Gwen Bell has a Best of Blog Challenge on her own blog, (there’s a button on the sidebar linking to it) and although it’s one more thing to do in Dec., it sounds like a fun way to keep the juices flowing. It’s a way to reflect on the year too, because even a “best” that seems insignificant (like December 28′s question, “Stationery. When you touch the paper your heart melts. The ink flows from the pen. What was your stationery find of the year?”) can potentially open up a floodgate of memories. Memories lead to reflection, which leads to how things can change. I know I operate on what I call CSI – Continuous Self Improvement – and even if I don’t attain great heights or become spectacular, I can take small steps in making life more fulfilling. And I believe that the more fulfilled we are, the more we can positively influence other’s lives.
So, after deciding to participate in the challenge and printing out the list of questions, I thought, What the heck, I just finished Art Every Day Month, I’m pooped, it’s the holidays, and I wrinkled up the paper and threw it away. Now, of course, it’s been retrieved from the waste bin and I’m about to embark on December 2. Already, the implications lead far beyond the question.
Restaurant moment: Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?
I have two. The first occurred in Spring. I was up at our cabin in Alta Sierra by myself working on photo collages. I had a show coming up and found it easiest to work where I could focus just on art – or not, as I chose. The show is now finished, but you can see the collages that were in it here. I went to upload photos to my computer and – oops! – I’d forgotten the camera connection. I called my husband and he agreed to meet me halfway, in Glennville, for dinner and to bring my cord.
I can’t say our conversation was profound, but we were knocked out by the food. This is a small foothill community and I doubt if the population reaches 300. But there’s a restaurant called Hassano’s. The only restaurant. So there we went.
I had chicken picatta expecting some reheated version. What I got was a totally fresh, perfect, tantalizing dish. And the vegetables! I could rhapsodize about them but I’d rather go back and get more. I asked the waitress to tell Hassano how fabulous the food was and she said he has hired someone he sent to chef school. Well, this is a well-kept secret, because Bakersfield folks could take a beautiful drive up there and have fabulous, inexpensive food.
Bastille Day: Alors enfants de la patrie, la jour de gloire est arrive. The day of glory sure did arrive in Bakersfield. We have an exquisite restaurant called Valentiens. Their Bastille Day celebration sounded like fun, but the major impetus for going was that I’m making a determined effort to become part of the community again. That isn’t quite as dramatic as it sounds, but I retired from teaching a couple of years ago. When I taught, my world shrank and I had tunnel vision. School and seventh-graders were all I had time for. My post-retirement “career” is heading in the art and photography direction so that means getting out there again, meeting people, entering a different circle than the teaching world.
Also, at 63, I find I could easily become a hermit. I’m tired after getting through a day, especially when we were giving a great deal of assistance to one of our daughters. And with nine grandkids, six in town, the tendency at dinner is to not even make it and just collapse. So I told my husband we weren’t going to melt into the woodwork, but get back out and have fun.
This was amazing because of:
Music, the fantastic accordianist. We could have been on the bank of the Seine.
Then there was the wine.
Corkage was free if we brought a bottle of French wine, which we did. We saw Steve Mayer, a reporter for the Bakersfield Californian, and asked him to join us. We gave him a glass of our wine and he immediately told us what it was and all about the region – this man knows his wines!
Then there were the artists working throughout – we could have been on the Left Bank.
Vikki Cruz and Yvonne Cavanaugh own Surface Gallery in town.
The evening was more amazing because everyone was in costume. The artists, above, and the co-owner Jennifer Sanderson, below.
Did I mention food? I can’t even remember what we ate, but I know it was delicious. Maybe I had the succulent duck breast with crispy skin. I love their duck. We finished with waiter races!
Wow! This was a LONG post about a dining experience. But it was so much more. None of these people – Yvonne, Vicky, Jennifer, Steve, and other friends we saw there – Leighann and David, Jennifer and Larry, knew this was helping bring me back from the brink of social extinction. Ok, dramatic. But really, it was good to approach a new era with so much fun! Next year, we’re there for sure. We’ve been there quite a bit since, actually.
Tomorrow’s blog may be just as long – an article that blew me away. I knew immediately what it was, so I’ll be talking about aging and death. That’s an upper to end with, isn’t it?
