maggie and sat's little love nest

 © Joselito Briones 
last weekend maggie and saturday invited me for a late lunch at their new flat in fortress hill.  you know there's no place i won't go for free food. and there was so much of it - maggie spent the whole morning cooking.  the best was the chicken wing marinated in coke zero, and the enokitake salad.

the flat was cute, full of toys and knick knacks (not for a future baby, for them!)  ah. to be young and starting out. 

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Jane's, before

© Joselito Briones

Beautiful day. Mati and I decided to take photos of Jane's living room, where we'll be spending the next few days, before we completely mess it up. Sort of a before and after picture. I'll try to post an "after" picture later. I took photos, above and below, using the Olympus E500, while Mati used his Voigtlander with ultra wide-angle lens.


© Joselito Briones

I've shown you a photo of this living room before, of course, in case you're wondering why it looks familiar.


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Ha!

© Joselito Briones

Am still here of course, spending most of my time in Wil's kitchen (photo, above). I know I owe you quite a lot of stories already, but I'll try to do it little by little, or maybe not. Am not really good at backtracking. I'll just show you photos of things that I've been seeing here in London.


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to JFK

© Joselito Briones

I was thinking of a sappy song to put here, kinda like the one I did last year on my way to the airport, but I couldn't think of any. There wasn't anything to say about the drive either, except for a brief traffic congestion. I guess the only thing remarkable about this morning is that we had pizza for breakfast, while watching "Legally Blonde" on TV. Here's "Drive" anyway, an oldie from Incubus, about making decisions.


DRIVE

Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear
And I can't help but ask myself how much
I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer.
It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague,
haunting mass appeal.
But lately I'm beginning to find that I
should be the one behind the wheel.

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there..I'll be there.

So, if I decide to waiver my chance to be one of the hive
Will I choose water over wine and hold my own and drive?
Aah-ah-oo-o-o.

It's driven me before and it seems to be the way
that everyone else gets around.
But lately I'm beginning to find that when
I drive myself my light is found.

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeahhh
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there...I'll be there.

Would you choose water over wine....hold the wheel and drive?

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there..I'll be there.


-Incubus




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Is this mike on? (Jane's, after)

© Joselito Briones

After all of today's shopping, we met up in the evening with Eric and Jane, to have dinner at Krystal's Cafe also in Roosevelt Avenue (close to Renee's Kitchenette). It was easy to see that Eric and Jane enjoyed it more than our dinner from Cendrillon. I'd have enjoyed it more too, had it not for the karaoke thing that was ongoing when we arrived. Eric was shy to do a number himself, even as he boasts of always being the life of the party, the karaoke star, so he ended up bringing his magic phone to Jane's, where we all went back to after dinner, and sang his heart out there.

As promised, here's the "after" picture of Jane's living room. The mess is all mine and Mati's, of course. We didn't even have time to reconfigure the bed into a sofa to give Eric a proper performance space. I don't know what he's belting out when I took this photo, but yes, he could actually carry a tune.


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A sharp turn

© Joselito Briones

I remember the urgency with which he wanted the photos (photo, above, belongs to the set) at the time they were taken. Quickly approaching expiry date was cited as the main reason, referring to his body. Or was that the hair? I can't remember exactly. His latest email did say though that he's shaved his head recently.

Godfrey's a good friend, we used to work for the same midtown firm, remember? Am sure you do, he used to hang out a lot in my apartment after all, back when he was still a promising prospect to becoming a very close friend to Betty Ford's (or at least to Betty Ford's patients). He used to live in Harlem, where the photo above was taken, but has since been enticed by the more affordable property prices in New Jersey. He had to have his homing itch satisfied. How exactly, or when exactly, he managed to do a graceful about-face - from nourishing a next-day hang-over with an eager offer to buy me a drink in one of the numerous bars in my old neighborhood (Hell's Kitchen) to devoting all his time both to work and honing his domestic skills - or if somebody did the transition for him (hi, Scotty!), will always be a puzzle to me.

And, yes, this is a birthday show-and-tell.


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Valentine's day dinner

© Joselito Briones

Poor Jerome. He should've known better than to bring his Valentine's Day present for Ronnie to Wil's. Upon greeting Jerome at the door, Wil immediately asked if the flowers that Jerome was carrying was for him. Wil being the host and Jerome the guest, there was really nothing else for him to say but yes, indeed he bought the flowers for Wil. Upon hearing the commotion at the door, I took a peek. When Jerome saw that I saw him giving the flowers to Wil, he was forced to give me something too, to be fair. He handed me the box of chocolates he was holding. Good thing he still had one more thing in his hands, a bottle of pink champagne from Brüt, which he immediately handed to Ronnie, the intended recipient of all three presents, in case somebody else turns up to greet him at the door and he'd have to give up the champagne to somebody else, too.


© Joselito Briones

On the menu tonight was roast leg of lamb, and honeycomb cannelloni with tomato and mushroom ragu, which Wil prepared while Ronnie and I watched (photo, above).

He had to return to the grocery store a couple of times, having forgotten some rather key ingredients (for a dish that's basically cannelloni in tomato-based sauce, he forgot to buy both cannelloni and tomato).


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