The Beauty of Community

About a month ago I volunteered to host an Eat-In at my shop, Fancifull, in Hollywood. It was part of a Slow Food U.S.A. Campaign to bring attention to the deficient Child Nutrition Act that is coming up for renewal before Congress this year. The plan was to have a string of Potlucks across the U.S. all happening on Labor Day. We wanted to show Washington that there was a movement, that people cared about childhood nutrition.

Monday, Sept. 7th, 3:30pm:
The dining tables were draped in burgundy and beige fabric and lined with bowls of sunflowers. Other tables stood nearby ready to be loaded with food from the guests. The computers were up and ready for people to sign our Child Nutrition Act petition, Sting was singing Brand New Day via my Ipod, a station for writing letters to legislators was readied with paper and pens and phones lined the end of the table with phone numbers of all the legislators from all the districts. We had posters made of some of the alarming facts: Childhood obesity has tripled in the last 20 yrs, Diabetes is becoming epidemic, The Child Nutrition Act as it stands now does not protect children from too much fat, sodium and sugar in their diets.
Now we just needed people to show up.

Show up they did, a steady stream throughout the three hour event. Vegetable Chili, quinoa with corn and feta, potato salad, vegan dip, tomato salad, just some of the savories that were so generous we had to spill out to more tables. Z Pizza sent up six organic pizzas and salad. The Village restaurant down the street made a huge tray of seafood salad along with an equally big tray of custard in phyllo. We drank lemonade from the Larchmont Larder. Wow. We could eat for days.

The joint was jumpin!

There is a beauty to a community coming together to support a cause. This was a disparate group, not just my friends or clients, or friends of volunteers. No, these were people who received a flier at the Farmer’s Market, mom’s with kids who knew too well that school children need better nutrition, local business people, individuals who were seeking a group; who were willing to belong and contribute.

Veggie People!

Children and adults made “veggie” people and wrote letters. Laughter and good conversation bounced off the walls. It was thoroughly delightful.

We discussed the alarming statistics. But more importantly we offered solutions. We had Chef E from the Farmer’s Kitchen who is setting up organic food programs for schools in Los Angeles. Home Girl Cafe was represented. They not only have their own organic gardens that they use for many of their dishes, but with the motto, “Jobs not Jail” are giving kids a better game to play and more importantly a future. Then we had my favorite renegade, Megan, from Root Down L.A. She brought her DVD showing the Root Down and other programs that not only get kids out to the farms so they can actually see what whole foods are, but then filmed them cooking it and learning how good broccoli can be when it is blanched and a little salt is added. She worked the crowd up with her enthusiasm. We had several showings of her film in our “theater” which elicited cheers and applause each time. A representative from Senator Curren Price’s office showed up and was grilled by the attendees.

On The Phone

When Slow Food U.S.A proposed this idea just a few months ago, I don’t think anyone thought it would transpire into over 300 events across the U.S. on Labor Day. That is one big community. And we are all the better for it.

Go to www.slowfoodusa.org/timeforlunch to sign the petition
Slow Food is having a membership drive this month, September only. You can join for whatever you can afford. The normal membership is normally $60, but pay what you can.
In order to affect change, we need members. Take advantage of this great opportunity.

Zucchini and Asparagus Melange

With summer, and asparagus season, slipping away I thought I should get this out right away. I’ve been meaning to post it for months now. I began making this a few months ago, trying to add variation to my veggies. It was so good, I’ve been making it weekly in big batches. I, and Wally, never get tired of it.

As with most of my recipes, especially sautés like this one, it is wildly variable.
I put down some guidelines, the rest is up to you.

This could be great done on a BBQ as well, in one of those grilling baskets (without the shredded cauliflower variation)

This takes about 15 minutes from start to finish – it is so easy yet so delicious, the perfect recipe!

Basic Ingredients:
Zucchini
Asparagus
Tomato (red pepper is good too, but there are so many options)
Olive Oil or Butter
Fennel Seed
Salt, Pepper, Basil (fresh or dried) and whatever else tickles your fancy.
I have a lavender salt from Sonoma (I carry it in my shop) that I love in this recipe.
The lavender adds a hint of sharpness
Touch of Balsamic

Add ins:
Leek or onion (sauté first and then add zucchini)
Red Pepper
Shredded Cauliflower (I put my in the Cuisinart and do a whole head and use it all week in various things – great sautéed with an egg in the morning, just like hash browns)
Fennel
Once again, I will let you tickle your fancy on this one. Go for it.

Optional, but delicious
Pecorino Cheese or Vella or Manchego or Parmesan or any cheese you like

Here’s what I do:

Cut up the zucchini in strips, a julienne if you will
If using leeks I do those as well now
I also cut up the asparagus – I use the tips and part of the stem
Cut your tomato – or do it as your zucchini is cooking

Get a good frying pan and put in olive oil or butter and melt over medium to medium high heat.
When hot add in leeks if using or just add in zucchini.
Sauté until soft, add seasoning (the lavender salt is good here).

Take out of the pan.

Add in Asparagus (may need a bit more oil, I like butter with asparagus but that is me)
Add in Fennel seed – just a touch and season as you like it.
After just a minute or so, add in the tomatoes. You just want to heat them.

Don’t overcook the Asparagus. It takes just a few minutes, they turn bright green and should be a bit crisp.

Splash the asparagus with a dash of Balsamic Vinegar.

Put all the vegetables in a bowl and if you want, grate a bit of cheese over it.
The Vella (an aged jack from Sonoma) is wonderful as is the pecorino, but I’ve used various cheese. I once added a little of the amazing Crave Brothers Mascarpone to this and it made it rich and decadent.

If you like the cauliflower idea, you can sauté that first and take it out or add the zucchini to it.
Shredded cauliflower has a rice like consistency and adds a nice texture, as well as lots of nutrients.

Be sure to cook everything lightly – undercook veggies rather than overcook.

I have added this mixture to the Trader Joe’s cooked lentils mixed with rice to lighten them up – delicious and a complete meal.

Of course this could be served with pasta.
And so on and so on….

Go ahead, get chopping and creative!

Sensory Overload-All In A Day’s Work

Terry and Wally before heading into Tate's

Eating cookies in South Hampton, sampling cheese from all over the world in Manhattan, walking up and down an aisle in the Los Angeles Convention Center diligently sniffing each candle that is on display – these are just a few of my favorite things. At least they are a few of the items listed in my job description as the buyer for Fancifull.

Cheese and Charcuterie

It means that vacations are often spent hunting down a vendor in their native land to see how they make their cookies – like Tate’s Bake Shop in South Hampton. or Jacky Blot wine in the Loire Valley of France. I put in days at Trade Shows eating cheese from France, Italy, Northern California, Holland, and anywhere they make cheese – which is just about everywhere except parts of Asia and Africa. Not happy just to find a nice looking candle line, I have to smell all the ones offered to be sure I am buying the one that has the best aroma, doesn’t make me sneeze, is environmentally sound, and looks good. Don’t get me started on the number of lotions I smeared on my hands and arms, as well as labels I read, looking for a new bath line to bring into Fancifull.

Goat Cheese at the show

One of the owners of Point Reyes Blue Cheese

I know, I could just sit back and look at the catalogs I get sent, or go on web sites. But really, can you tell a cookie is going to be good by reading about it? Also there is the comparison factor, this is good, but suppose there is something better? It is a constant search. I want to meet the person making that product such as Sara from Sara’s Snackers, which I found recently at the Fancy Food show in New York. Turns out Sara was a client of ours when she worked at an agency in Hollywood and is now in New York making delicious cookies with potato chips. Yes, they are addicting – the crunch of the chips make a great texture for the cookie. Look for those in our shop in the next month or so (may need to wait for cooler weather as they have a chocolate coating, whet your appetite yet?)

French Cheese

Italian Cheese

Going to Tate’s was a delight because they have been our best selling cookies for years.
I’m afraid to ask how they get the cookies tasting so fresh out of box, I’m sure there is some deal with the devil or something of the sort. I can report the chocolate chip cookies we ate in the bakery-in the name of science-did taste like the ones we carry in our shop. I probably didn’t need to try the cherry cobbler or coconut cupcake, but I wanted to be sure they kept their standards up in all areas – at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Long Island Goats, We had their cheese for dinner - yum!

We didn't eat cheese directly from this cow, I hope

New Items Coming Soon to Fancifull:
Sara’s Snacker’s Cookies
Lulu Soy Candles
Burgundy Blue Baby Clothes
An even greater variety of cheese
Long Island Wine
Baskets made from magazines (they look great)
Better Stainless Water Bottles
Malibu Lotion

Any Suggestions?

Ya Think or Ya Want? Italian Attitude

Our daughter Naomi translating for us

I have recently realized that I am a researcher and thus an explorer. Whether I am trying to find a great ingredient for a basket or wandering into the hillsides of Italy, I am always searching for insight. Perhaps it is where a certain chocolate comes from and how that affects the taste. It can be why Balsamic Vinegar ages best in the attic, as I learned on one of my Italy trips from a woman in Modena who was kind enough to give us a tour of her Balsamic Factory. We spent a scent filled morning in her attic, while she explained the traditions of Modena and the vinegars while showing us around her barrels of balsamic, some going back more than 100 yrs. We sampled vinegars that had been aged 8, 12, 25 and 40 years. Understanding the process helped to better appreciate the product, which is perhaps the crux of why I like to research: appreciation.

My favorite aspect of travel is the ability to savor and recognize all the creation that goes on in the far corners of the earth. I get the opportunity to experience first hand the culture, history and the incredible people that inhabit this planet. Cultural and personal idiosyncrasies abound. I have found a great advantage to sitting back and enjoying the show.

Travel allows one to connect the dots as it were. I could see during my first trip to Italy where the so called New York attitude originated. So many Italians immigrated to the east coast in the early part of this century and brought their customs and attitudes with them. This explains the neighborhood feel of New York, where you buy your groceries from the market on your block and eat at the same pizza place at least once a week. I find many Italians have the same gruff, ” whaddya want” attitude New York is famous for. Once you get past that there is a warmth that is increased if you make any attempt to speak Italian at all.

The attitude and the manners change by region of course, much the same as in the United States. But throughout, there is an honesty in the demeanor and in the food of Italy that I find refreshing. The Italians can take 3 ingredients and make a dish with depth and texture. I can still remember a simple mixed green salad I had in Rome. It was only a bowl of mixed greens with olive oil and salt. As I write this I can still smell the greeness (if that is a word), the freshness of the olive oil and taste the crunchy salt. Pretty intense. Which I think sums up Italy.

Watching the world go by, Florence

One of my favorite travel stories illustrates this attitude perfectly. We had just landed in Venice with that wobbly tiredness that comes from a long flight and not nearly enough sleep on the nights preceding our trip. Hungry and wanting to explore the city a bit before passing out, we wove our way through the labyrinth streets. We ended up at a small place just at the foot of a bridge.

In Italy many of the waiters are older; this is a career after all, not something you do while waiting for something better to come along. We had this gruff older waiter, your quintessential tough Italian, salt and pepper hair, craggy face, bulbous nose, and somewhat squat.

We were trying to make our way through the menu. It was printed in 4 languages and we were having a hard time focusing much less reading even the English version. Did we want a Primi Piatti (usually pasta), Contorni (vegetables), or a Secondo (meat or fish dish), the list of choices went on and on. You see, most Italian menus are broken down into many categories and you put your meal together. With so much to choose from we were taking a little longer than the waiter wanted.

He comes to take our order and my husband, Wally, orders an antipasto with the intention of ordering something else. The waiter starts to walk off and Wally says, “Wait, I think I’ll have the Spaghetti Bolognese.” The waiter fixes him with a steely stare and barks out, “You think or you want?” Wally, eyes wide and a bit startled yells back, “I want I want!” “Okay” grunts the waiter, with the appropriate hand gesture and takes off.

We almost fell on the floor we were laughing so hard. This was the perfect introduction to a country we have come to love. We all decided that was a very good life lesson. Do you think or do you want? One needs to be definite in this world. I appreciate the lesson.

View from our room, Bellagio

Expansion Amid Contraction

2009 will be remembered as the year of the great depression – both economically and emotionally. I know I have spent my share of the year feeling sorry for myself, my business and my friends. What are we going to do, how are we going to survive, poor us. Yes, yes, there is plenty of reason to feel down and I don’t mean to trivialize it. Sometimes I feel mired in this mud and no matter how hard I try I can’t lift my feet to take a step in the right direction. I’ve pretty much ruled out sleeping the year away. So now what?

After twenty years in the food business, I was ready for change. I wanted to volunteer more, get out of my small sphere and start looking at ways I could have a bigger effect: help kids struggling in school, make people aware of how ethical food choices can have an impact, have the time, energy and money to contribute to causes I believe in. Unfortunately the current business climate seemed to have dashed those dreams. I had to reduce my staff to almost nothing and work harder than ever just to keep the business from going under, much less make a profit. On good days I feel like a hamster in a wheel; I keep going round and round, but not getting anywhere. I’m not even getting a good physical workout, just emotional. Could I survive another year like this?

Well, to quote Nat King Cole (who didn’t write this song, but I hear his voice in my head giving me this advice), “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.” And so help me, I do have moments where I do just that, and guess what? There is plenty of help needed out there and many ways to do it.

I have a shop, I have wine and cheese, darn it, I can have fundraisers! The first one was in February and benefited Side Street productions, a company I personally love that has these big woodworking buses they take to schools and teach kids basic skills in woodworking, being responsible, cleaning up their space, and envisioning something and then creating it. Powerful stuff. You can find out more about them at www.sidestreet.org click on the Alternate Routes woodworking bus. We were able to raise enough money to last them through the month when grant money would be coming in. Plus, and to me more importantly, we were able to allow over hundred people to see what Alternate Routes does and won them many fans. Yay. I was feeling better already.

May 1st we are hosting another fundraiser. This one is for the Farmer’s Kitchen, adjacent to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market. I find this one fascinating because I envisioned something like this years ago, and here they are putting it all together. The Farmer’s Kitchen is a 1500 sf teaching and retail kitchen and cafe. It will give local farmers another outlet for their produce, prepare low income residents for jobs in the food industry (local chefs will be teaching classes), teach moms and caregivers how to prepare healthy meals with fresh ingredients and cater to the community at large with a cafe and retail store. Nice! For only a twenty dollar donation you can sample at least 6 wines, partake of a California Cheese Buffet, meet vendors from the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, sample chocolates, olive oil and an array of food. We are giving all the proceeds to the Farmer’s Kitchen.

This was all well and good, but what else could we do to help? I am serious about this. One day a woman walked through my shop door and we began to talk. Turns out she was one of my competitors, and a fierce one at that. She was closing down her shop and wanted to know if I wanted to buy any merchandise. We enjoyed the type of conversation you can only have with someone in the same business as you. We spoke several times that week. I came to admire her immensely and we formed a bond. Turns out she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It seems so unfair when a disease like that hits. I lost my mom to cancer many years ago, as well as some friends in the last few years.

Our Think Pink Gift Basket, 10% of the proceeds are donated to breast cancer treatment

Feeling hopeless against an opponent this large, I just felt sad. Then I picked myself up again and began to investigate. Turns out we could design some gifts and give 10 percent of the proceeds to the fight against breast cancer. Yes, it might help my business – I do want to stay in business – but I can create beautiful things, make someone happy who receives them, and help with early detection of breast cancer. We can help fund mammograms for those who can’t afford them. With early detection you can save lives.

Life became a bit more exciting to me. Yes, the day to day can be a struggle. But to quote Maya Angelou, “When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”

Exactly! Thanks Maya. With this in mind I volunteered to bring and serve the wine at “I Dream to…” a photojournalism event for StepUP (www.suwn.org), an organization that empowers underserved high school girls. When you hear the stories of these girls and how their lives are changing because of opportunities they now have to go to college and expand their own sphere, I guarantee you too will tear up as I, and everyone else does, every time these girls speak of what they have planned for the future. This event will showcase the photography of the girls in the Stepup program. It begins at 7 pm at the Helms Bakery on Saturday night May 2nd.

There are so many opportunities. I went to an event recently for RootDownLA that take students from Manual Arts high school in south central out to the McGrath Family Farm, gets them picking the vegetables, cooking with them (even having a cooking contest) and encourages them to lobby for better food in their cafeteria. As one participant from the school told us, “Eating better helps you live longer, just because we don’t have a lot of money doesn’t mean we should have a shorter life. We deserve healthy food too.” Amen. Stay tuned for a fundraiser for RootDown, and I plan on getting my husband Wally out to help them get a vegetable garden planted near the school.

Giving back won’t solve all my problems, it may not pay my bills, but it will allow me to play a bigger game and expand in a year of seeming contraction.

-Terry August

The Terroir of Chocolate

As I sit at my computer thinking about this article I’m nibbling on a chocolate bar, 61% cacao from Venezuela. mmmm… I’m enveloped by the sharpness of the criollo cacao beans, followed by a slightly earthy and nutty flavor that mellows to a long full finish. Venezuelan Chocolate may be my favorite. Although I do have one from Ecuador in my shop that is richer and somewhat fattier tasting than the Venezuelan, a slight taste of green banana and I swear I can smell tropical flowers. Yet both these chocolate bars are only cacao and sugar. Why the extreme difference?

Chocolate will vary tremendously depending on where the cacao is grown. It too has terroir, much like wine. There is no good English equivalent for the word terroir. It refers to the characteristics of the region in which something grown. Soil is a big part of it, but it includes the air, the humidity, the sun, fog, the flora and fauna. All of this affects the taste of the fruit.

Cacao is grown within about 20 degrees of the equator, which is why you won’t find fields of cacao plants in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The only place in the United States where cacoa is grown is Hawaii. What do you think of when you think of that band near the equator? Tropical Rain forest? Volcanos? High Humidity? Yes, and a variety of other factors depending on whether the cocoa is grown in Africa, Madagascar or Mexico.

I am talking about pure cacao which is used for single origin chocolate, not candy. There is a huge difference, chocolate and candy aren’t even in the same food group. I am not making less of a Snickers bar, but a candy bar is cheap cocoa mixed with a lot of sugar and other fun ingredients to make a confection. There is no terroir in candy, just as there isn’t in a cheap jug wine. The jug wine may be okay with your pizza, but you don’t expect it to have the complexity of a great Bordeaux; just two different things entirely.

Cacao is traded as a commodity on the exchange in New York and London, so people making chocolate generally just buy a container at a set price. Even when a region is specified you don’t know exactly where or how the cacao was grown, quality can be spotty and labor practices not inspected.

A movement has developed in the last few years of specialty chocolate makers who are directly involved with the plantations from which they buy. These artisan companies make single origin chocolate, with the cacao coming from only one plantation or a small group of farmers, producing some of the most interesting chocolates out there. They have a range and depth of flavors that make them stand out from your ordinary supermarket chocolate bars.

Since most chocolate is grown in or near the rain forests of the world, it is vital to be sure the chocolate we consume is coming from companies that promote the sustainability of the environment, including organic growing, as well as fair wages to the workers. This is important for a number of reasons. When farmers are underpaid for their product they have to grow huge amounts of it to make a living. In doing so they will overgrow on the land, deplete the soil and cut down more and more of the rain forest so they can grow more and more cacoa, resulting in a less flavorful cacao bean. Sadly slavery exists on some of the cacao plantations, especially those in Ghana and the Ivory Coast; the two countries that produce the largest percentage of the world’s cocoa

On the other hand, there are fair trade and direct trade merchants who not only pay appropriately, but give back to the communities where cacao is grown, by developing programs that enrich the area in many ways. Many farmers are aware of the quality of their beans , they can – and do- command high prices for them when they deal directly with the manufacturer. This allows them to control their destiny as well as giving them the wherewithal to continue to grow prized beans such as the criollo I was just enjoying. So you can eat your chocolate with a clear conscious and open taste buds.

My suggestion is go out and gather some bars of chocolate and perform a tasting. Some brands I recommend are: Taza, Pacari, Claudio Corallo, Chuao, and Malie Kai ( this last being one of the few single origin Hawaiian Chocolates). For these manufacturers chocolate is a labor of love: they hand pick the best beans directly from the growers, most are organic, and Corallo grows and manufactures his own chocolate on the island of Sao Tome off the West Coast of Africa.

When tasting good chocolate treat it like tasting good wine. Go slowly, notice the texture of the bar, take a small amount at a time, allow it to melt a bit in your mouth – warmer chocolate will give off more flavor- make sure it hits the various parts of your tongue to get the most out of the flavor, and exhale through your nose so you pick up the nuances through your sense of smell. Also be aware of the finish. How long does the flavor last after you swallow it? You’ll find you need much less of good chocolate to satisfy you than you would if you were eating a sugar and additive packed candy bar. Next time you are at a good gourmet store, look at the chocolate shelf, notice the single origin and organic chocolates and give yourself a treat. Warning: once you start down this road there may be no going back.

Terry August, 323/466-7654, terry@fancifull.com

Take a Seat at the Table

Take A Seat At The Table
Part of the Continuing Series: The Art of Appreciation

Do you ever have one of those rambling conversations? You know the kind that starts with one topic then links to another, then allows you to jump to another place entirely, miles away from where you began? I have those kind of thoughts in my head all the time. As a matter of fact I just had one, lucky you, that I’m going to share. It reminds me of my travels, starting in one area and then being guided by something that catches our eye – an interesting storefront perhaps – and off we go down a street not on our map.

My mental journey today started simply enough by reading my friend Camerone’s blog theworldandmeandyou.blogspot.com. This entry, The Valet, told the tale of driving her son to school while wearing her pajamas, and of course the potential for disaster. This instantly brought up memories of a friend who had a horrible “pajamas out of bounds” experience (hereafter named PJOB), and my own PJOB with my daughter while in Mont. St. Michel, France.

I won’t go into the details of it all, but suffice it to say we did not expect bright floodlights and hordes of tourists when we slipped out of our hotel room on a quiet alley wearing our pajamas and a coat, certain that the whole village was dark and asleep by now. We had meant to go out to the parking lot outside the walls of this cars prohibited village after dinner to view this national treasure rising from the sea with its abbey perched atop, lit up and twinkling like a Christmas tree. Alas, we forgot until we were climbing into bed. We decided to make a run for it. Our coats were donned mainly to steel us against the wind, and a feeble attempt to hide our plaid pajamas. The lights were blinding, the tourists aghast, and we were laughing. Who knew that nightly viewing was so popular that they had after sundown tours that brought hundreds of people to this tiny hamlet.

As I reminisced I thought that I bet almost everyone has a story of being caught in P.J.s (PJOB), dressed badly, or just being caught in a moment of fashion indiscretion. You know, the moments when you feel you have to explain yourself and why you happened to have your stained sweat pants and ill fitting Class of 85 reunion shirt on, and of course sans any makeup. I swear the only time I run into people I know is when I am dressed in similar fashion and run out late at night to quickly get one thing.
Happens to everyone (I imagine).

Mulling this over, I jumped to a conversation I had with a woman at a gathering a week ago. We were discussing how all of us on this planet are probably more the same than we are different. She had experience working with people in the Middle East and noted the similarities between warring factions and believed if they just sat down and ate a meal together and talked they would find out how much they have in common. Isn’t that true?

Take a look at most religions on this planet. Aren’t there many common goals? The Golden Rule, a version thereof, is something embraced by all sane people. We may worship differently, but basic tenets such as: treat others well, help others, love your children, live an honest life are all common threads. I’m not talking about the minority of radicals who think it is okay to kill another for religion. They have a whole other purpose in mind.

At this point in my mental wanderings I make another turn and end up on a different street and as I walk down it I am thinking about sitting people down to a meal and having them talk. Sharing food and conversation is part of just about every religion, culture, or pleasurable activity on the planet. The food may vary, the reason for celebration can change, but the breaking of bread is a common thread among cultures.

An Italian woman was in my shop the other day and she was telling us of the custom in her region of Liguria of eating goat for the holidays. I saw the smile on her face and the light in her eyes and could see the memories of previous holidays parade past. Whether the occasion is a Jewish Seder, Christmas Dinner, Fourth of July picnic, Id-al-Fitr (feast after Ramadan), Day of the Dead celebration, a wake, or just a birthday party- food is an integral part of the festivities as is enjoying the pleasures of the table and of each other.

It is no wonder that I joined Slow Food USA. I resonated with their belief in returning to the pleasures of the table(have I turned another corner on this conversation?). This isn’t to trivialize all that Slow Food does to make sure food is good, clean and fair. But the image of all of us coming to the table, together, was enough for me to join.

As I took my walk yesterday, clearing my head of the daily bad news I ingest , wondering how we were going to keep our business together and other gloomy thoughts, I looked back to when my husband and I were first married, 30 years ago. We didn’t have a lot of money. Entertainment consisted of friends coming over, bringing some food, playing cards, talking, laughing and of course, eating. They were great times.

Maybe we all need to return to simpler pleasures. Talk to friends and neighbors thus forming stronger connections, sit around a table eating fresh foods from the farmer’s market, everyone contributing something, offering comfort and conversation, maybe open a board game. Have fun finding all those things that we do have in common, the bonds that tie us together, and raise a glass in a toast to all that is good in humanity.