Chocolate, Thai food & blue drinks

Yesterday, we decided to focus our efforts on saying Happy Birthday to Charlie in an appropriate manner. Since he was going to be working last night, that limited our options.

We began our time in Manhattan by visiting the Rockefeller Center location of La Maison du Chocolat. After acquiring an appropriate gift, we walked a bit, wandering into a street fair we didn't even know was going on. Now, we had heard that the Feast of San Gennaro was going on, but that was down in Little Italy. I have no idea what this was about, but it's always fun to be able to walk in the middle of closed streets in Manhattan. That alone, walking in the street with no risk of being run over, is exciting for a New Yorker!

After a little time there, we headed for the subway (yes, I put in a link for the subway; I'm link-happy today... so sue me! :) ), so we could get down to Greenwich Village for dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Lemongrass Grill. We had unsuccessfully tried to eat there a few weeks ago, so it was especially pleasing to pay a visit this time. After some great appetizers and big plates of Pad Thai, we tore into a small box of chocolates we bought for ourselves at La Maison du Chocolat (the big box was for Charlie, and that remained safely in the bag). :)

After thoroughly gorging ourselves on Thai food and chocolate, we noted that we still had a fair amount of time until Charlie started his shift at Townhouse. So we decided that we'd go for a leisurely stroll to the subway over at Astor Place. Now, a slow stroll for me means something different when compared to a slow stroll for Marc and Jeff (they're both several inches taller than me). Even so, it was a nice walk.

On the way, we stopped at a new clothing store (it was so new that they were still doing construction in there) so Marc and Jeff could buy sweaters to cope with the sudden plunge in temperature. For my part, I was happy in my short sleeves. I love cool, fall weather (even if it's a few days early)!

Eventually, after a walk of about, oh, I'd say, 863 miles (I may be slightly off in my estimate), we reached the subway station. We hopped on a train crammed with repulsively straight jock-acting Yankees fans. Apparently, there had been a game, and these people were on their way home.

Jocks can be fun to look at, but the appeal usually disappears when they speak. This was the case last night. Actually, there wasn't much to look at in this group, but it wouldn't have mattered. The moronic blather we had to endure would have been like verbal salt peter, even if they all were gorgeous.

Speaking of gorgeous, a short post-subway walk found us at Townhouse, where we were well cared for by Charlie's colleagues. One of these men, Juan-Carlos, was celebrating his birthday, as well. It may have been a special day for him, but just looking at him made it a special day for us.

We'd actually met Juan-Carlos on prior visits, but this evening had us sitting at his bar for some time, getting a very nice opportunity to admire his stunning good looks and beautiful smile. Being attached is a good thing for me, as it keeps me from making a fool of myself. Were I single, there's little doubt I'd be trying to get to know Juan-Carlos better, and, at least at this point in my life, I think the boy is out of my league. So there's another benefit of married life! :)

I started with a Malibu rum & Coke. Then I asked Greg, another of the bartenders (and not hard to look at either!), for a drink suggestion. His idea for me was a Long Island Iced Tea. After he poured the four main liquors into it, he asked if I'd like it to be blue for something different. I said that would be okay, so he finished it off with Blue Curacao.

This made for a fine drink, but we had a problem. We had timed our arrival to coincide with when we expected Charlie to start his shift, 9pm. The problem came when we didn't see Charlie and asked Greg where he was. "He doesn't start until ten." Ah, so that explained it. Even so, we planned to have a few drinks with Charlie. If we had to drink until he got there and then drink more, that could get to be unpretty! We hadn't planned to get trashed... so we carefully nursed those second drinks.

Meanwhile, to steal/paraphrase a line from M*A*S*H, Charlie, having taken a tramp in the woods, was lying in a ditch at the edge of town. Well, not quite, but he had grabbed a car service to get to work, only to find that the driver didn't know how to find East 58th Street!!!

This is one of the perils of life in New York. It seems that there's some sort of program run by the US Immigration Department that issues visas to people in foreign countries, together in a package with a New York driver's license and a job with a taxi or limo company. They land at JFK Airport and hop into a car for their first shift!

So Charlie fell victim to someone who was to drive him to work while he, the driver, was getting to see Manhattan for the first time in his life (or so it seemed)!!! This caused Charlie to arrive, somewhat frazzled (but still lovely, of course), around 10:30.

We exchanged kisses with Charlie--a moment that will occupy my fantasies for weeks (hey, Charlie, am I making you blush? or at least roll your eyes?)--and gave him his gift. As I explained to him, we'd have opted for a sexual gift, but we were afraid it would create too much of a scene in the bar. ;)

Even after his arrival in the bar, Charlie couldn't get any peace. At first, he was running his ass off at the back bar (it was very busy). Then they decided that they needed him at the front bar. Of course, we followed him. He kindly provided us with more to drink, as his treat. We stayed for a while and enjoyed a lovely time chatting with him between his serving other customers.

I couldn't possibly put Charlie's charm into words. If you haven't met him, you'll just have to use your imagination. What we really need to do next time is get together with him when he's not working, so he can relax and have some fun!

All in all, it was a nice evening. The main message was successfully delivered: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHARLIE!