The Bet

I have decided to piggy back off of Shana's posts about my 10 days in NYC. I am giving a different version of things so if you want to get the whole story, you have to read both of us. Clever, yes? Let's start with The Bet. Shana gives a brief explanation of the bet we had here. (word to the wise and the non-clairvoyant...read her post or the rest of this won't make much sense).

So, we took our skinny asses to Isabella's. It was approximately 383729 degrees everywhere in the city...even inside the stores and restaurants (and trust me, we ducked into several random stores just so our underwears would dry out). As Shana explains it, many businesses have to call someone to prep their AC for the summer. Because it had been 40 degrees the week before, no one thought to prepare for SweatFest 2011. I understand and do not judge because, usually, spring comes before summer. But Isabella's was trying to combat the heat by opening their doors and windows that lead out onto the patio seating and turning on all of the fans. I appreciated the effort. But I was still sticking to the chair.

We did think to get a pre-dinner picture, while we still had fresh lipstick and teeth. 

Cheers to our success. Drink up, hooker, because you are going down in round 2. Just sayin'.

We ordered our victory dinners. Both of us had this hazelnut halibut that tasted exactly like buttah! I didn't even know something from the sea could be that delicious, creamy, non-fishy. Then I caught a glimpse of a waiter bringing out a dessert to the table next to us. It was a block of chocolate, molded to look like a bag, filled with berries and cream. My memories lit up like a skee ball board. I know that bag! I bring you Isabella's circa 2006...

 Meat on a stick. And Neal never lets me swallow before taking the picture.

And this, biffys, is why I photograph food. Otherwise I would forget what I ate and thus forget where I had been. My 80 year-old Alzheimer'd self has already started thanking me.

The weekend Neal brought me to NYC to propose at the top of Rockefeller Center, we also cruised the Bronx Zoo, strolled through Central Park, and stopped for lunch and bag-o-berries at Isabella's. It was all coming back to me now...the sidewalk table where we had sat...the green and white logo splashed across the matchbooks in our bathroom in Georgia....

But we didn't have the bag-o-berries. We had brownieicecreamthings, which you have seen if you've popped over to Shana's. And then I paid our bill because 26 lbs beats 12 lbs any day. (However, the rematch restaurant has already been determined and I'm now running for Kentucky bourbon pecan pie.)

After dinner, we met up with The Mistress of Phish, Charlotte @ My Pixie Blog. Champagne at Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Station was simply perfect. It's a renovated apartment that reeks of Vanderbilt's money and Great Gatsby's clientele. And I absolutely loved it. I'm glad I wore the pearls.

All we're missing is Jeeves. And cigars. But notice the empty champagne glass. We're hard on champagne.

We said goodbye to sweetbeautifulCharlotte and left her to retrieve the car from a parking garage attendant who had made us swear that we would be back by midnight. Bubbles in our belly and halibut on our breath, we cruised back to Chez Shana to crash and burn. I will follow in her footsteps with my next 2 posts...recording what I learned from my trip, complete with pictures and commentary. But for now, I think it may have just turned wine-thirty for me. Ciao and air kisses on the cheek.