Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
Birthday Undone, Redone. Fish With Pesto Cream Sauce.
My birthday. Hardly worth getting excited about.* Whereas 61 called to mind the historic highway paralleling the Mississippi River, the only association I think of with 62 is that I compiled my best collection of baseball cards from that year, when I was eleven.
The most delightful moments of my day concerned my birthday cards. The first one I found was Mary Ann's, placed right on top of my keyboard so I couldn't miss it--as I did a few years ago, a negligence she still reminds me of now and then. Mary Leigh's card was a fine sample of the kind of work she is trying to turn into a business, with some early success, yet. The card reproduced here is hand-drawn completely--pencil on paper, no computerizing at all. She believes that some people would enjoy getting a one-of-a-kind, custom-made card. I know I was delighted by it. The cat Twinnery is even in it.
Last night, Mary Ann and I had some abrasive moments concerning her rather large collection of parking tickets. I am not permitted to give details, but let's say the authorities threw the book at her. The only way I could assert some moral authority was to declare that all extraordinary investments in pleasure--including my own birthday dinner, which was to have been at either La Provence or Arnaud's tonight--would have to be cancelled until the amount of money we saved by not going out surpasses the total of the parking tickets. Pathetic, right? But that's the best I could come up with that wouldn't cause me even more distress. I can bring my inner adult to bear in this gratifyingly easy. I have and will have other wonderful dinners. With that in mind, skipping this one was easy.
The gambit had the desired effect, and the Marys insisted that we had to have dinner for my birthday. They joined me at the inexpensive but good Bosco's. It's a measure of how much Tony Bosco has expanded his menu that I am finding dishes I've never had there before. Tonight, I noticed a shrimp dish with a pesto cream sauce. I'm not big on shrimp entrees (although Bosco's barbecue shrimp would certainly make an excellent main). So I asked whether they could broil a fillet of redfish and serve it with the pesto. The waitress thought this a little strange, but I knew Tony would not have a problem with it. Also, I have a little experience with the idea. Chef Andrea has long served pompano with a pesto cream sauce to delicious effect. Anyway, Tony's version of it was a little too rich with cream, but very good otherwise. I'm glad I ordered it.
*These first two sentences were copied verbatim from Year Of Change by the late New Yorker magazine writer E. J. Kahn, Jr. Reading that book gave me the impetus to churn out this daily journal for all the years that I have.
Bosco's. Mandeville: 2040 La Hwy 59. 985-624-5066.
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