Where Everybody Knows Your Name, And They're Always Glad You Came

One of the things I love most about living in a place for awhile is that any city can begin to feel like a small town. You begin to have "your" restaurants and bars, and you have sidewalk encounters with people you know. It's probably no surprise that I had this feeling about Sarasota since it is not a very large city, so usually, at the Saturday Farmer's Market, I'd see half a dozen people I knew. But, even New York had this feeling about it. I had (well, still have) a great friend who I will call Grad School Twin. So, Grad School Twin and I often planned extensive dates into Manhattan from Brooklyn on Fridays because we did not have class, needed Manhattan libraries or the Drama Book Shop, wanted to see shows, and eat at our favorite restaurants. It never failed that on those Manhattan Fridays, we'd randomly see between three and six people that we knew. In fact, I was always running into friends in NYC. I thrive on this sense of familiarity.

So, this weekend, it was very comforting to begin and end at our new favorite neighborhood restaurant, Watermoon.



It is hands down the best sushi we've had in Sydney, and the prices are amazingly reasonable. On nice nights, like we had this weekend, we sit outside. Watermoon is a treat, but not a splurge.

Friday night, Partner-in-Crime texted from work, "Moonshine for dinner?". I knew what he meant, and we agreed to meet up for a date night at Watermoon. Like a lot of restaurants in Sydney, Watermoon offers BYO with a small corkage fee, so I picked up a bottle of wine on the way, and we shared a leisurely al fresco feast and easy conversation.


Sashimi Special (AKA - "The Usual")


On Sunday, we had plans to meet up with some out of towners. My very most beloved college friend was a German exchange student, and her dearest friend from home happened to be touring Australia with her boyfriend. I asked Partner-in-Crime where we should have them meet us for dinner.

"Moonshine?"

Of course, sometimes the right answer is right in front of you (even if one of us doesn't know what it's called). We brought a couple of bottles of wine with us, and as the night wore on, we were all laughing and talking so jovially that we managed to go through two more bottles. It was one of those nights.

We had a wild run in with a party of Japanese business types, one of whom had been enjoying quite a good deal of wine, himself. He kept coming over to our table and telling us that he was Japanese in an ever more effusive manner. I think he was trying to say more than that, but he was speaking in Japanese, so who knows what his intentions were. His cohorts kept coming over and apologizing for him, dragging him away, until he came back again, when they'd have to repeat. "Arigato, arigato," he said. Partner-in-Crime repeated, "Arigato" and the man hugged him and said - in English - "I love you!" His co-workers dragged him from the restaurant not long after that.

The other wild thing that happened was that, as we were having dinner with these German friends of my college buddy, we randomly crossed paths with a co-worker of Grad School Twin's! She is an Australian who now lives in New York, and is in town for the holidays. Grad School Twin had introduced us via Facebook, and she's been so kind in making e-introductions and recommendations for me. I met her for a few minutes last June when I stopped by Grad School Twin's office in New York.

And suddenly, here she was at our table at Watermoon saying hello! I don't know which one of us was more surprised.

This was the first weekend of random run-ins and feeling like we have "our place." This weekend seems like a milestone in marking a feeling of "home," as we become residents of this city, and it begins to become our big small town.