Brett and I hit our two year anniversary yesterday, and Brett requested the day off so that we could celebrate. We met in Greenwich when I finished work and took the train into New York City for dinner at Becco, one of our favorite restaurants. Ironically Jenn, our next door neighbor, was taking the same train to have dinner with her husband, Bob, so the three of us enjoyed the train ride together.
When we arrived at Grand Central Station, we met Bob and said goodbye to them as we headed for the subway to Times Square. After getting off of the shuttle in Times Square, Brett said that he thought we should take a different line one stop north, because it would be closer to the restaurant. I followed his lead, and when we emerged from underground I had very little sense of direction, which is admittedly quite typical for me. I held Brett’s hand and just followed his lead, concentrating more on the cold (and Brett’s craziness for not wearing a coat!) than where we were… that is, until we were standing in front of the Gershwin Theatre and I started to realize what was going on – Brett was taking me to see the Broadway performance of Wicked. I can’t even describe how excited I was; Brett knew that I had really wanted to see Wicked for a while now, so this obviously presented the perfect opportunity.
The show was absolutely wonderful. Brett got amazing seats – orchestra section, 7th row from the front, dead center – so our view was great. I already knew the music a bit from listening to Ann’s cd, and that also helped me to appreciate many of the scenes even more. The fact that almost all of Broadway has been hit, and hit hard, by the current economic climate, but a Tuesday night performance of Wicked had what appeared to be a full house, is an indication of the popularity and quality of the show. The show was almost three hours of an entertaining, amusing, dark, and simply fantastic performance.
Afterward, we walked the few blocks to Becco where we had a 10pm reservation. There were a number of other tables that had either just been sat or were close to the beginning of their meals, so we didn’t feel as though we were “those people” who arrived at a restaurant to eat right before it closed. We enjoyed our usual favorite, the Sinfonia Di Pasta, which consists of a caesar salad or antipasto misto start, followed by unlimited servings of the three pastas of the day, which are always delicious. Last night we had pesto farafalle, mushroom ravioli in a truffle butter sauce, and spaghetti with marinara. We both agreed that the spaghetti with marinara was the most delicious of the three, although at Becco the pasta is ALWAYS delicious, regardless of whether it is relatively common (i.e. spaghetti and marinara) or somewhat unusual (we once had a chocolate ravioli with butternut squash filling in a cream sauce and although it sounds odd it was to die for). We finished dinner with an absolutely mouthwatering slice of cheesecake with strawberries and strawberry coulis. It was a perfect end to a fantastic evening.
Thank you, Brett, for the thoughtful, surprising treat. Happy Anniversary. I love you.
<3 J