Friday was one of those days when joy crossed the line over into stress. I had a lot to do and think about and didn't sleep very well. Eventually I convinced myself that it was going to be fine and the reason I had so much going on was because I liked it that way.
Ray and I managed to get going early enough that he was able to take the bus and I got to work on time or even a little early--although I couldn't find my keys. Now that I think of it, I need to look in my purse because they may still be missing. In fact, I need a new purse with a safe and convenient place to keep my keys. M. was not planning to come in for long, because she had out of town company. I read over the grant proposal and made a few notes of minor things to fix. I found a discrepancy between the attached overall budget and the program budget in the grant, so spent most of the morning checking and revising all the numbers, that being the part I am really responsible for. If the words suck, that will be M.'s fault, but if the numbers don't add up, she can blame it on me. Numbers are very tedious, but concrete. They will add up, if you do it right. There is a definite right and wrong to them. Words are less clear. If our grant is not approved (which would be very surprising), we won't really know whether it was because we didn't put in enough detail or use enough emotion or any number of other things. When M. got there, she made all the changes and we talked a little. She left again. K. was there from 9-11. I left the interns in charge at noon and met Molli, my parents, Janna, her Mom, her aunt, Deb and Nathan at the National for lunch. It was lovely, delicious and fun. Maybe I should title this blog something about food, because that is what seems to define my life in many ways. Molli and I picked up Ray and drove to the bank. She had travelers' checks to deposit, money she is repaying us. We drove home, another beautiful warm sunny day.
I had promised boiled potatoes for the seder and was ready to peel enough for 35 people. When I looked at the ones Molli had bought, though, they were young red potatoes with very thin skins. So I just scrubbed them and she cut them up and we put them in a big pot of boiling water. At four, when we left to go help set up, Ray scooped out some of the water so it wouldn't spill and carried them out to the car. Molli carried them in. She tested them and said, "they're done." So we drained them in a giant colander they have at UUFA. Some people were there setting up tables and chairs, but no one was in charge. This is one of my least favorite things. If you need someone to be in charge, let me know. Different people had different ideas of how things should be set up. No one had checked to make sure we had enough silverware or wine glasses. We muddled along, though, and the dinner was very fun. My favorite part is dipping your pinky in the wine for the 10 plagues. Art's "relatives" dropped him off to join us. Debbie and John and Ron and Janna were there too. The matzo ball soup was excellent. Most of the food was good.
After supper, Ray and Molli and Art and I drove to the Melting Point where there was an REM birthday party. It was a benefit for the Shelter and the Food Bank--and I had two free tickets. Lots of different bands were playing REM songs. Unfortunately, Art couldn't go in because he was under 18. And the event was sold out, so Molli and I went in briefly and left them in the car. We saw Supercluster play 3 songs. Members included Vanessa and Bob Hay and a lot of people in interesting attire. They were pretty good and the audience was excited. Molli and I would definitely have stayed longer. I never found the organizers--Cathy and Maureen--to thank them and congratulate them. Cathy will probably come by Monday morning, but I didn't know what she looked like and she didn't know what I looked like. It was kind of dark and crowded and noisy--not good for finding people. We did bump into Richard F., Amelia's first boyfriend, who was apparently a photographer for Heap, one of the bands. He looked smaller and darker than I remembered. I probably wouldn't have recognized him, but he said something to Molli and they chatted a bit. Then we went outside and came home. Molli headed off to a party at Kevin's house (and didn't come home until 3 am). I kept waking up--I had left lights on for her--and trying to decide whether to worry or not. At 3, I called her and she was in our driveway, just coming home.
Then I woke up a couple more times. I had to take Art to the shuttle for Atlanta airport at 6:30. I had time to eat some breakfast, but not blog. The streets were deserted and we caught all the lights so were there in plenty of time. I was a little annoyed because he was not ready at 6, but it turned out not to be a problem. I found out his flight was not until noon, but Mitzi had wanted him to take the early shuttle to make sure he had plenty of time at the airport. His English is still not very good.
Back home, Ray had gotten some water bottles ready. Molli was up. We headed to the Run/Walk for Home, an event we used to go to every year, about 20 years ago. We were almost last, but one very large man finished about 15 minutes behind us. I had set a pretty slow pace--I wanted to be sure of finishing and not being too exhausted. We did it! It was pretty fun--the weather was not hot, but not cold. The route went along the river and the policemen kept the cars at bay. We were hungry and thirsty and my legs were tired, but I was not exhausted. We saw a couple people we knew (Kent S. for one), but it was not as well attended as in its heyday--about 400 people or less compared to over 1000. Very amusingly, Molli said to me, "Look who I found." I studied her face, she was tall and pretty thin. I said, "I don't know who she is." It was Andrea C., Molli's childhood friend. I hadn't seen her for more than 10 years. She is in law school at UGA. It was quite fun. I told her we still had the same phone number and she rattled it off. She is engaged to marry a black man and her father and she are estranged over it. She was surprised at their reaction. They have been dating quite awhile and she is "out of the will," she said. Sad and funny. Molli and I claim credit for our influence on her when she was little...although she was always strong willed.
Molli and I were looking up restaurants in Atlanta to eat at. It had to be open at 3 in the afternoon, so we could have a pleasant meal and still get her to the airport at least 2 hours before her 7:30 flight. My parents couldn't decide whether to go with us. It was a beautiful day for gardening and the Captain also had to write his column. I had to do some cooking for today--Happy Easter! My Mom had already made the lemon squares and was thinking about starting the brownies. I made the rolls and put them to rise in the refrigerator. We all ate a little bit of lunch, enough to keep us from feeling sick in the car on the way over. We got under way about quarter of two, heading for a French place in Buckhead we had not heard of before that had a great looking menu.
OMG it was so good! We had a wonderful time. The waiter was a middle-aged man with a French accent and excellent service. We just had a ball. We had seen gougeres on the on line menu and ordered them the minute we sat down. They are little balls of light pastry infused with cheese. Yummm. When we looked at the menu, they were not on it. Later he explained that they were on the dinner menu, but they went ahead and made some for us. We debated and got some white wine--Chateau Haux, if I remember. It was wonderful, with a hint of peaches. To keep it cold, they put it in a sort of heavy plastic bag of ice. It worked. They had "formules"--prix fixe menus that you could choose two or three plates for 22 or 28 dollars, not a bad price for outstanding French food. Molli had white bean soup with truffle oil--excellent. It was in an individual tureen and there was a good amount of it. Ray had an excellent mixed green salad with classic French dressing--a hint of mustard. Nobody asked what kind of dressing he wanted; that's what you get if you order that salad. The Captain had rabbit ravioli--we were all excited about it, but I think that was the least delicious thing we ate. Cute little individual raviolis--15 of them, with garnishes, but just a little bland.
For main course, I had shrimp, about 6 of them, in pastry. Sort of like fried shrimp, only really really good striped with a wonderful thick yellow sauce. Light and tasty. They were served on a celeriac salad, a cole slaw that I didn't really love and didn't finish. Molli and the Captain had the duck and it was fabulous. Ray had paillard--chicken pounded flat, served with asparagus. Vanessa had a sort of flatbread pizza with mushrooms. Good, but not my favorite. For dessert, Molli and I had pot de creme, Ray had baba au rhum and my mother had lemon tart. All outstanding and we enjoyed sharing them. Some people had coffee, which I understand was quite strong. We left very satisfied with an outstanding dining experience. The setting was great too--red leather (maybe) booth seating in an open area, with bottles of wine making a divider between us and the bar. Even the bathrooms were very cool.
We got Molli to the airport in plenty of time and sat around with her for awhile, letting the Captain play with my iPhone some. He liked the compass. As Ray drove home, we listened to Prairie Home Companion and dozed. It was quite pleasant. At home, the Captain set up to work on his column--in the living room. I would have watched some television, but went to bed instead, reading a little and falling asleep by 9. A wonderful day, although we were very sad to see my Molli go.
