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Fancy Food Friday #2

Friday, June 15, 2012

pomodoro pasta Date: Friday, June 15th, 2012
Fellow Foodie: Therese Whelan
Restaurant: Pomodoro Rosso
Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Cuisine: Italian
Grand Total: $67.51 + tip

Fancy Food Friday No. 2 was another success. In fact, the entire day was a hugely successful and inspirational day. Where to even begin? Well, the first part of the day was a fail on my part, since I was running late to meet my new friend Laksmi. I met her when she was our lovely server at Cafe Gitane (on Mott St.) - it's a long story for another time (trust me, it deserves its own post). So Laksmi and I met up at Five Leaves in Greenpoint for a late lunch. We talked and talked and talked over a kale salad and Arnold Palmer (for me) and three hours just flew by. Incidentally, a dragonfly flew by and apparently that's good luck. We had such an inspiring and passionate conversation with topics ranging from relationships to movies to ambitions to sex. Considering we just met twice briefly two weeks ago, it was a very open dialogue.

I didn't want to part with the girl, but we both had other engagements for the evening. We parted ways at Union Square, where I continued on the L to 6th Av and switched to the 2 to 72nd. It took me 30 minutes to get from Bedford and N12th to 72th and Broadway - that's pretty impressive! Express train! I got to Upper West Side a little early and I snapped a few photos with my camera and got myself a new bottle of hand sanitizer. I was in such a good mood. The weather was beautiful and I got to observe the beautiful architecture of the neighborhood. I need to spend more time in the Upper West Side.

Therese joined me in her cute outfit, which she described "this is how Owen Wilson would dress, if he were a girl" or something along those lines. She also wore knee high socks, since we had plans to see Moonrise Kingdom after our Fancy Food Friday dinner. We went to Pomodoro Rosso on Columbus Ave and 71st, since I was craving Italian food. I really wanted to get a wine, but I didn't want to be sleepy during the movie, so I went with my ever favorite Shirley Temple (awww I know), because I'm awesome like that. Most of the time when I order a Shirley Temple, I get the same look... like "awww bless" or "awww you're a loser". Haha, I couldn't care less - I've learned not to care so much about what other people think of me. It's great!

I ordered the Gambino alla Costa jumbo shrimp and diver scallop served over linguine primavera in a sherry lemon sauce and Therese had the Gemelli al Giardino pasta twists with sundried tomatoes, broccoli, portabello mushrooms in a parmesan garlic sauce with a touch of tomato. Therese's Sauvignon Blanc was surprisingly delicious, since it was light and sweet, but I knew I didn't want the wine to potentially affect my movie experience. We talked about movies and my past year working on sets, Therese and her Sisters (Hannah and her Sisters - we both love Woody Allen), we talked about celebrities and being starstruck. I would absolutely feel starstruck if I ever saw or met Mr. Woody Allen.

Dinner was absolutely lovely (I'm abusing the word 'lovely' nowadays). As tradition goes, I whipped out my Fujifilm polaroid camera and asked our server to snap two photos of us - one for her, one for me. Excuse me, I also got a photo with Laksmi at Fives Leaves and boy, do people flip out over the camera? People stopped in the middle of the street to watch the server photograph us with the "unusual looking" camera. It's cute, because it is fascinating. I've had the camera since 2010 now and I have a STACK of polaroids that I NEED to scan asap. After dinner, Therese brought me around the corner to see her old apartment and then we went to Strawberry Fields and by the Bethesda Fountain and we saw fireflies. It was so magical and romantic - I felt so alive and grateful. We snapped a few photos in the dark with our phones and cameras, they were all blurry, but I love them.

We walked to the Lincoln Plaza Cinema for the 10:30 showing of Moonrise Kingdom. Please note I've never been a fan of Wes Anderson - this doesn't mean I don't like his work, it just means I've never gone out of my way to watch a Wes Anderson film. But 94 minutes (94 minutes plus 20 minutes of previews) later, this film changed everything. I've never laughed so much in a really long time and The Dictator does NOT count. Slapstick, low brow, offensive humor can make me laugh, but Moonrise Kingdom was something else. Granted, it was a mixture of high and low brow humor, but it was a very enjoyable film. Admittedly, precocious and monotonous children on film annoy me, but Wes Anderson managed to create these really charming children, who have sad pasts and you want to care about/for them. Sometimes deadpan humor bothers me and only a select few can pull off deadpan and still be super cute and charming - cough cough Zooey Deschanel.

Personally, I loved Moonrise Kingdom and even though it could seem a little gimmicky in terms of the characters, writing, setting, cinematography, production and costume design, well everything - you just have to accept that it's a Wes Anderson film and it's bound to be super stylized. I accepted it and embraced it and fell in love. I would absolutely go into full detail about the film, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I'm just so glad that it made me laugh so hard and I really fell in love with the characters and that I got to share it with Therese. Fancy Food Friday was a delight and I really didn't want it to end. We'll see what next Friday brings.

fancy clothes, fancy food, fancy company, fancy life. 

pomodoro food therese fancy food friday no. 2 pomodoro rosso check

2 comments:

  1. ohhh that food looks lovely! glad you enjoyed your friday, avalonne, haven't seen you here since forever!

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  2. YAY, I'm happy to read you enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom.

    ReplyDelete