My Friend Tina-Bina

Ah-christ-EEEN-ah issa my favorite ah-friend-ah! In six words, Tina is Helen of Troy incarnate. She issa bella! Tina and I have been friends since 2003 but it feels like we've been friends since 1984ish. This is the story of how and why we became friends:

It was the year 2003 and I had just moved to New York to begin a graduate program in Computer Art. For the first few months, the only people I really met in New York were other students in the program. On October 31, 2003, I went to a church Halloween party and met some of my dearest friends there. Tina was one of them; however, our friendship didn't quite begin there. After that, we saw each other at church every so often, but we didn't really hang out much. I was busy with school, but by the end of November I decided to move out of my apartment and into a temporary one on a little place New York and I call Roosevelt Island (I'll save those stories for anther time). Luckily, I had Tina's phone number so I called her for the first time and asked if she could help me move. So she and Mossimo (one of my favorite Italians to impersonate) came to my rescue. Still, our friendship hadn't fully blossomed and wouldn't until January 6, 2004.

I went home for Christmas and when I came back, I had to move out of my temporary housing, say farewell to Roosevelt Island, and move into my new apartment (my current and most favorite residence yet). I called Tina, again, to help me clean my nasty apartment because I didn't really know who else to call. She came over and we scrubbed hardwood floors together. It took me 3 full days to clean the bathroom. Tina told me she was glad to have me in the neighborhood and I was so glad she was going to be my neighbor.

Since then, I've been locked out of my apartment, the gas has been shut down (so I couldn't cook anything), and I've had no water on multiple occassions. Each time those things happen, I always run to Tina's. I've done my laundry at Tina's house, laughed and cried at Tina's house, eaten wonderful food at Tina's, talked about our similar crazy families at Tina's -- it's basically my 2nd home in New York.

I'm so thankful she is so willing to serve others because we might not have become friends if it weren't for this quality of hers. That's not really true. I think we would still be friends because as Anne of Green Gables explains, we're bosom friends.

I love Tina for many reasons and one of the main reasons is because she's up for anything. On the rare occassion I feel like going out, Tina's always there to go with me. We go dancing, we walk home from church on nice days, but mostly we try out new restaurants. Perhaps our favorite place to go is Pomme Frites on 2nd Avenue. It's a small little joint that only makes french fries -- and ubergood one's at that. They also sell all of these wonderful sauces to dip your fries in. My favorites are Sun-dried tomatoe, Mango, and Vietnamese pineapple. Other popular choices are Rosemary-Garlic, Pesto, and Eggplant.


Outside Pomme Frites.


Inside Pomme Frites. Tina took this picture. Look carefully, 'cause you can see the Ketchup falling. I love action photos.


Here we are at Pomme Frites on a different night. I'm not sure what we're doing here or what that guy's name is, but I do remember we were having fun.


That night, we stayed 'til closing and brought the house down. The guys behind the counter gave me a bag full of leftover fries. I didn't really know what to do with them. I kind of didn't want to eat them anymore once the bag became wet with oil.

Tina's the kind of girl that if you ask her to combine forces for Sunday dinner she says things like this: "I don't have that much food to add to the meal." But then ends up doing things like this: makes a delicious greek chicken dish with a prune sauce along with a garden salad complete with home-made dressing. She cooks, she's beautiful, she's spontaneous, she's wise, she's a great listener, she dances, she's gonna be a lawyer, she speaks 5 languages, she plays basketball, (men, she's single), and she's the best friend I have in New York! And you can tell THAT to the presses.