October 6, 2005
Yesterday evening was good
First
I left work
and there was Bill
waiting outside the building
trim and tousle-haired
holding a fast-food bag and taking a break before heading off to class
We sat in the atrium with the smells of the trees and the french fries
chatted a few minutes
a small great surprise
Then on my way home I stopped at Williams Sonoma
which was abundantly decorated with green leafy plants
little lettuces in wooden trays
great vases of green hydrangeas
a huge urn of olive branches
Much nicer than anything they usually have in there
I happened to read that it was Chuck William’s ninetieth birthday this week
and they had festivities
so I suppose that’s why
But even a girl shopping for just one small white porcelain gratin dish
can ogle their lettuces with impunity
That dish was an indulgence and not cheap either
used to cleverly trick myself first into walking home and then cooking
Same goes for the nice gruyere and goat cheese I’d bought on my lunch break
to make cheese-infused potatoes dauphinois
Layers of mandolined potatoes
salt and pepper
garlic
cheese
and cream
stacked up in my pretty new small dish
baked till brown and bubbling
and wrapped in a blue and red flowered dish towel to carry to the table
It was zingy in flavor which at first I attributed to the fine cheeses
but then I realized was the garlic
I’d put in
a lot
of garlic
and it occurred to me that I don’t really pay much attention to
maybe don’t even actually know for sure
what garlic tastes like
It’s always been just a small flavor in so much of what I eat
But that zippy fresh green tangy taste
stood out
while at the same time marrying divinely with the potatoes and the cheese
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