Passion Reading at Word in Brooklyn

Last Thursday, my friend Donna George Storey was in town from the West Coast.  She'd come to read her story in Rachel Kramer Bussel's new erotic romance anthology, Passion.  We made plans to meet up in the city, earlier that day.


Emerald, another friend and author (Actually, I'd only met Emerald on one previous occasion, almost two years ago at Rachel's In the Flesh, and hadn't had the chance to get to know her.  But now, we really are friends!) was in town to read also.  Robin, another friend, had come in from Connecticut to support Donna and Emerald.


They spent the day at the Museum of Sex and I joined them later in the afternoon at Donna's sister's in Manhattan for wine and cheese before heading out to the reading, back in Brooklyn.


Although it was Veteran's day, there was a lot more rush hour traffic than I'd anticipated and our cab had a hell of a time trying to get over the Williamsburg Bridge, but we finally made it to Word, only a few minutes late.  And as anyone who has attended a reading knows, it didn't start on time, anyway.  So we were there in plenty of time!


There were a few other readers there, including Rachel and the reading went very well.  Passion promises to be a real hit and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Donna and Emerald, as well as the other readers.

Donna George Storey                                                   

Emerald

It happened to be Rachel's birthday (well, actually, her birthday was a few days earlier...) and I got to tag along with Donna and Emerald to her birthday dinner at Anella, a really lovely restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  This bread was wonderful!  It's their signature item and is baked in a flower pot.  Unfortunately, the restaurant is way too dark for my taste and isn't at all conducive to photography, so this is the best I could do.  (If you click on the restaurant link, you'll get a much better picture.)

The food was really excellent, as was the waiter, unfortunately, the server was a bit over-zealous for my taste.  The space is very small, but the food is well worth any discomfort.  I do wish they'd turn up the light a bit, though.  Personally, I like being able to read the menu and see my food, especially when it's so well prepared and plated.


It was great to see Donna again.  She doesn't make it to New York nearly often enough for my taste and it was great getting to know Emerald better!


I called for three separate cars to get people back to Manhattan from the restaurant (So many Manhattanites are so lost in Brooklyn...).  Of course one of them was for me because, even though I live in Brooklyn, I don't live anywhere near the restaurant and none of the subway lines in the area would get me home remotely easily...  All I can say is Arecibo, my go-to car service, rocks!