It’s Crystal’s first day here. I’m so excited!

She has worked with me for 5 years at LPA cataloging film and videos for the Dance Division. She’s fun and adventurous, a world-traveler, a lover of comedy acts, has multi-colored short hair and rides her bike to work. A great pal all-around.

So, I showed her Falchi’s today at lunch, which she loved. Yay! We ordered our food from Don Tapas, a quirky spot for Spanish tapas and cuisine.

Today special on the menu is something new: Cacio e Pepe, which is elbow pasta with melted Romano cheese sauce, flavored with lots of black pepper and garnished with huge Reggiano cheese curls. Basically, it’s the Spanish version of mac and cheese. It was very good; it would have been perfect if it was a little warmer. The entrée came with some crisp wafers.

I added a great fruit & vegetable juice from Juice Press: Doctor Green Juice (raw juice blend), which contains fresh apple, pineapple, kale, lemon and ginger. It was refreshing and sweet, and it perked me up. It matched the Cacio e Pepe nicely.

During lunch, Crystal talked about her travels to Spain, like eating oxtail before watching a bull fight in Madrid, and seeing Gaudi’s architectural wonders in Barcelona. I admit, I’m a little jealous. As I listened vicariously to her travel stories and tips, I thought: I need to travel to Europe, South America, Asia (basically, anywhere) before I get too settled in with life. I hope I will get the chance to do it soon.

Until then, life is good today. Crystal’s here, so the party begins!

Enjoy!