busy and thinking

Last night, we had perhaps one of the best meals I've ever eaten. I've become friends with a man who works in our India office and is in the states for two months. He was lucky enough to bring his wife. He and I have been talking -- about food, our respective cultures, family, and so on. A few weeks ago, he shyly asked if I would like to come for lunch. That turned into an invitation to dinner and it included Robert.

So last night was the night. They were so sweet -- very eager for us to feel at home, curious about us, as we are about them. She's an architect, and readers of this blog know that I have a huge soft spot for architects. She's also intelligent and lovely.

And the food was transporting. She served an appetizer, a "salad" (though not what we think of), a cabbage dish, a sweet smokey eggplant dish, homemade Indian bread, a buttermilk drink, a sprouted bean dish, and delicious lemon rice. Then for dessert, we had butter pecan ice cream.

Funny moment with the bread -- apparently they eat the first half of the meal with bread, mostly without using utensils. Then they have rice with a little bit of additional food. When she gave me my first piece of bread, she started to explain it -- that it was like roti, but different. Funny, I said, it looks a lot like chappati. They started laughing hard. Turns out it *was* chappati but they didn't think we'd know it.

Somehow this morning, I managed to sleep in. Good thing too, with a late bedtime and several interruptions from half-crazed animals. Slept right through the garage door going up and down, and it's loud.

I eventually got out for a swim, but after the day campers had arrived. The good news is that I managed to miss them in the locker room both going into the pool and coming out -- blessed quiet. But I did run into a friend after my swim and caught up a bit.

Then lots of errands, culminating with a trip to the farm to do Tuesday's picking. (I'd hoped it would be a little drier today. Yes, but I'm glad I wore my muck boots.) There's something so lovely about being at the farm. For one thing, it's beautiful there. If you're quiet, you can hear the birds sing. I found myself smiling for no reason at all.

They have a great crop of blueberries this year. I enjoyed looking at them in their various colors, from pale green, to paler lavender, all the way up to deepest purple. The delicate smells, the sun peeking through clouds, being in a giant net enclosure with dragonflies, all so peaceful, and a great way to finish up the afternoon.