Wednesday, November 18. Friday On Wednesday. Sesame Inn. Another stunning day taunts me with its finality. We will not have such sparkling conditions at Manresa this weekend. Well, it's a place for penance, anyway.
The girls went into town together, and there was talk of our all having dinner on the South Shore, but it didn't happen. Mary Leigh is taking guitar lessons from her physics teacher. That actually makes sense. Understanding how waves interact in constructive and destructive ways doesn't seem to relate to making music, but of course it's essential. I don't know how much these lessons cost, but I was alerted to the fact that the guitar I bought her for Christmas a few years ago is no longer useful. "It's too small," she says. "It's a kid's guitar. A ukulele. Come on, Dad!"
The clear skies of morning were clotted with clouds when I headed for home across the Causeway. But I was in good cheer. I'd done my last radio show for the week. Mary Ann will sit in for me again while I'm at Manresa. And my mind was on supper--the only meal of this day--at the Sesame Inn. There Steve, the owner, must have got the word that the extra entrees he often sends me to try is too much for me to eat. (Even one of his generous entrees is hard to consume entirely.) He still had something he wanted me to sample: shrimp and scallops in as well-made a Chinese black bean sauce as I can remember. "Fresh shrimp, fresh scallops," he said. "And fresh eggplant, of course, and fresh garlic. Everything fresh!" On the same plate--but on the other side of a wall made of orange slices--was spicy sesame chicken. It's the restaurant's signature dish, but I wasn't sure whether I'd ever had it before. Well, I have now, and will again. I think Mary Leigh would even like it.
The Sesame Inn's waiters always think its funny when I intercept the bowl of fried noodles they bring with the hot and sour soup. "Please take this away," I say. "Otherwise I'll eat them." I don't know whether that strategy makes a big difference in my weight, but it can't hurt.
Sesame Inn. Mandeville: 408 N. Causeway Blvd. 985-951-8888. Chinese.
