Home: To True Bistro

It’s here! It is over. I wake up to bright sunny skies at little after 7 in the morning. Well, Dave the Cat King, wakes me up for his breakfast. I attempt to turn over only to hear meows saturating my studio apartment. I rise with a slight attitude. Opening the blinds, I see the trees moved by a light breeze and know that the winds won't suffocate me.

I rush over to the kitchen and prepare Dave’s food, almost falling to the floor as he circles my ankles, making sure I know what occasion I have risen for. I hate the smell of his wet food. As he eats in increments, I open up my window to see if I am fooled by the light breeze. It feels warm. Not egregiously hot but nice outside.

Yes! We can go outside! No masks, still a bit of social distancing. The virus has dissipated tremendously. People are healing and surprisingly being nicer than what the news shows us.

My first thought, True Bistro for dinner! I pray that they have the Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie. I also decide that I am trying out the passionfruit sorbet. Yes, I declare, I am getting two desserts after my meal. Because why not!

Prayers and meditation are a must. I figured if I am praying for dessert, I can send out sweet notes into the Cosmos. I am feeling the high vibrations of this moment. I practice art meditation after prayer. The Chillhop Timezones playlist syncs up perfectly with my mood. I grab my pastels and flow with the tunes, invested in each moment, color, curve of the media.

After a solid 45 minutes, I think, what to do with this day? I stop myself. I tend to over think. I make my blueberry pancake smoothie with extra pecans this time. Round up some truffle popcorn, carrots, slice up an orange and make a glass jar of water. I get ready and rush outside.

Whoa, it is warm, better put on shorts for this one.

I head back in the apartment and change out my outfit. I felt called to grab some paint supplies too. Spirit is always up to something.

I head straight to the Waldstein Park up the street. I claim my spot on the outer portion of the baseball field. Folks are out but it is not too crowded yet! My tribal colored blanket takes center stage. I lay out my purple towel for extra comfort. From what I remember, the grass is sometimes damp. I bring out my paints and set them at the end of the blanket. Our sun goddess it OUT TODAY! But the clouds give us some reprieve so we can appreciate the experience.

I soak it in. I really missed this. The park is vibrant from the greens of the grass to the intense tennis match happening several feet away.

My mom calls and we talk. She is at work naturally. She sometimes has to work on Saturdays. I hang up and video chat her instead, flip the camera phone so she can see the park. The playground is open and the kids and running rampant! I want to run and grab a swing but I will let the kids have this one. They haven’t been on the playground in so long! My mom asks why I came to the park. I tell her I am a simple woman. She laughed in agreeance. We chatted and I mentioned that this right here was what I longed for most during quarantine. Just being outside in nature. Fearless. Free.

She has to go as another call is coming in. I lay out on my pallet and soak in the sun. I just got my new glow sunscreen. Better put that on, oops! I lather up and my skin begins to glitter. I don’t care what anyone says. A good skin shimmer always uplifts the mood.

Clouds roll through the sky at a nice pace. The breeze is steady and cool just enough to balance with the heat. It is like the sun and the winds are playing tag at a masterful level. I remember my smoothie and indulge in its textures. Nutty, fruity, filling. Sometimes I screw my smoothie up if I am in a rush. But not today. Like everything else, we are in flow. I snack on a few carrots and grab my paints.

I start with the light blues and begin to draw flowers along my inner calf. They need some yellow on the outline of the petals, some burgundy for the seeds with touches of pink. I draw a few more and a small child rushes up to me enthralled with my painting.

“Can I have one?”, she says. It didn't really sound like a question. She eyes my popcorn. Her parent rush up. “I am so sorry. Come on!” “Sure, I will paint you one if your parents let you!” She whips her head back to two rather tall individuals. Smiling brightly, “Plllleaasseee?”. “It is totally up to you,” I reassure them, not bothered either way. “Alright, go ahead.” I am pleasantly surprised as the child lifts her left arm up for her temporary tattoo. She requests red flowers. Perfect for her fiery nature. Found out from her parents that she is an Aries. Sounds right.

Word gets around fast on the playground. I was finishing my carrots as 5 more kids run over to my towel lining themselves up for a painting. For crowd control, I announced I am only painting flowers, no one budged. A little guy with red freckles whispered he wanted space flowers. I liked this kid. Way to find a cool loophole! All left with half sleeves of floral decadence and pleased guardians.

A shy couple saunters over and quietly asks for a fake tattoo. So much for social distancing! They both wanted purple and dandelion-yellow flowers. We talked about their wedding that they had to postpone due to the virus. Those were their colors. I took a little extra time on theirs. They reschedule for next summer because they had dreamed of a summer celebration. They are planning to do all the legal stuff this year though. I saw the sweet sadness in their eyes, but it seemed to be handled carefully by the safety of their love for each other. Their energy was so soft.

Jolting us out of the moment was a radio to my left blasting Pillowtalk by Zayn. Seemed fitting as the couple sang it to each other. I jammed out myself. We all laughed balancing our embarrassment and exhilaration.

As I finished the flowers, they tried to pay me. I waved my hand to dismiss the gesture and wished them well. I heard a ding on my phone, forgot it wasn’t on vibrate. A friend request from the couple. I think I made some new friends! I checked the time and it was 3:45PM. I decided to head back to the apartment to change my clothes and head over to True Bistro. They open at 5PM for dinner, so that was enough time to get ready. I threw on some purple eyeliner and blue mascara for the occasion. Put on my favorite perfume by Lush -Lord of Misrule - I swear I prayed for this scent to be a perfume when I first smelled that patchouli in a body scrub. I threw on a black top and fitted skinnies and flats. My Lyft wasted no time to arrive.

Arnold, the driver, was one of the more chatty types. I didn’t mind. He asked was it my first time going to True Bistro. I hollered unexpectedly, “NO!” He laughed at my exclamation. I asked if he had been there before and he said no because he isn’t Vegan. I suggested that he should try it. He asked if it was hard going Vegan and I said no. We spoke about purpose and once you find yours, you don’t really steer away from the path. At least, that's what grounded me in my Veganism. He was interested but nervous. I told him to take his time and maybe do one day out of the week for Vegan meals, and definitely test out True Bistro. I suggested he tried their Brunch menu first!

He dropped me off in front of the restaurant.

There was a wait! I got nervous but the hostess said I can sit at the bar, a seat right at the end away from the entrance. Yes!! I mean, to be honest, I would have waited.

The waitress asked if I wanted a drink. Nope! Can’t ruin my appetite! I ordered the bread with the butter and oil! We are celebrating! I placed my order for the manicotti, a classic, and the fried mushrooms. One day I will try something different. I ask the waitress if they have the Bourbon Chocolate pie and she said they do not, but they were trying a chocolate cheesecake this week! Passionfruit ice cream and chocolate cheesecake? Yes. That is happening.

My bread came out and I worked to savor it with my mushrooms. They came out next and I proceeded to devour all eight pieces. My manicotti came out piping hot, had to let it cool down. It was good so I could make space in my stomach. They still paired it with the cranberries. I save them for last as a palate cleanser. It took a while and it was still a bit hot to enjoy.

I decide to put in my earphones and listen to an Amanda Seales podcast, something light for the evening. This episode was Side Effects of Uncorked. I freaking loved that movie, so wanted to hear her thoughts about it. My food finally cooled down to an edible temperature. It did not take me long to inhale the plate.

The waitress asked if I wanted dess… “Yes, may I have the chocolate cheesecake and a scoop of passionfruit sorbet?”. “The cheesecake comes with a side of ice cream; do you want passionfruit with that or a different flavor?” She was on point. “I would like a vanilla scoop with the cheesecake and a separate scoop of the passionfruit.” I always overeat when I come here. She takes my plate and puts in my order. There is a cool wait between my meal and the dessert. Everything comes out at once.

I dive into the passionfruit first. Tart and pleasant. I find that I actually want to eat it last. I go over to the cheesecake and vanilla ice cream. They hit it out of the park again!! So creamy and it even had fudge in the cake! I mean, what a time to be alive! I think it is my favorite type so far. I finish off with my passionfruit scoop and I am at capacity. I pay and head on out and decide to take the train home. I hadn’t been on it in a while and I was in no rush.

It was a light ride on the red to green line. I guess people are still nervous about taking the trains. The rides were uneventful which was a kind surprise. Usually there is some level of entertainment. I get home to a cat that almost gets out the door. I let him go. He didn’t even go that far into the hallway! All that energy just to stand in front of the door. He came back in a few moment later, demanding to be fed. I obliged.

I got a second wind and had a dance party to my “Your Top Songs 2019” playlist on Spotify. In coming back to reality, I saw it was 2:30AM. I lazily wip off my makeup and head to sleep on the couch.