My friend came to dinner last night.
I love when he comes over. This is how it usually works. I text that I miss him and then he texts, “Okay. I’ll be there Wednesday.”
On Wednesday, he calls to ask if I have cumin, or whipping cream, or chickpeas, or lobster. I say something like, “Lobster? Who the hell has lobster on hand?”
He says, “You’re right. How about gouda. Do you have gouda?”
At the appointed time on Wednesday evening, my friend arrives, armed with wine, obscure ingredients (that I think he invents himself), and big, daring culinary ideas. Cooking dinner is, of course, an event – a noisy, messy, delicious bit of magic. It may be the only time I truly love my kitchen. (I wash and chop and measure as directed. Chad and my friend improvise, perform, goof off, create.) The results are always amazing.
After dinner we sit around and talk about grapes and space and fears, and which of us would be most likely to get naked at a nude beach. I laugh a lot. I feel incredibly fortunate. I feel loved and connected, and I wish my life had more of these moments.
And then I remember… it can.
Wild
Wonderful! Reminds me we need to meet up for dinner too…maybe in September….
Ahh, my secret plan to remind you we need to meet up for dinner worked perfectly! ;-) Dates, please!
Love this, J. Spontaneity, nesting, culinary adventure, excitement, and friendship surrounding you. How great to be free to be ourselves and speak freely about our fantasies.
Sounds like a wonderful night and wishing you many more.
xxoo,
Marsha
I absolutely love when a good friend comes over to share food, laughs, and connection!
My friend from Italy makes a mean Pasta Puttanesca. And, surprisingly, I always have anchovies on hand. Even though I never eat them unless he comes over.
Time with friends is precious.
Plus with your friend you get dinner made for you, how nice!
Marsha, Amazing how quickly I lose sight of the need for that freedom and love and comfort level. Always so much to do and so many things I’m trying to accomplish. It’s truly a lovely thing when you stop and recognize the beauty of the moment you’re in.
Marisa, I love that you keep anchovies on hand. That makes me grin!
Terre, I tend to fall in love quickly with people who love to cook (for me). ;-)
Jack, I was so there while I was reading. Chopping & laughing. I would be the one with clothes on at a nude beach, btw.
“It can” made me tear up.
My friend goes south in a few days so I am going to go drink wine, watch a movie with her & try to crochet while she knits.
“chink” to the future
oh i like that kinda plan. have olive oil? whats ripe in the garden?
Four of my favorite things: Family, friends, food and laughter.
Jack, crochet, huh? You are a woman of many talents. Picture request! It sounds wonderful. (And, in the moment, “it can” made me tear up too.)
Keith, What you can make with peppers, squash and tomatoes?
Laura, Me too.
FYI, a mushroom and flash-braised chili pepper risotto, steamed broccoli topped with a delicious cheese sauce, baked potatoes and a nice sampling of chardonnays.
So who’s the one most likely to get naked at a nude beach? Inquiring minds want to know.
cmw, I couldn’t have typed all that, let alone cook it. (But I ate it well.)
Ralph, Chad. Definitely. He’s an exhibitionist at heart.
a salad for sure, off to the garden we go with wine bottle in hand
I wish I had a friend like that . . . I can guess what you might advise me — “Carey, how about if you BECOME a friend like that to someone else?” Oy. Must you always challenge me to reach higher? ;-) By the way, if you lived here or if I lived there I would also bring you wine and obscure ingredients although I can’t guarantee the result would taste good. I am the one that would be LEAST likely to go sans clothing to the beach . . . as a matter of fact, I would be the least likely to even go there in a swimsuit. Sad. Well, I’m daring in other ways . . . but I have to keep them secret ;-)
what? no dessert?? ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me! [hand shoots into the air, waving frantically, barely able to maintain school mandated criss-cross-apple-sauce sitting position] i love making dessert!
but mostly, that evening experience sounds too lovely to miss out on. i’m good at peeling potatoes, emptying the garbage bins and scrubbing dishes, too. :-)
Now I’m hungry.
if its not to hot, i’ll bake bread too
Ha, Keith, if you are cooking, I will happily let you warm up the kitchen no matter the weather!
Carey, If you lived closer, we’d be concocting all manner of deliciousness!
jb, We did not have dessert. You’re in! (And might I just say that I have never seen anyone cuter in the school mandated criss-cross-apple-sauce sitting position.) xo
Tricia, It was good. It always is as long as I’m responsible for only the menial tasks.
I LOVE cooking with people. My kitchen can really only hold two people plus the grandkids can sit on the diningroom side of the breakfast bar to help. My daughter’s kitchen is triple the size of mine with a HUGE island in the middle. My favorite times are my daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, grandson and me all together in their kitchen. We cook together, but at the holidays we also bake together. Love the nights where daughter, S-I-L and I stay up most if not all night making quick breads and cookies and bars and candy as gifts for Christmas and Hannukah. We talk and laugh and tease and lick each others bowls. Jen and Dan have been together since Freshman year of college so almost 21 years and married for 16. We’ve always cooked and baked together and we all love to tease each other. Now my grandchildren and I have started our own traditions. Whenever they spend the night, we dip strawberries and bananas in chocolate for dessert after dinner and we make pancakes for breakfast the next morning. BEST. TIMES. EVER. Oh, and we sing and dance. ;-D
We’ve had to move around a lot for work and we live in a city where we barely know anybody. We literally do not have a social life. We’ve tried to meet people . . . we even went to a spoon-bending event to try to meet interesting people . . . I even answered an ad for a freelance writer to ask her to have coffee (which she did, once, and then she was too busy to do it again). But after two years we still don’t have a social life. We also live loooong plane rides away from family. There’s just us. B & I. Company for each other. So I lived vicariously through your post. Feed me more, j!! Have more dinners like this and then describe them in detail. Next time, tell me exactly what you ate plus at least one snippet of conversation. :)
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you are blessed :~)
nothing like having loving friends create for you
and I love love love and miss miss miss my friends who cook
they live far away :~(
so now we talk and describe all the wonders we create to eachother