrate with friends. While Evil Twin #1 celebrated at the lovely Silhouette Lounge, I decided to host a soiree at Kashkaval, which is not exactly comparable to the Silhouette, but is just as much fun. Kashkaval is my favorite wine bar in New York. It's one of the few unpretentious spots where you can go, order a bottle or two, choose from a fine selection of cheeses, play some scrabble, get to know the waiters and owner, and have them give you free olives. In other words, I love this place. Oh, and the exposed brick and rustic table and benches which the owners made themselves doesn't hurt either.

After many bottles and much cheese, my worlds (work, law school and life outside work and post-law school) and I went to another one of my favorite places here in NYC... K-town for some karaoke. It always seems to come back to karaoke. Evil Twin #1's bday celebration ended at Do-Re-Mi in Boston. My night ended at Chorus in K-town along with 7 others, 2 of which had never been karaoke-ing before. I'm pretty sure that they'll go again. I even scored 100 with my rendition of Dancing Queen. Ahhhh. Gotta love the scoring. So, after 4 hours drinking wine and eating stinky cheese and 2 hours belting out songs we headed home at 4 am. Even though I am now 29, I was able to stay out later than I did when I was in college. The biggest difference is that it now takes me 3 days to recouperate...