This chilly fall weekend has been one remarkable mostly for my exposure to some new restaurants. Otherwise, I have been nursing a budding cold and sleeping most of the day. After the exhausting field trip on Friday, which I can look at relative to my prior teaching experience and appreciate as really not that exhausting, one of my nostrils went awol. I couldn’t breathe through it. My head ached, and I felt tired. It was time for some cold medicine.
The rest of Friday is a blur. I don’t remember when I saw Cade or what we did. I just know I had the cold medicine and went to bed early. Actually, I recall watching Edmond and not being that impressed, but that’s it. On Saturday, Cade and I had crepes at Crepes on Columbus. We each had breakfast crepes, followed by a shared dessert crepe filled with chocolate, strawberries, bananas, and marshmallow. I went home and had more cold medicine, which meant more sleep. I ate later that evening, only to fall asleep again a few hours later. I find it indescribably disappointing that I’ve had more sleeping than waking hours this weekend. What am I - a groundhog?
This afternoon, I woke up and felt the best I have this weekend. Cade and I planned on trying an all-you-can-eat brunch special on the West Side after reading good reviews online. The restaurant was boarded up when we arrived. Who knows how long that’s been the case? This seems to be part of the NYC life, the ephemeral nature of commerce, not to mention relationships and daily proceedings. There was this empty space along Broadway that I walked passed daily for over a year that in one day, became a McDonald’s. This was in an area I was kind of proud to say didn’t have the Golden Arches. Gourmet grocery store, yes. Progressive ice cream shop, yes. But no Big Mac dispenser…until now.
Cade had an alternative brunch destination in mind, and we hoped it wouldn’t be out of business, too. Luckily, Calle Ocho is up and running. The space is plush and groovy. It’s a hoppin’ lounge by night and purveyor of comida Latina by day. We had some sort of Cuban breakfast taco platter. Before our meal, though, we went through a cigar box full of pastries. The banana nut muffins were delicious. I asked for a few more as we finished up the meal and received four small muffins in another cigar box and two huge muffins in a to-go box. Gratis!
So the point of this entire post is to document the lost weekend of sniffly slumber and to promote Calle Ocho. I’d like to go back sometime at night for dinner and drinks. Until then, though, I think I’m going to hop back into bed and read.
