Much Good Food

My good food weekend started with going out for Indian with my friend Lilith. We had a long conversation about spirituality, among other things. It was great to get to spend some time with her without a planned group activity going on at the same time. Writing about it makes me long to get together at Ajanta with my dear Evvi. Since Garnet was born & especially since I started seminary, it seems like getting in touch & getting schedules coordinated is so hard!

Friday evening, J came home all excited from her Franklin Covey seminar. We coordinated our planners, with her explaining to me all about how the FC system works. Then, we hit the bookstore, where J got a time management book for training purposes at work, a copy of The Artist's Way At Work, and several bargain books. I was virtuous & only got a copy of Migene Gonzalez-Wippler's Santería: The Religion, which I have wanted for awhile & which will be useful for my church history paper. While I was poking around, these little boys (okay, teenagers) in grunge gear were talking about Eugene Peterson's paraphrase translation of the Bible, The Message. This was the special "remix" edition, hipped up with a slick cover and an endorsement by Bono. One little boy said, "I don't know if I should get this, since Bono recommends it. How can people call Bono a Christian? He's a humanitarian." There was absolute disgust in his voice, as though being a humanitarian were the lowest thing you could be. Wow. I felt like saying, "Duh! What do you think Jesus was???"

After the bookstore, we had dinner at Olive Garden. It was good, although the fonduto needs a bit more tinkering before it's ready for the menu. I had the 3-cheese penne & J got the Tour of Italy (although she gave the fettucine alfredo to me & I had it for lunch Monday).

We spent much of Saturday morning in bed before having lunch at The Winds. J had a wine & cheese sandwich. The one time I ordered it, it was way too wine-y for me, but it was just delicious this time. I had the adult mac & cheese & we split the Slow Boat to Sicily, a fabulous salad with romaine hearts, olives, and tomatoes. They put lemon gorgonzola dressing on it & top it with frizzled onions. Man, is it great! Oh, there's fresh mint, too. The weather was glorious & we poked around town for awhile before heading to the grocery. J had a psychic reading done by my old theater buddy Minnie...it was right on & kind of freaked J out. At Dorothy Lane Market, we chose several wonderful cheeses, some Tuscan bread, fruits, and chocolate desserts (cheesecake for J & mousse with little flecks of edible gold, in a chocolate cup, for me) for our dinner.

Once home, we prepared the food, put it on gorgeous dishes, and had a picnic in front of the fire. I spread out a lovely quilt & we asked each other questions from the Loaded Questions game as we enjoyed our dinner. We had planned to make some art & give each other pedicures, but got sleepy before we got to it. It was a delightful night, though.

Sunday morning, I was the liturgist at the UCC. Before the service, we socialized with Toni & Lara, who have a new grandbaby who is having breathing problems. I sure hope she gets the hang of it soon. After the service, we talked to Beth, who said that she & Mo want to have us to dinner sometime before too long. They both have such good energy!

We grabbed lunch at O'Charley's (love their rolls and their steak Caesar salad) & got cat food & a new pillow for me, then headed home. J napped while I worked on liturgy for this weekend. In the evening, we went to see "Romero" at the Presbyterian church & stayed for the discussion afterward.