Kind of Blue - a birthday wish

This week’s dishes are Vegetarian Pizza and Sweet Rice Krispy Sushi. A little background on why I chose these dishes.

Because it’s Brian’s birthday this week.

I met Brian in eighth grade, because we were both involved in a talent show. I don’t even remember what talent I supposedly had, but Brian played the piano. A Scott Joplin rag, I think. Maybe it was his stand offish air. Maybe it was his musical ability. Maybe it was the puffy blue jacket. I haven’t a clue. I just knew that even with all the other Eighth Grade Drama being played out, I really liked this guy.

I am not a subtle woman. I wasn’t a subtle child. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I know that about myself. I don’t know that I gave him a choice: he was my friend. I was desperate to know more about him, so I gave him an application to sit at “our” lunch table. Yeah, yeah. I know that was slick, wasn’t it? He was gracious enough to play along. As I recall, he listed his address as “I know a cave in NE Tanzania”.

And, no, I never made anyone else submit an application to have lunch with me. Maybe I’d have been better off if I had!

We grew up; he went to Colorado, I had Tony. We both ended up in Vista in 1980. We started hanging out again. He’s Tony’s godfather, as a matter of fact. When I left California, I met your father, and Brian and I drifted apart.

Last summer - poof! He was suddenly back in my life. I found him on Facebook of all places. As you kids know, I haven’t kept in touch with friends from my childhood, and Brian was a huge part of my past. He was our Josh, when I was growing up, the kid who was always around, along with Jamie, Elisabeth’s friend.

I ended up in the Midwest, and eventually the Southeast. He ended up in Chicago. After all these years he is still dry, erudite Brian. Turns out we share a love of jazz, and Miles Davis in particular. My sepia tinted childhood memories are now supplemented with bright shiny new ones. And that makes me glad.

So, why vegetarian pizza? Well what else did Catholic teenagers eat on Friday nights? I mean, really, it was a very big deal when the Pope repealed the whole Fish-On-Friday thing. I have a memory, just a picture really, of myself, Brian and Teresa Lopez at NY Pizza out on East Vista way, getting pizza. It was a cold clear night with a black velvet sky and diamond stars. How good it was, how happy – how content I was in that moment. I can’t figure out why the hell the three of us were together, and certainly the location on East Vista Way was in no way a place we would normally be. I just remember a cool starlit night, a hot pizza with stretchy cheese and great company.

And the rice krispies are because Brian cruelly told me that the very last batch I made when I was 16 would have made EXCELLENT paperweights had they been any heavier. Hmph. Okay, I admit they did suck, but he did not even TRY to be nice about it.

But now, I am, ahem, more mature, so I started thinking: I will show him!

I will make Rice Krispy Treats, and he will have to acknowledge I rock! But I still think they suck (what! They taste like “sweet”!). So I found a way around that. I am making Sweet Rice Krispy Sushi.

Oh, and Brian has told me he is now a Vegetarian (nothing with a face, baby), so the menu makes even more sense, doesn’t it?

Happy Birthday, Brian. You can make fun of my cooking any day, especially if you can duck really fast.

Still crazy, after all these years…..

gil