Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Catching Up After Fifty Years




At the end of our trip south on the Blue Ridge lay a real treasure – some old friends we had not seen or kept in touch with for fifty years. Bob and I had been room-mates during our third year as undergraduates, i.e., 1957! It was amazing how easily we picked it up again, as if it had only been the day before yesterday.

It was virtually non-stop conversation from breakfast to bedtime, on everything under the sun – from "Evolution vs Intelligent Design" to "Are we smarter or dumber with GPS and Google" and "Baptists vs Presbyterians vs Unitarians."

Our first evening we had baby-back ribs which Bob prepared according to the recipe of his brother-in-law, with whom he can talk ribs but neither religion nor politics. At least the brother-in-law is right about the ribs . . .

The first picture shows us at breakfast – even without the plate of sausage and eggs you can tell where I'm setting. The caption on that second picture is "Catching Up After Fifty Years!"

On our second evening we went to "Michaels on 4th" where the chef was extraordinary – he made my tuna rare and Bob's medium well -- simultaneously! And, most amazing for someone far from New England or the ocean, he knew what "dry scallops" were and that was what he was serving – Clara loved them in Cajun style.

The topper of the evening, after we got out the old college yearbooks – "Do you remember …. ?" – was the tasting of the Single Malt Scotches [Eat your heart out, Diane!!] – first "The Balveni DoubleWood" a 12 year old aged first in oak, then in sherry wood, followed by a "Dalwhinnie" a 15 year old so mellow and smooth it melted . . .

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