Carousing with Chris

What a great night! I got to Chris' hotel around 5pm and we sat in the lovely courtyard and enjoyed each other's company for a couple of hours before our dinner reservation at 7:15pm. We had a glass of wine together and talked and laughed just like old times. It was so nice.

The restaurant we ate at was a tapas restaurant called Pura Vida, where they bring you appetizer-size portions of food of many different things for you to sample. We tried several items, and while we didn't eat all of everything, we did at least sample everything. The bill ended up being over $100 which he paid for, being the gentleman that he is, and we enjoyed an evening full of full-flavored Latin cuisine. And I took a ton of pics!!

Tilapia Tica Ceviche:

Button Mushrooms Pinchos:

Chicken Picadillo Empanadas:

Hanger Steak Pinchos:

House-cured Trout Caviar on Carrot Pancakes w/ Smoked Crema:

Mayan-spiced Creamed Beef over House Angel Hair Pasta:

We also had Diablo Shrimp Coctel & Mi Media Noche, but the camera batteries died and I couldn't get pics of those! When we left the restaurant, we went to a gas station and bought some batteries so we could take more pics when we got back to the hotel.

We ended up sitting in the courtyard again after dinner and talked for hours on end. I believe it was 1am before we finally ran out of steam. It was a great time catching up with Chris, and he'd like to come back again maybe in January, with some things planned for us to do. He wants to go to the Fox Theater and see David Copperfield in January, and some other things in Midtown, like visiting the Woodruff Arts Center, the Aquarium, etc.

Here are all the pics I took of us, both at the restaurant, and in the courtyard:

The only thing that was missing was Pam. All 3 of us went to high school together, and I actually met Chris through Pam...they were friends first. We talked about how nice it would have been to have her there with us...she lives in FL and has a husband and son, so it's a little harder for her to get away than it is for us single people. But we missed her terribly!! Maybe one day we can plan something far enough in advance where we can ALL get together...that would be fantastic!

I'm headed to the gym now to get in my treadmill and weights for the day, then off to run my usual Friday errands. Hope everyone has a spook-tacular Halloween weekend!! :)

Quote For the Day:

"Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it." -Sir Winston Churchill