Back in October I blogged about the first ever book club meeting that took place at Freemans.
Our second book choice was Three Cups of Tea. I was naughty and didn’t read it and either had Georgina and others had attempted it but it didn’t seem to really read that well at all. It didn’t matter – it was decided we would still meet for our fabulous brunch and Jen chose the Clinton Street Baking Company for 10am Saturday morning. It had to be that early as it is a VERY popular place and if we were there when they opened then we’d get seated with no worries.
The weather forecast predicted heavy rain but after boarding the F train at 5th Avenue I didn’t see what was happening above ground for about 20 minutes. I went to walk up the subway station steps once I hit the 2nd Avenue stop when I realized that the staircase had transformed into…. a waterfall. I had NEVER seen rain like it. With my map in hand I had about a ten minute walk along Houston to get to Clinton Street. What an absolute adventure.
I thought I would wait underground and watch the waterfall down the stairs to see if the rain would ease up but there was no sign of that. There was a lady and her toddler son who didn’t have an umbrella and in a Random Act of Kindness this man said to them “Here have my umbrella!” It was a beautiful moment. After a short wait I decided to brave the downpour. The gutters were overflowing and even with an umbrella it didn’t make much difference. My feet were dry (thank you RM Williams!) but my jeans were soaked through up to my knees, and the rest of the legs were damp, my denim jacket was soaked through and I was a sopping mess. To make it worse – it was actually humid. So I was drenched, sweaty and squelching my way along to the bakery.
Before long, I made it to the bakery. The girls weren’t there yet so I walked in and they said it would be an hour wait. Argh! It was just then that I got an email from Georgina saying due to the wait they had moved on to the Moonstruck Diner. I must have missed them by about a minute!
Now this is where the non-New-Yorker in me stands out. Moonstruck was a good ten minute walk away. I walked it. More rain. When I got to Moonstruck I was even more of a sweaty, soggy mess than earlier! The girls all got there with ease because… they got a cab! Argh! I always forget about the ability to just being able to get a cab, even a few blocks and it didn’t even enter my mind to NOT walk from the subway to Clinton Street or from Clinton Street to Moonstruck.
I ordered the Eggs Benedict and got this – (Todd – do not laugh at how different it is to the Benedict at the European!!!)
It was great catching up with everyone and naturally, book club ended up being more of a gossip club. Georgina detailed some of it here. 😉
But we are back on track – we have a couple of new members and Georgina has been fabulous in getting us organized for our next book and we even have our own Facebook group. Look out Oprah!