Restaurant Revelry at the River

So happy I was invited
Give me a reason to get out of the city
~The National "Lemonworld"

A friend who works at Tarrant's gave me a reason to get out of the city today when he invited me to join him and the rest of the restaurant staff, not to mention part of Bistro 27's staff, for a cookout on Mobjack Bay.

Their tradition is to close Tarrant's for Memorial Day and spend it at the river and I was happy to be part of that.

When my friend came to pick me up, he spotted a book in my bag.

 "You're bringing a book? You, the person who never met a stranger?" he mocked me.

I wasn't sure what to expect and it's a really good book (The Wild Vine) , but given a game plan of eat, drink, frolic, it did seem extraneous now that he mentioned it.

And frolic we did, with kayaks, canoes, floats and more beverages than a group of 100 should be able to consume.

Meats of all kinds were being cooked practically non-stop by Carlos, but then, who better than a Brazilian to do meat?

I started with a steak, but after a while I just did what the smart ones did and hung around the grill, snagging pre-cut pieces of whatever was fresh off the grill and put onto the platter.

It was a lot like the man meat dinner I attended a couple of years ago: course after course of endless meat.

Only the source animal, degree of doneness and seasonings changed.

My friend had been right about my social skills; I knew loads of people and met plenty more. In fact, my stock line of the day became, "Didn't expect to find me here, did you?"

One girl I knew greeted me with, "I'm a little tipsy already," but she loudly complimented my legs to the surrounding crowd, so I was fine with her loose lips.

Another familiar face was a former neighbor and blogging pioneer who reads my blog with a keen eye.

He particularly mentioned my response to a commenter with an attitude about my spending choices, here, seeing it for what it was: an explanation of the philosophy behind my blog.

It's satisfying to hear that there are people who read me and get me.

Like practically everyone else, we spent a fair amount of the afternoon in the water, which seemed unnaturally warm for May.

One guy, when offered the use of a kayak, declined by holding up his beer.

"Friends don't let friends drink and kayak," he proclaimed.

Unfortunately, it was walking that was his downfall and he later cut his foot on a mollusk (or so he said) and when he went to catch himself, cut his hand as well (same mollusk? I don't know).

Friends don't let friends drink and...move?

Later we ate watermelon and spit seeds, scored cookies and cannolis and listened to competing boomboxes.

Happily for me, I was nearest the one playing Daft Punk.

I gave my thumbs up to the guy who put it on and he asked, "Really, is there anyone who doesn't like Daft Punk?"

Sadly, I had to tell him about my friend Corey.

Some things are just beyond comprehension.

It was a day of good one-liners, like "Is that a seed on your ass?" topped only by "I've got corn pubes in my teeth."

Personally speaking, the highlight came after I aimed a super squirter at someone and missed.

The trio turned around to see who had such poor aim.

"Do I look like a super shot?" I shrugged.

Best line of the day directed at me: "With those bangs and those sunglasses, yea, I would have totally bought into you. Now, not so much."

Sigh.

I just need to stick to words.