Friday's Christmas Party

Today Barbara and I had our annual Christmas lunch -- and since I"m still feeling a bit poorly she came here. We decided to do Gracie's (coffee shop) and went for old school Cheeseburger Deluxe. She had cheddar; I had American. I am not exaggerating when I say this was one of the best burgers I've had -- oh my God, it was good. I had some cole slaw from Tal Bagels in the fridge and some pickles slicer things and made one big messy juicy burger.

 

 

It came with lettuce, tomato, fries and two onion rings -- You can see how big and wonderful and sloppy these burgers were. Truly burgers to remember.

 

Then we exchanged gifts. I gave Barbara a bottle of Proseco -- when I first learned of it, I asked Barbara if she'd ever had it and she said she and her husband practically got addicted to it when they went to Italy. So I thought she and Bob would enjoy a bottle on Christmas morning.

 

There's a bakery on First Avenue which has been untouched for all practical purposes since 1902 -- still has the wooden display cases, tiny white tile floor, string holders hanging from the ceiling, etc. It's where I buy my "home-made" Christmas cookies. The difference is that most places try to look old; like fake Disneyland old, but this place really *is* old. So Barbara loves the cookies from there and so I bought a box to go with her Proseco. I thought Proseco and Christmas cookies are a wonderful combo.

 

So when Barbara arrived, she said she was a few minutes early so she went to the bakery and bought me some Christmas cookies! I sort of smiled but didn't say anything. Then when we exchanged presents, she saw we had exchanged boxes of cookies. Both of us confessed to having cookie envy of the other person -- I confessed to wondering if I could remove the string, snatch a few cookies, and then put the string back on, but I resisted. In addition to the cookies, Barbara gave me this perfect little box of six chocolates, made in Brooklyn, that are like truffles, but there is salt on top. I think Barbara is the one who introduced me to the joy of sweet and salty things.

 

To add to my paperweight connection, she also gave me the paperweight below which is in the shape of a sleeping cat. She found it in an antique store so we added that to my collection. I'll confess when I first opened it, I said "Oh a snail!" mistaking the cats ears for those snail horns. But now I see it's a cat. The photo doesn't quite do it justice, but it's very colorful, very pretty.