Chesterton 22

March 20, 2008

This time Sergio organized the dinner outing - this time to Chesterton 22; he's a rich at heart starving graduate student. Cyrille and I were the first to arrive at 8:30; Cyrille called me at 7 to have me pick him up - a vast improvement over Liam unsuccessfully calling me after 8. The door confused Cyrille; I think he considered looking for a doorbell or knocking on the door when I told him to just open the door. The dining room was tiny and tables were packed closely together. None of the tables were designed for more than 4 people although upstairs had one table big enough for 8 people. It was like eating at someone's house - a small one at that. Sergio arrived within 5 minutes. Liam took a bit longer (no surprise there) - a little under half hour perhaps. Sergio chose the wine after initially suggesting Cyrille to make a choice.

Sergio and I ended up having the same course - Quail, Sea Bass, and Souffle. Liam had Crab and Salmon Ceviche, Sea Bass and Caramel Parfait while Cyrille had Ceviche, Sea Bass and Souffle. They were out of Fishcake disappointing me and Liam. Liam liked Ceviche the most. I liked the Sea Bass the most. Sergio liked the Souffle the least (because his was cooked poorly) and I had the same opinion (because I did not like the taste of Rhubarb - the texture was fine). Was it worthwhile? I'm guessing Cyrille and I liked it the most but still found it just okay for the price. I think the Souffle ruined it for Sergio. In case anyone wanted to use this as a reference - forget it. Their menu changes every month.

Dinner conversation was all over the map. Fairly sedate stuff - mostly about education ("liberal arts" versus "vocational") and future plans (work and travel) although we did manage to touch upon religion ever so briefly (as I predicted) and there was one bit for the old memory lane. I guess the first time I met Cyrille was around 2 years ago? It was a Thursday. It might have been March 9, 2006 - not absolutely sure because I was writing the blog in a different manner than I am now. I remember that Cyrille, Mimmi and I were talking together after the 1st hour of lessons with Sally. I remember introducing Ivan to Cyrille when Ivan arrived for the social. I also remember introducing Sergio to Cyrille shortly thereafter - Cyrille remembered that I introduced them as some of the best Salsa dancers in Cambridge (I remember trying to be diplomatic by calling no one THE best). Assuming that it was March 9, this is what I wrote.

"I met some interesting newcomers as well as someone I should have known for a while and an old friend I haven’t seen in a while and good for a lively and expansive chat ending with talk of petals - pretty weird."

I'm not sure why I would have used the plural - newcomers - because I don't think this was my first time meeting Mimmi (although I might not have gotten into a lengthy chat with her before this). I think I remember the petal reference, but I can't remember for the moment who the old friend is. I was definitely making fun of someone (again, who? - maybe someone from the Britfest?) with the petal / flower joke. As for the topic of the conversation 2 years ago, who knows? Presumably the standard what do you do for work and Salsa talk were part of it, but gab details escapes me without any written down hint.

As soon as I saw the reservation time and the restaurant choice, I knew that there was no way we'd get to Club Salsa by 10 PM. I thought 10:30 might be doable. The main dish had not been served yet at 9:30 although I couldn't say that the service was slow. In the end, we were still settling the bill at 10:50 as both Cyrille and I were getting messages from Raj, Sally and Lindsey. We made it shortly after 11 - probably not in the best shape for intense dancing.

Even though it was getting fairly late for a weeknight, there still were a sizeable crowd including some unexpected people like Sebastian, Natalia and Pilar. Polly was back walking about although she and Andrea did not stay much longer. Other girls included Jane, Nicola, Agnes, Zhenzhi, Angie. Although it stayed open til 12:30, there still wasn't enough time for me to find time to dance with Agnes.

Cyrille got two parting dances - a Salsa (I think Haihan called it Sonido Bestial but I think it must have been something else possibly by Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz - Sonido Bestial has a reference to a Chopin Etude whereas this song had a reference to Beethoven's Fifth) and a Reggaeton (Gasolina). He also received a bag of gifts, which included a large bottle of San Miguel and a mic time.

Anything else interesting? I recall telling Agnes that Sergio is back to terrorize girls and her nodding back - she actually said something back but I won't repeat it here. Nothing bad really and nothing no one is unaware of. Triple negative! Wei Shen said out loud this blog's title, which is not exactly a secret although not advertised either. Vish is here tomorrow as I originally thought but then was led to think otherwise for a few weeks until tonight.