What is 63? It’s how old I am. Yup. Hard to believe-it comes up quick. Just yesterday I was celebrating my 20th birthday at Woodstock. Today I’m 2 years away from Medicare!! No shit!! Luckily I can still rock n’ roll!!
It was an epic birthday week starting with the Springsteen concert on Tuesday night. The events surrounding my birthday, August 17th were shrouded in secrecy. I knew we were going somewhere with our pals J and M but didn’t know where. So, when I got home from work I took Romeo for a swim which is my favorite thing to do and then got ready for the festivities!
First, a gift from Roy. The playbook of our life – meaning all the concerts we’ve been to with pictures and snippets of lyrics. It’s a coffee table book, it’s that good. We’ve been to a lot of concerts me and Roy, beginning on our first date with Mink DeVille in 1978 and ending with Springsteen on Tuesday night. It’s not over, we’ve got tickets for Rodriguez in October and Ian Hunter in December, so it goes on and on….
J and M picked us up. Of course they don’t come in because everyone is afraid to deal with Romeo. Poor guy, he gets a bad rap!
Well, the car was going into town and kept going to the seaport and where did we end up? Reservations at Sportello but before that, apps and a bottle of Prosecco at Lucky’s. Lucky’s is cool; young and hip in a Ft. Point Channel kind of way. A dozen of oysters and fried calamari Chinese stye which means a spicy sauce with peanuts and little green hot peppers on the calamari. Really good. Never had it that way. And, from J and M, my new favorite game Bananagrams, just in time for our trip to Spain.
Time to go across the street to Sportello. Owned by Barbara Lynch, designed like an Italian lunch counter, all in white with just a couple of tables. The food; pretty much spectacular. Everything it’s cracked up to be. There’s good and there’s great. This was great. First, a bottle Pinot Grigio in a pinkish color I’ve never seen! Then some salads to start.
What were our salads you ask? Roasted baby carrots with pickeled chanterelle, qpricot and almonds; local squash salad with farmer’s cheese, lemon and mint; and a panzanella with octopus. Then over to our table came two native tomatoes, compliments of the chef, stuffed with ricotta, quinoa and basil. Not bad, right?
Then, our very cool waitress, Haley, came over with something. Oh, a box from Barney’s with a beautiful scarf from Roy. Nice surprise!
We decided to share pasta dishes as our main course. Polenta with porcini; corn agnolotti, tiny pillows of homemade pasta filled with a fresh creamed corn; Strozzapreti with the most delicious braised rabbit (and I don’t eat rabbit) in a beautifully rich sauce and tagliatelle with a killer Bolognese.
Dessert, a little chocolate cake with a candle. I made my wish for the year (can’t tell you what it is). Judging from my birthday week, I’m hoping it’s a stellar year!
See you at the bar…..
