As we get near the end of my 50 for 50 list, we're getting to the ones that have been ... logistically challenging.
And it's been some of the ones which I'd thought would be easy.
Case in point: Drink hot cocoa by a fire.
I'd initially thought this one was open to all sorts of interpretation when I'd put it on the list. Maybe a "ski trip" (in quotes because me skiing is a questionable at best), or some sort of campfire evening type of thing.
This did not occur.
My friend Caroline signed up for it. She thought we'd find a nice cafe with hot chocolate and a fireplace.
This did not occur either. Mostly because we live in Los Angeles. And while there are some hot chocolate establishments (some of which are seasonal and we'd blown the season), none of them are near fire.
OK, ditch the flame. Let's just find someplace with good sippin' chocolate.
There is such a place. Amara Cafe, in Pasadena.
They serve dinner and stuff. And what is actually on their menu as "drinking chocolate." (As opposed to ... wearing chocolate?) They do a Venezuelan sippin' chocolate (and have an impressive-looking dessert menu in which churros feature heavily). Caroline and I plan to go there for dinner.
This, also, failed to occur. On multiple occasions. She got sick. I got sick. Her kid got sick. They're closed on Mondays. I'm out of town. They close at 7:30. Her other kid got sick. FFS, give me some sippin' chocolate with Caroline!
To be completely honest about it, we almost had more fun NOT doing the 50 for 50 than we had doing it. We met for a non-hot-chocolate dinner (in lieu of Amara) a bunch of times. (Juicy pork dumplings FTW!) Every time, we chatted, got caught up on each other's lives, and just took some time out of our (apparently) super busy lawyer lives to breathe.
We FINALLY made this happen on Tuesday. I was so busy this week (dinner with a visiting out-of-town friend on Wednesday; Avengers: Endgame on Thursday; plane to Arizona on Friday), I almost cancelled (again), but everyone seemed healthy, nobody was in the ER, Amara was actually open, and when the hell were the stars going to align like this again?!
We went. I had some sort of cornmeal pizza thing (not its real name -- cachapas, I think) with chicken and black beans which was actually pretty good, and A CUP OF VENEZUELAN DRINKING CHOCOLATE which was, y'know, better.
And the restaurant was more of a cafe, and the seating was not exactly luxurious, and it was after 7:30 so they were trying to shuffle us out. But we were sitting there, being hugged from the inside by chocolatey goodness, and being warmed from the outside by friendship, and it was a moment that couldn't be rushed.
And did I get a picture? This failed to occur. ;) We'll just have to manage to do it again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment