The conversation soon turned to imports. Kristin talked about a beer Dave loved that he couldn't get imported. Billytea described Tim-Tams to us (being Australian, he called them "biscuits," which I did understand to mean "cookies" about a second before Bec clarified to me). They were chocolate cookies with chocolate cream inside...and then covered in chocolate. The common way to eat them, though, was to bite a corner off at each end and suck the filling out so that it could be used as a straw to drink your coffee through. Nilly confirmed that I must do it that way. I believe billytea was surprised to discover they had Tim-Tams in Israel, as they were always the first thing he went and got when he went home, since they didn't have them here.

I went over to show Kristin and Trudes my pictures. After seeing consecutive pictures of me with Dar Williams and then Norm MacDonald, Kristin wanted to call me something she thought she couldn't say in a kosher restaurant, which led to Nilly's explaining to us very excitedly that it was totally okay, Allyson had said a bunch of choice words in a kosher place before declaring she'd be kicked out, and it had been very all right. God, Nilly is so animated.

Oh, so months ago, Kristin had mentioned she had this great story to tell about the time she was in Ann Arbor (I think it involved either Dave or an ex-boyfriend), and she wouldn't tell me over IM because it required hand motions, she had to tell me in person. And when she had told it at the F2F, those who had previously lived here loved it since they knew all the places she was talking about. So now, finally, I could hear this great story! Except...her voice was practically gone. She sounded like Macy Gray. She figured she'd picked up the bug from Deb in SF, and it could only have been exacerbated by our laughter and yelling while watching The Apple. My throat was sore after that. So now I have to wait even longer to hear this story. She's such a tease.

Let's talk food. I had OJ, and my starter was chicken dumpling soup. But the meal? Was a gigantic block of chocolate French toast. Thick, bready, chocolatey. Oh man. Unfortunately, I couldn't have milk. The place was Jew-friendly, but it certainly wasn't Atkins-friendly.

I told Kate to tell them about meeting Sylvan, and I told everyone about seeing the same woman on the train the night I came in, at the station Friday night, and then on my way to the restroom on Saturday. This led to a whole slew of Randomly Meeting People Stories, and I wish I could remember them all. Trudes had one with her friend; any time they saw each other, they would throw up their arms and yell each other's names and say things like, "It's been years!" And this one time, she unexpectedly stumbled into her on top of the World Trade Center. I found it a combination of things to hear her talk about the World Trade Center so casually. Weird, eerie, pleasant, interesting, I don't know. Maybe I expect everyone in New York to get a tear in their eye every time they mention it, or something. It was cool that we were cool with it.

Oh! Kristin had a good one involving a girl who randomly came upon her mother at a train station, and her mother didn't even recognize her, she just handed her her gloves and asked her to hold them while she made a call. And Ted claimed his was boring, but it was actually really cool, but I can't fucking remember it now! Billytea had one as well, I think.

Back to Kate's story. She said she had said to Sylvan, "The last time I saw you was in Zambia."

Billytea replied that if you're going to say that to someone, "he should be a long-lost love interest with smoldering eyes or an archnemesis." Which is exactly the kind of joke he makes on the board all the time. It was awesome.

I was sitting next to Jessica. I've already discussed one of Jessica's distinctive features, her blue hair (and as we learned from Illyria, blue hair is hot). She has another one, a tattoo on her left breast (and as we learned from me, tattoos are hot). It's in an odd position, such that even in a regularly low-cut top (like the one she was wearing), you could only see half of it or so. In pictures, I could never tell what it was. I thought it was a butterfly. Now that I could look down her shirt, I could see it was a turtle. Of course it was. I asked her what was with the turtles, and she said she'd liked them for as long as she could remember. It was as if she were born with an affinity for turtles.

I should mention that Trudes and Kate both had their hair down today, and I thought they looked much nicer. Do you hear me, women? Trudes! Kate! Butterfly Boucher! The hair looks better down.

There were plans for the Met afterward, since it was closed on Monday, and Nilly was leaving Monday, so this was her only chance. I had been on Friday and noticed they specifically would not check luggage, so I was concerned about what to do with my bag. Without hesitation, msbelle offered to sit outside and watch it for me. Which was an option I had not even considered. Because it was ludicrous. I was so surprised at her generosity, because it wasn't like we had a strong board relationship. We'd posted at the same times, but it wasn't like we'd had conversations. But here she was ready to sacrifice time at the Met with Nilly for my stupid luggage.

The dessert menu came. Kristin decided she needed some medicinal sorbet. Nilly had to get some sort of dessert. And Ted was entranced by the notion of the blood orange, which led us to come up with dozens of horror movies and sequels like Curse of the Blood Orange, First Blood Orange, and Attack of the Killer Blood Oranges.

It seemed, however, that billytea and Bec needed to catch a train, and couldn't stay any longer. I asked him if this was true, that he was ditching us so early. He confirmed it. "You big loser," I replied, which caused more laughter than I would have expected for such a throwaway insult. Perhaps it was my stunning comic delivery. Or something.

But ha! We managed to delay the train people by taking lots of pictures, including one of all the Buffista men here in one place at the same time. Five!

The delay was not nearly long enough. I gave billytea a hug and told him how much he rocked, since it was unlikely I'd see him again before he went back Down Under. I had arbitrarily promised Kristin five hugs, so I finished them off. Then I gave her a bonus one. "How many hugs...can I have...from one Sunil?" she said.

"Not enough," I said.

And the train people were off, and we non-train people loitered for a while before heading to the Met. Ted and Hil left, though. Hil is tiny. My attempts to hug her usually ended up breaking her neck. Next time, I'm figuring out a better way.

Jessica and Ethan were going to catch The Corporation, so I made them write in my journal. I hugged Ethan and told him to send me any free stuff he didn't want. I hugged Jessica, and it was this magnificent hug hug squeeze hug squeeze thing that derailed at the end somehow. And then they were off, after we mututally thanked each other for being such a good guest/host.

Trudes wrote in my journal after that, as she would have to leave early to catch her cousin in some sort of wacky play. The Met would be a veritable cornucopia of departures.

Billytea's gushing is more a slathering of marmalade.

Vegemite, mate. A slathering of Vegemite.

...Oh, who am I kidding? It's all true.

Incidentally, the standard Tim Tams I find to be a bit too sweet. The dark chocolate ones, OTOH, hit the mark just right. Of course, that was before I came across the joy that is the Tia Maria Tim Tam. But even the Tia Maria Tim Tam must bow down before its lord and mater, the One True Biscuit; the Kahlua Slice.

IMO, anyway.

billytea, are you ordering your Tim Tams from somewhere, buying them stateside, or is someone back home your Tim Tams angel.

I have a Tim Tam problem.

I should mention that Trudes and Kate both had their hair down today, and I thought they looked much nicer. Do you hear me, women? Trudes! Kate! Butterfly Boucher! The hair looks better down.

Meh. I generally prefer to wear it pulled back somehow, especially in the summer. Or, you know, just cut it all off. Much easier that way.

The food at brunch was exceptional, by the way. I remember I got the cinnamon french toast and Trudy got the chocolate, and we traded bites. SO GOOD!

billytea, are you ordering your Tim Tams from somewhere, buying them stateside, or is someone back home your Tim Tams angel.

For the most part, I'm just hankering for them and occasionally checking whether a stateside supplier has yet updated their offerings. I have little hope, since they are after all a liqueur-flavoured choccie bikkie and this is a country with a legal drinking age of 21. But for Bec's birthday, I did order a packet of both the TMTT and the Kahlua Slice. And the KS is better. I can say this because of a survey I did.

I shall be home before Christmas. And then...

The Australian Catalog has Tim Tams, including limited run fudgy ones.

aussiecatalog.com

Thirding, fifthing, twentiething, or whatever we're up to now, the love of Kristin's schmoop.

I'm not crying the least little bit (so far, anyway) about Nilly's departure, mostly because I am still filled with happy amazement at the marvelously improbable fact that she got to come here at all. And there were barbecues, museum visits, kosher Chinese food all across America, a visit to Disneyland, visits and love and gifts to Nilly, from Nilly, to everyone else. It's so deliciously unlikely that any of it happened at all that I can't even begin to get to the place where I cry because it didn't last long enough.

Loving P-C's detailed reports.

She figured she'd picked up the bug from Deb in SF,

She did not. She was already sounding hoarse-ish when she got here, damn it. And it wasn't a bug - I just used mine too much and didn't get enough sleep in the space of a ten-day period. I had nodes removed from my voicebox as a teenaged singer and scar tissue polyps removed from the right VC about seven years ago, and I get hoarse easily.

I. will. not. be. blamed.

Damnit.

I. will. not. be. blamed.

At least not for this... I'm sure we could trump up other stuff that Deb would cop to.