Tennis Balls Add Up to Bistro 27

Sometimes a person doesn't even need to decide what's next because Fate offers up a little reminder for them.

As an example, I was out walking the dog this afternoon when I was greeted by two guys playing tennis on the courts near my apartment.

Sure enough, it was two of the staff from Bistro 27 going at it on the courts on a beautiful sunny day.

We chatted for it a bit and they went back to their match (for the record, Kevin won).

An hour or so later, as B.S.F. and I were trying to decide on a dinner destination for the evening, it occurred to me that I was overdue at 27.

B.S.F. made it to my place by 7ish, spent some time wooing the beagle and chatting me up and eventually we walked over to the restaurant, enjoying the warmer than usual stroll through the November air.

It was a decent-sized crowd for a Monday night, but then a 21-top always makes a big difference on an off night.

I ran into a couple of girlfriends I hadn't seen for a bit and, as it turned out (because this is Richmond-small-town-VA), B.S.F. had at least a half dozen connections to them as well.

Forget seven degrees of separation; in Richmond, it's more like four or five, which is actually pretty cool.

They shared in our conversations of wine, food get-togethers, UR and the joys of 2 Amys.

We eventually got to the point where they suggested we swap wine (for tasting purposes only, of course) and that's always a good sign.

For the record, B.S.G. had the paella and rated it extremely highly compared to others he's had around town.

I had the bacon-wrapped scallops, mainly because I hadn't had them in months and it was what the staff expected of me and I hate to let them down.

The catch phrase of the evening was, "May I speak freely here?" which led to some unexpected revelations...on both our parts.

Rhetorical questions were left unanswered (why state the obvious, after all?) and viola jokes were abundant.

My girlfriends may even have begun to figure out B.S.G. by the end of it all and that's saying something.

And, yes, we were the last four out, for what it's worth.

And all because two guys were batting a ball around on a sunny day.

Funny, that.