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FEB. 25, 2011
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JEAN GILLETTE Small Talk
Winter done East Coast style It’s good to have a friend back east. After a short chat with her, my fingers and toes don’t feel any warmer, but somehow I know they are. When she called, I had just been whimpering about overnight temperatures in the 40s and the constant morning chill in my house. I had to put on an extra sweatshirt, for crying out loud! Surrounded by enormous snowdrifts made slick by freezing rain, my friend innocently shared that Maine had an absolutely spring-like day that week where the temperatures had been … in the 40s. She was so distressed that it didn’t last. It was 8 degrees there now. Eight. My Maine friend makes me feel like a readyto-shrivel hothouse flower. It appears that what I need are a couple of stiff East Coast winters to toughen me up so I can be more stalwart about chilly mornings. This is presuming I would survive with nose and toes still attached. I have new evidence, however, that the hard winters back there might affect the brain as well. My son in Boston, the recent college graduate and medical school candidate, has become a dumpster diver. A what? That’s right. His mother is not happy. I truly expected to see a headline last week saying “Recent college graduates found dead of Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Campylobacter, Clostridium, Listeria, Shigella, and/or Shiga-toxin Escherichia coli — or all of the above.” It started sweetly enough. I got an unexpected call from my child asking for my mother’s recipe for chicken and dumplings. (He did not realize it is a closely guarded family recipe handed down for generations on the back of the Bisquick box.) The first surprise was that he was cooking chicken, as he has been a vegetarian for about seven years. When I queried him about that, he pointed out that they had pulled some wonderful, sustainably raised chicken breasts from the dumpster behind a particular high-end food store. I nearly leaped through the phone in horror, but he assured me “Mom, Boston is one giant deep-freeze in the winter.” I had to admit that was something I hadn’t thought of, but I swiftly TURN TO SMALL TALK ON B15
Barry Zarling, Jane Christ, Charlie Christ and Joseph McCarter.
Julie Bart.
A very fine wine time
Bill and Debbie Tomin and Scott and Kaylin Union.
tasting the 300 different wines from different wineries whose representatives were lining the walls throughout the club. Delicious looking appetizers were also served.
RANCHO SANTA FE — A record 350 people attended the sold-out wine festival at the clubhouse of the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club on the evening of Feb. 19. A stormy night did not discourage wine lovers from
Photos by Patty McCormac
Neil and JoAnn Nydegger.
Brad and Cristin Fagan.
Chuck and Joani Wafer and Chris and Mike Howard.
Terri Wedell, Alisha Eibel and Chris Cutler.
Tom and Karian Forsyth, Kirk Martens and Beverly Gepfer.