Monday, September 15, 2008

A Dinner Cruise Around Manhattan

Last night, Morty--one of my best friends—and I boarded World Yacht for a four-hour dinner cruise around Manhattan.

I booked us a window seat, the perfect spot for taking in the Big Apple’s beautiful skyline and bridges, along with Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfalls installation dotting various points along the Hudson River.



Our view aboard World Yacht's dinner cruise

With colorful cocktails in hand (Blue Martini for me, Expresso Martini for Morty), we made a toast to our friendship and settled in for some laughs and reflecting on sex, romance and following your bliss.

When we weren’t talking, we were savoring every bite of our three-course meal, which began with a brie cheese-filled pastry. Then, it was onto an appetizer of crabcake with aioli sauce, tasty entrees of veal ossobuco and fried eggplant with white bean ragu, and a chocolate ganache with vanilla ice cream. Morty opted for a fruit salad, and I tried not to hold his healthy dessert choice against him.

At one point, we got onto the subject of makeout songs from the 90’s. I mentioned some of my personal favorites for close encounters -- including Jade’s “I Wanna Love You Down” and Silk’s “Freak Me.”

Speaking of music, I was itching to cut a rug with Morty—the only man I’ve ever known who can keep up with me on the dance floor. The DJ informed us he wouldn’t start cranking it up until after a patriotic medley in honor of Lady Liberty. Morty and I headed upstairs to the top deck to take in a moonlit view of her.

As “God Bless the USA” played over the loudspeaker, I smiled, remembering how much my late, beloved mom loved this country, and feeling a surge of patriotic love myself.

Finally, it was time to get our groove on. The DJ made it easy with a string of past and present hits like “I Will Survive,” “Billie Jean” and Rihanna’s “Please Don’t Stop The Music.” I could feel all eyes on Morty and me while we shook our respective bootys.

After we disembarked, a fellow passenger stopped us to say how much she enjoyed our dancing, while a crew member observed how much fun we obviously had.


All smiles during our cruise: Morty and Me


It is impossible not to have fun with Morty. He is one of the most engaging, witty and all-around fabulous people on planet earth. Our cruise excursion made me thankful all over again that he’s a part of my life.

3 comments:

Morty! said...

FYI, SGITC readers: Contrary to appearances above, I do not -- repeat, NOT -- in real life look like Arnie, the endearingly, enduringly dim and lonely mail room employee on L.A. Law. In real life, I am HOT! However, Melissa in real life is just as warmly cuddlesome and beautiful a creature as above. To recap: I am attractive.

Pekky said...

I am a believer that few things rock as much as having an awesome guy friend. You made me nostalgic about the times my best friend in college was single.

Melissa said...

You are so right about the joys of a guy friend, and Morty is the awesomest.

And yes, he's right...he's much cuter than he looks in the picture (though I think he looks cute there too). :-)