Oh joy, it's Monday again! I'm not really complaining, it just seems like the weeks are going by faster and faster. The State Fair madness has ended and I have been so excited this weekend because Dave is coming home (after being gone most of the last two months). Mason's cooking demos went great but sadly, Mason and I did not win a single prize in our recipe contest entries. Mason was very disappointed but I took this opportunity to point out to him that the fun is in the journey, not just the prize. He was not willing to concede that I might be right until I put it in language he could understand, I said, "Mason, if you went into an ice cream parlor and asked for their best sundae but they told you that they were out of cherries, would you not order the sundae?" He emphatically said, "Heck no! I would totally still get the sundae." Of course he would and with that I made the metaphor that the prize was like the cherry, most all of the good stuff was the developing of the recipe, the testing, the tasting, the working together, the execution, the excitement of the fair, and then waiting to see who won. I even took it a step further and pointed out that he now has two more recipes developed for his cookbook and even though they didn't win, they are still super good. That seemed to take some of the disappointment away and we've already started talking about what we want to do for the Mandarin Festival in November.
On Sunday, I took Mason to Hayward to see my mom who was in California visiting her sister. We had a lovely visit but when we arrived at my aunt's house, I accidentally hit the curb and damaged the tire on Dave's car. It wasn't flat, but I managed to take a chunk of rubber out of the side wall - not safe! I carefully drove to Alameda where I was planning to meet Lisa for a short visit before heading home and David insisted I not drive on that tire all the way home to Auburn. Mason and I had an unexpected night away from home, we had a great dinner at Kamakura where Mason finally got to try my favorite Chilean sea bass, and I got to have coffee with Al, too. This morning while waiting for tires to be put on Dave's car, I was also waiting to meet Al at Starbucks. While I was waiting I was approached by this very interesting man who insisted on drawing me. I insisted he didn't but he proceeded to do so anyway. The experience was incredibly detailed and suffice it to say Al & I had the experience of a lifetime with a man who was clearly living many lifetimes right then and there. He was a doctor who couldn't read, an award winning Park Avenue designer, has 9 daughters and 8 sons and I heard about the multiple ways his mother died. He shared with us on numerous occasions that one of his daughters was getting married this coming weekend and as he was sharing about all the plans, his daughters wedding morphed into his wedding with his wife - the same wife who recently passed away and had skin just like mine. To call Nelson colorful would be an understatement! I didn't feel the need to call him on his contradictions as he clearing is mentally ill and there was no point to make him explain - the fact of the matter is, every detail was exactly right in Nelson's mind for that moment. The unplanned overnight in Alameda turned out to be just fine, Cris was able to stay with Spencer and Mason and I got home in time to pick Dave up, everything worked out perfectly. I hope you can make an unexpected problem work out to be something memorable and more good than bad. Have a great week and keep eating life's sundaes, cherries or no cherries, they are still awesome!
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