Saturday, February 4, 2017.
Have A Seat. The Best Use Of Jumbo Lump.
Mary Ann recognizes the importance of birthdays more than anyone I know--other than my big sister Judy, who to my knowledge has never failed to send a card to every birthday celebrant she knows, including even in-laws. Mary Ann's list doesn't spread as widely as that. But those who are close to her will find her arranging numerous special events for those in her inner circle. She attacks these with a sense of duty. In exchange, she expects a lot from her own birthdays, which usually are more like festivals than one-day-only specials.
This morning, she says that in honor of my birthday this Monday. she will break her fast with me at breakfast. We leave early in the day for Bella Luna, but not quite early enough. The person who arrived right before we did--at around seven-thirty--got the last open table.
I have the best breakfast item at Mattina Bella, one that rivals the best egg dishes in the most famous breakfast and lunch places. It's the blue crab Benedict, made by poaching eggs and serving them on English muffins, covered with a very light hollandaise. What makes this special is the garnish of mushrooms and jumbo lump crabmeat. I see a lot of misuse of the expression "jumbo lump crabmeat," much of which is not even close to that expensive gem of the kitchen. But here the crabmeat really does come out in lumps about the size of your fingertip. About the only way somebody could not like this dish is to have a dislike of crabmeat.
From this point, we head off on our errands. That for me involves three hours of radio on WWL. While I am so performing, the Marys have a scheme underway. Mary Ann knows from her time in radio that at the top of the hour I will get away from my desk to stretch my legs and get some water. I open the door and see, in the middle of our living room, a plump chair decorated with a wide assortment of circles. "Sit down in it!" Mary Ann commands. I do, and it leans back. Not like the duct-tape-covered chair sat in by Frasier's father in the television show, but a very comfortable chair indeed, leaning well back.
Mary Ann knows that I have long wanted something like this. Her thought about the kind of chair put her in an "over my dead body" frame of mind. But while looking for something else, she saw this in a furniture store and decided it was just the right compromise. Ideal for me, acceptable to them. It only took twenty-seven years of aking for me to get either this or a big rocking chair. The perfect birthday gift. And I still have two more days before my day.
The Marys accompany me to dinner. Pardo's is the venue, at Mary Ann's suggestion. We improve our attack and wind up with the last open table in the house. I will continue this report as soon as I can find the photographs I took.
