There are very few times were I’m invited into the worlds of upper crust of lower Manhattan wealth and last night happened to be one of them. Our friends A&J are getting married very shortly and we were invited by J’s CEO (we’ll call him George) and wife (we’ll call her Norkys for now) to their not so humble, 5 story home in the west village for their engagement party.
I recognized the house as we jumped out of our yellow chariot 100 feet away. I had walked by many times, as it’s right on the corner with a dramatic stair rise to the primary walk in floor. I’ve been caught by the help, walking their dogs when gazing in the windows from across the street; wondering what priceless items adorn the walks and rooms of such an established resident of the village. The party was a private affair with J & A’s friends, family, co-workers and personal bankers (or so it seems from the largely high-financially employed crowd) although it felt at times like an after work social. I was one of 3 men without ties but the ladies were casual and acceptable in their more comfortably dressed cocktail gear.
As we walked in, we were greeted by Samuel, who took our coats and brought me my first Sapphire and tonic of the eve; she an excellent Amarone. There was certain segregation of work, family and friends at first. I quickly got introduced to A’s parents whom have driven up from North Carolina where they are comfortably retired; the father I learned used to get his kicks in the evening by reading SEC audit trails and papers. J’s parents are from the land of crab cakes and football; the father a red tie wearing man; well connected with DC who has worked in furthering security and safety of the people….
The gathering room was more fit for a smaller gathering of maybe 15, this seemed more like 30-40 crammed between victorian couches, crystal chandeliers, greek art, marble busts of gods, terracotta vases (all of which could be on rotation for others residing in the MET) and an odd collection blown glass spheres on a coffee table. Central audio first encouraged talking rather than listening until Norkys’ got a hold of the universal controls later.
In the brightly yellow room, short Asian women bobbed and weaved between the guests serving bits on silver trays. Apparently we were eating catered food from the chef that prepares for the British embassy, and I’ll have to say the curry, lobster and quail egg with beluga were excellent. I had a chance to get down stairs and see the kitchen, which was larger than my apartment. Even the staff quarters there was pimped with worn rusted brown leather couches and flat screen tvs. Unfortunately I didn’t get a tour of the other 3 floors above.
I had an opportunity to meet our hosts, both seemed more preoccupied with counting down the time for their guest’s departure than entering into any meaningful conversation with new acquaintances. I headed back to the bar and had another drink mixed up between perrier swigs.
During the time I caught up with a few of A’s cousins, one of which had his first baby. He happened to have 50 of the 247 photos he took of his baby daughter’s birth on his phone and proceeded to show all the love and joys of the hospital care, sturuped ladened wife, documentation of crowning and quite possibly a few of the birth canal, however, my head was turned away during the rest of the slide show. A proud father obviously but somethings should still be private and I for one will not be keeping images even in my head of those sites.
Many of the conversations I found myself in were around hunting, sailing, football, finance and damn his wife is hot. However, the social gathering came to an end almost as soon as it began and no real damage was done except for the 4 G&Ts and one husband of the cousin had carelessly knocked over a priceless lamp and snapped the shaft in front of the host. I couldn’t tell if the incident was cause for any concern (I’ll just pick up another) or if there was some heart behind the breakage.
The end of the evening didn’t come there. We headed to a great restaurant with more wine and food. I won’t go into detail here for the rest, however, excellent work J&A, thank you for the invitation and congratulation on the engagement.
While we were touring Napa this last weekend I passed a Mexican market on the out skirts of Sonoma. After a quick illegal u-turn, and freaking out E, I pulled up to front because I was eager to replace my stock of carne asada spice mix I had brought over from CA. Of course the brand El Mexicano is huge in CA, so I had no trouble getting two different variants (hot an regular) as well as stocking up on flan (a rich caramel custard), horchata (an aguas frescas made of rice, barley, vanilla and sugar) and some tamarindo candies.