So Mona came over yesterday.

She walked in and WHOA what is a fresh arrangement of FLOWERS doing on my coffee table?  Happy Birthday Mona! Yours to keep.

Thankfully, it was perfect summer weather outside: temperature in the 80’s (Fahrenheit), low humidity, clear skies. Leading up to Saturday, the forecast had showers so the nice weather was a relief.

So we walked to their pier, sat watching fishermen’s attempts with the view of Manhattan’s financial district in the background. Looped back on the path by the water. Lots of talking and laughing. I enjoy spending time with Mona, even the non-physical stuff.

Very cool.

Then we went back to my apt. I showed her some photos that we’d discussed then the plan was to make my renowned homemade cavatelli pasta.

So first off, we made the gravy (aka, tomato sauce with meat in it). Olive oil, garlic, onion, beef ribs (she doesn’t do pork), wine,  peeled tomatoes (from a can), salt and fresh basil (that she brought from her garden.)

More pictures followed, some wine, some kissin’. Good start.

Then… the pasta stage. (Deep breath)

Ok, I’ll just say it: she’s gluten-free. I think hearing that, weeks ago, made more of an impact than her still living with the husband she’s separated from.

Ok, we’ll make this gluten-free thing work.

So we used an egg, ricotta and RICE FLOUR.

Note to self: DO NOT USE RICE FLOUR when making cavatelli homemade.

As we found out, it’s very fine grained, feels like baby powder. The dough was made well, but when it came time to roll the little segments, it didn’t grip the cutting board like regular flour and the cylindrical dumplings were sloppy, semi-rolled smears.

We both realized that they would be interesting when done and cooked.

The end result was ok. Most fell apart pretty easily and after that existed in dough-clumps.

Eh, still tasted good.

We had a surprise (to her) piece of gluten-free cheesecake that I brought out with a birthday candle in it. “Happy Birthday,” the song, sounds weird when sang by one person. And I gave her a card.

After some digestion, we retired for some bedroom fun where I was a champion stallion. (Truth be told, this being my first time in many months, so, though I wanted all to enjoy, of course, I also didn’t want to be a “Two-Minute Brother”.)

Thankfully, I was not. And it was a B+ overall. From what I can tell,  she enjoyed it too.

And the Pillow Talk was A+.

: )

Neither of us slept well, as in ACTUAL SLEEP. I know for me sleeping with a new person takes time to adjust to. I’m used to sleeping alone so I don’t adjust quickly to changes in bed space and position. I really have trouble sleeping on my back or side. Add the warmth-inducing “cuddle sleeping” into the equation and it’s rough seas for a bit. It’ll work itself out after a while.

She had to leave by 6am, with flowers(for her office), to be home before her 6 year old son wakes up to realize that his mom was doing the Walk of Shame.

We’d been talking about this date for a while now. It had as much hype as a Mayweather/Pacquiao fight. I’m glad it went off really well. Enough for her to leave a toothbrush ; )

Posted from WordPress for Android