A Simple Dinner
29 Apr 2013
One of the things I love the best about my parents is their appreciation for simple things. They love good wine, good bread, good cheese, good olives. All of those things sound like the makings of a perfect dinner to me, so it’s always a treat when we can have an indoor picnic, like we did last night. We spent the whole day traipsing through the East Bay (by my mom’s count, we walked about 5 miles), and then we came back to our little hotel room, almost collapsed with exhaustion, and pulled this divine dinner together. The bread is from Bouchon in Napa, the wine from a wonderful small winery called Failla (we visited the day before), and the rest of the provisions are from heaven on earth: Berkeley Bowl. I have had so many amazing meals in my life, but I think the thread that runs through all of them is this: you can’t separate your enjoyment of the food from your enjoyment of the people around you. You bite into something and find yourself sending up a silent prayer of thanks that such a thing exists and has found its way onto your plate; you look around the room and are just so happy to see the people you love here at the table with you, every time you look up. I wish you so many, so very many of those dinners.

Apr 29, 2013 @ 10:38:34
Love love love black olives. It could be my entire meal if I let it! We do simple dinners like that once in a while which makes them special.
Apr 29, 2013 @ 11:38:28
I so agree! I get excited whenever I go anywhere with an olive bar–I love trying new ones! My husband doesn’t like them as well, so I eat lots of them when I’m with my parents:)
Apr 29, 2013 @ 12:28:35
“. . .you can’t separate your enjoyment of the food from your enjoyment of the people around you. ”
Very aptly said, Cameron. I agree wholeheartedly.
May 01, 2013 @ 21:34:02
We’ve had so many meals like that, haven’t we? Love you!
Apr 29, 2013 @ 20:40:30
Seeing this makes me miss our time together even as we have just gotten unpacked. What a great time it was!
May 01, 2013 @ 21:34:19
Me too! It was just luminous. I miss you so much already!