A nice evening

I spend quite a
bit of money each week eating out- it’s probably my only real splurging
(except for late fees and losing expensive books from college
libraries.)  Eating out used to mean the health food store in
Gainesville or Chicken Kitchen in high school.  Maybe two months
in Europe changed my views, I don’t know.

My girlfriend likes it.  Last night I fell asleep at her place and
woke up having not eaten anything all day.  We left her place and
I suggested we walk instead of driving.  I hate Kendall Drive
sometimes.  Other localities considering zoning changes will warn
against becoming “another Kendall Drive.”  Here we have a road
that begins beautifully enough near the Bay with banyan trees and a
relaxed
atmosphere that leads to the edge of the Everglades.  Around 107th
Avenue you start to get condo and strip mall hell.  From there on
it’s six
lanes of impatient Cubans blaring the awful reggaeton. 

Walking makes the “hurrying up to stop” at the red lights seem
comical.  Besides, walking gives you a chance to see the few
crackheads in West Kendall.  Otherwise, walking is the worst form
of punishment for the plump yuppies in their leased CO factories.

But that’s okay.  I was pretending I was a European again. 
We would’ve eaten at Red Lobster but the line was ridiculously
long.  Instead we discovered an Italian restaurant (La locanda)
which was awesome.  When the waitress couldn’t understand “A beer
please” I was shocked.  I know Miami is Spanish- but you should at
least be able to understand three words of English.  So we ordered
in Spanish, but the menu was in English- go figure. 

I ordered the cervezas and the taste immediately took me back to my
Roman hotel room near the train station with the African hookers
below.  I’m like Proust without the writing ability.  But the
cheap beer there cost me a fortune here.  I used to drink it alone
before going out walking the town. 

In trying to recreate the wonderful fresh octopus from my “walk to the
sea” in Rome, I ordered some calamari but it wasn’t the same. 
The main course was really yummy though (salmon and bow ties) and redolent of
another restaurant in Rome near the sea. 

Payasito that I am, my credit card fell down the space in between the
window and the wall while I was trying to get a waiter’s
attention.  Oh well, I have a second card.  The price was
worth reminiscing for an evening about my summer travels.  I still
don’t know what I’m going to do this summer.  I’ll figure
something out…

After the meal, I saw a student working in Spec’s and we bought a used copy of Office Space. 

What a perfect date night.