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Satay and Sentimentality 2004-07-07, 2:07 p.m. Last night, I met up with one of my very favorite people for dinner at my very favorite Thai restaurant. I hadn’t seen my friend in months, which is just embarrassing because even though she and I live at opposite ends of the city, I work downtown and she works in midtown and there’s no reason why we couldn’t have gotten together sooner except that we’re both busy and it’s hard to constantly make after-work plans when all you want to do is strip off your straight skirt and heels and slip into pajama pants and a t-shirt. We ate a satay platter of shrimp, chicken, and beef skewers, and then I burned my face off with the hottest curry soup I’ve ever eaten, and I ate an entire plateful of jasmine rice because I love it so much. I love trying new things, and since it was happy hour, we tried some Asian beers and some steamed dumplings and then some fish cakes and some spring rolls. We had an entire meal of half-priced appetizers and we got to try new things because they were so cheap and we laughed so hard that my stomach kind of hurts today. But I had so much fun, and I stayed out way too late, and I’ll never forget the evening I spent with my good friend just catching up, laughing, eating, gossiping, and enjoying each other’s company. I think that’s what I’ll miss most about living in a larger city – the ability to do whatever I want whenever I want. I can try all kinds of ethnic cuisine at any hour of the night. I can go to minor league baseball games and root for the cute catcher who kind of has a bubble butt. I can patronize a variety of Mexican groceries on Southwest Boulevard, I can try sake at the Plaza, I can run through hundreds of fountains, I can go to Swope Park and watch the little kids who have never been to the zoo before. I can go to outdoor theater in the summertime; I can drive up and down Ward Parkway with my windows down, admiring the $5 million houses that line both sides of the street. I can go to Buck Night at Kaufman Stadium and armed with my $1 hot dog, soda, and peanuts, I can watch the awesome fireworks display after home games on Friday nights. I can drive by Arrowhead Stadium on game days and breathe in the smell of barbecue, beer, and Marlboros while I listen to the roar of the crowd. I can go ice skating at the pavilion at Crown Center in the winter, and float down the Lazy River at Oceans of Fun in the summer. I can drink Bud Light in dive bars and cabernet at the Raphael. I can do whatever I want whenever I want. My hope is that my new home will afford me the same opportunities that I’ve had in Kansas City – to try new things, to experience every neighborhood, to eat my way through the best restaurants, to go to baseball games where I don’t know a single thing about the teams, to take the train to Chicago, to welcome old friends and to not think twice about hopping on a plane to spend a few days with people I’ve never met before. I know better than to let anything stop me now.
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