pick up lines and dinner dates

I was treated to the best pickup line/situation ever when I had to drive to Milpitas to deposit a check at my bank.

I was tired. Frustrated. Feeling queasy from a dinner consisting of popcorn and Sour Patch Kids. And sick of being broke. I'd already gotten lost on my way to Milpitas and back.

Which might explain what possessed me to walk into a Panda Express today.

In the state that I was in, greasy Chinese food looked like just the thing. On my way in, I accidentally bumped into a guy with the door, so I smiled and apologized. Somehow, my instinct to be polite was interpreted as a "hi-I'm-interested" gesture.

"So, do you come here often?" he inquired as we moved up to the fried noodle section.

"Actually, no," I replied. "I live in San Francisco."

"Oh, there are some fiiiiine Panda Expresses up in the city! We should hit it up sometime."

Um. No.

*~*~*~*~*

As soon as I got back to the office I im'd Miriam in a state of panic, and luckily, she suggested an early dinner.Desperate to become a real human being again after a week of poverty and ramen noodles, we actually went to a real restaurant - 2223 - rather than our usual dive ethnic joints. And it was truly a memorable occasion. Not only was it (a) before 9 pm, (b) at a real restaurant and (c) one of the few times where I was wearing real clothes, I was actually early. Miriam wasn't even ready when I came in the cab to pick her up.

2223 was heavenly. I wouldn't say that its the best restaurant in the city (that title is reserved for Panda Express, of course), but it has fantastic comfort food. We started off with appetizers - a homemade mushroom soup with creme fraiche for me, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto for Miriam - and each tried a variation of syrah for wines.

Then came our main courses. Miriam got her favorite roast chicken, while I had a half-order of roasted mussels with andouille sausage and polenta, accompanied by rosemary grilled artichoke with aioli sauce. The mussels were suprisingly good, and the polenta was the creamiest, most delicious blend to ever touch my tongue. Dinner was topped off with a shared caramel latte panna cotta... almost as orgasmic as the molten chocolate cake at Aziza. Almost.

It was a good reintroduction to being a real person, plus it was nice to catch up with Mi. I realized today that she's truly my soul sister. Not only do we have similar perspectives, similar childhood backgrounds, and similar attitudes, but she wears the same shoe size AND looks good in the same shades of lipstick. Plus, I like that she gets the Asian flush (even though she's only half) and I don't.