Good morning! You are going to do great things this week, I just know it.
To get you off to a good start, let me tell you a story about the time I felt like a hick.
It was this past Friday.
It was a beautiful late summer afternoon on the coast of Maine. The sea salt breeze was strong but not so strong that your hair was out of place. It was probably 65. I had on a long sleeve shirt and a wool wrap.
And pants, of course, I never leave home without pants on.
I was at my friend A’s shop. A was having a book signing for one of those fancy coffee table books. There were white tents set up. One of my acquaintances, D, who is a cookbook author had catered the party. There was wine and beer, because A likes beer.
There was what looked from a distance because my eyesight is shot, a wheel of brie or a cheesecake. But it was actually a crabcake fashioned into a cake and it was sooooooo good.
Anyway, elegant scene, you get it.
So I meet a woman who I previously had only had email exchanges with. I instantly liked her.I thought, this woman is an older version of me only more fun and tall and slender. I am neither of those things. Except fun.
I notice this woman has just one earring hanging down from her left lobe and I ask “oh no, have you lost an earring,” pointing to her right ear.
“Oh no, she said, this is the look. I have a girlfriend in Italy who says everyone is just wearing one earring--if it’s the type that hangs like this.
I’m less embarrassed writing this but I was very embarrassed Friday and even worse, I worried that I’d made her feel weird about being stylish with her one earring. I hope she didn’t go home and text her friend and say “thanks, I felt like a loon. Maine is the anti-fashion center of the universe.”
Which it really is.
Incidentally Maine has a number of actual loons on its water bodies so come here if you’d like to see one and or hear one.
Anyway, I felt like such a frumpelstilskin so the moral of this story is, if you see a woman or a man with just one earring, don’t say anything other than maybe “My, that’s a lovely earring you’re wearing.”
Now that you’ve finished your coffee, I’ll wrap this up with my dinner plans for the week. Maybe they’ll inspire you.
- Salmon Escabeche
- Beer can chicken and couscous (best beer can chicken recipe ever, been making it since the 18-year-old was a toddler).
- Spicy Fish Sandwiches
- Chinese chicken
- Steak and baked potatoes
