Yesterday I listened to a program on public radio. It was
1A,
and the host was interviewing businesspeople about how the pandemic is
affecting their business and their employees.
One of the
interviews was with Emanuele Nigro, owner of a restaurant in Greenwich Village,
called Osteria 57. Nigro made the obvious point that restaurant workers cannot
work from home; he said the restaurant had started serving lunch and had
created a special takeout menu.
My pharmacy
is very close to that restaurant, so since I had something to pick up at the
pharmacy, I decided to try dinner at Osteria 57. I wondered whether it might be
crowded, if others had heard that program and had the same idea I did.
Fortunately for me, there was plenty of room.
The food
was delicious, a crusted branzino fillet with a pesto-coated salad, as well as
delicious brussels sprouts. And I could not resist trying the “vegan souffle”:
denser and more solid than the traditional mousse with eggs and cream, but
chocolatey enough to fully satisfy.
Plus—I
tried to read in the low light, and the woman at the next table noted that was
difficult, she’d tried it herself in the past. Then she asked what I was
reading. I showed her the cover: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.
(Look it up, it’s fascinating.) She was excited: “I’m a librarian,” she said.
“My daughter’s
a librarian,” I exclaimed. “Where are you a librarian?”
“At an
elementary school,” she said. “And where’s your daughter?”
“At the
Queens Public Library, Jackson Heights branch,” I said.
We bonded
over that. And she made a note of the book.
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I’m
participating in the 13th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at TwoWriting Teachers. This is day 12 of the 31-day
challenge. It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a
community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to
slice about. Join in!
