Rainy Date: RedFarm
Monday, June 25, 2012 at 10:52AM 
We had 64 reasons not to go on our planned date night a few weeks back. The sky was sagging to the ground with grey clouds wrapped around us like loose-knit sweaters. There were soot-colored puddles pooling at every street corner. The buckets of rain drops crumbled my curls and made a fancy outfit null.
But.
It had been 23 days since our last date night and that number seemed more powerful than 64, so instead of taking a rain check we embraced our rainy da{y}te.
We went to RedFarm in the West Village. The restaurant takes a modern approach to Chinese food and highlights using greenmarket ingredients. The rub of the restaurant is for everyone to order a few dishes and share, no surprise with a dining room made up mostly of communal tables. Mr. S and I shared a pineapple and arugula salad, vegetable and chive dumplings, a dungeness crabmeat noodle dish and crisp skin chicken with garlic sauce. But for me, the true dish to write home about is the soft and crunchy vegetable fried rice, which I broke the rules of shared ordering for and ate a whole bowl myself. I'm also quite smitten with the Le Club Hot cocktail, a spicy margarita with jalapeno and mint.
Spoiler alert: We may have overcommited a bit with all the food we ordered.
The rain was still pelting when we left the restaurant, but the walk home through Manhattan was like living art. The heavy drops of rain slid down the city like streaks of wet paint. There was neon lightning, but the electricity was our own.
There is a moment during a thunderstorm when the air is dense and the color of smoky charcoal that the grey parts of the world make more sense than the black and white things. Under my umbrella, soggy and smiling at the corner of Hudson and West 11th, was that moment for me. The black and white, we skip date night because we are on a strict savings plan to buy an apartment in the fall, because taking a shower seems to involve complicated logistics let alone a night out, because we are exhausted as parents and people. The drips and drops of life fade into 64 reasons.
The grey parts.
Laughing about getting splashed by a double decker bus. Hearing the best rendition of "New York, New York" by a trio of street performers as we stood under an umbrella. Teaching our cabbie the direction Greenwich Street runs. Discussing life and having our conversation interrupted by a screaming baby that wasn't our own. Having five minutes to whine about my deadlines.
The grey parts.
We. Relationships. Souls. All get dried out. So bring on the rain.
And the dates. Especially the dates.
How often do you go on date nights? What was the last thing you did?
{Third photo from top via Redfarm's website}
Reader Comments (4)
My husband and I go out every Monday night for date night. Occasionally, we may go out on a Sunday evening. This past Sunday, we went to the late movie. The movie didn't start until 9:40. Gasp! But as the previews turned into the opening credits, we looked around and realized we were the only people in the movie theater. My husband kidded me that he had rented the place out for the evening just for me. And it was wonderful. We laughed out loud and talked and giggled. It felt so good not to have to stop a belly laugh or a snort during the good parts. We pulled the arm rest up and snuggled and ate popcorn. Most of the time, we go to our favorite bar for wings and a beer. But after a few consecutive "bar" dates, I can usually talk him into going someplace new.
Oooh la la! A movie theater all to yourself! How fancy! I'm totally jealous of your weekly date nights. I think that is ideal and, fingers crossed, I'm definitely going to try and make it more of a priority.
My fiance and I so rarely have date nights. It's always a magical feeling.
Lovely post -- and I love your clear umbrella!