Fall

It's been a hectic two weeks for me, which is highly unusual given I normally spend my time bumming around thinking about food - what to eat, where to eat and how to eat it.

You could say I'm trying to cram as much in before the weather starts to get too chilly here. The humid, icky weather has finally given way to more bearable conditions. The afternoons are getting dark earlier now, I guess autumn is finally here.

I had the pleasure of meeting K last Sunday, a fellow Aussie and amatuer foodie who stumbled upon my blog some time ago. We've been emailing each other back and forth for some time, and we finally decided it was time to meet. I had told my friends about this meeting, a complete stranger (well not exactly a stranger but you know what I mean), and there had been varied reactions to this.

"She could turn out to be some creepy guy with a penchant for lace thongs!"

"It's definitely some perve, you shouldn't meet!"

"What's the worst that could happen? She could turn out to be some old guy who preys on innocent young females, but hey at least you met!"

And so forth.

Thankfully none of the above was not the case. We had planned a late Sunday brunch at the Sunburnt Cow, an Aussie pub in the East Village that had the very tempting idea of all-you-can-drink mimosas.

I turned up at her apartment building at the appointed time and was relieved to see was a perfectly normal, happy human being :) She had a bottle of bubbly in the fridge which we of course had to have to toast our meeting. She made the most amazing champagne cocktail I've ever had - a sugar cube, a dash of bitters, a small amount of Grand Marnier and topped with yummy bubbly.

We proceeded to her backyard (she has a backyard, in New York...I was in awe!), where we chatted about our lives in New York, friends and family back home, and the problems we have with our "r's" in America - Aussies pronounce beer "bee-aa", whereas we've learned to roll our r's so it's beer-rrr in America.

We both agreed it was a perfect lazy afternoon - a pretty garden, an overflowing ashtray, and several glasses of champagne. Before we knew it, it was 5pm and too late for brunch. Oh well, bring on the chardy!

I told her about my initial reservations about meeting and what my friends had said, she laughed and said her friends said the same thing. If the champagne didn't break the ice, that certainly did!

So all in all, a good week. Here's to a new found friendship, cheers!!