Vegetable personalities

So last night, in the pouring, pounding rain, we went with T (my visiting college roommate) to Angelica Kitchen. The waiter was impressed that we showed up. "I can tell who the true fans are," he said, looking out at the dismal atmosphere. Inside it was cozy and warm, and slightly 70s co-op, as people nibbled on their raw cashews and dragon bowls around us.

We all got sweet corn croquettes with red kidney bean sauce, summer corn soup (comes with the entree), and then for dessert, D and I shared the plum-almond upside down cake, while T branched out and got the rice pudding. "It has actual rice in it!" she said. "Instead of being all pulverized." I was so taken with the cake (and the almond sauce) that I licked the plate afterward. I asked D if he minded, and then made sure none of the waitstaff was looking. T couldn't stop laughing.

Then we set off into the monsoon once more and went to the Union Square Barnes & Noble to buy some Scrabble. Long story - we tried to play it the night before, but after D pulled the hall closet apart, we realized we didn't have one. (Although we do have 4 different versions of Trivial Pursuit, given to him by the same cousin. At B&N, we saw a book lovers' version...finally, the one I might win.)

D is something of a genius at board games. He whupped us both at Scrabble. He even got that 50-point bonus for using all his tiles at one point. "This is the biggest Scrabble upset I've ever seen," said T. At another time, T wanted to challenge him for using "quo" but let it go, not wanting to lose her turn if she was mistaken. Later she did look it up, and found that it was not in the dictionary (my American Heritage dictionary from my high school English department, anyway). T maintains that we need a Scrabble dictionary (something I never knew existed).

We ran into our friend SH (actual initials) at the Union Square B&N. Though he lives in Brooklyn, we frequently see him in that area. We've run into him on the elusive 4th Avenue before (so called because it doesn't last very long before blending into Broadway or something). We all got into an animated conversation about Snakes on a Plane and even considered seeing it. T thinks her boyfriend, burned out from his anthropology Ph.D. program, may be up for it.