Today

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03/10/95
​
For Deborah,

With many thanks for all your help.

Paul Bertolli.

***

The Stratford Chefs School was extraordinary. A magic impossible to replicate. 

Neil Baxter's dream come true. He went to the airport to pick him up.

Paul Bertolli in the passenger seat for a whole two hours. 

California sunshine in our midst. 

***

We talked about writing—his recipe headnotes read like poetry.

My cookbook's first edition. The binding busted from use.

I've cooked every page.

If my house were burning, I would flee with it under my arm.

Stuffed with scraps of paper, pressed flowers, thank you notes. 

Ink scribbles on chestnut honey ice cream.

Sea bass grilled over charcoal with shaved artichokes. A lash of canary yellow agrumato on the way to the table.

***

Dinner Friday March 10, 1995

Vegetable Salads
Central Coast Chardonnay '92, Calera

Bouillaibaisse
Central Coast Pinot Noir '92, Calera

Almond Cake with Apricot Sauce
Muscat, Saint-Jean-de-Minervois

***

Gail Skoff's hand-coloured photographs.

Gnarled bare fruit tree. Grey limbs stretched out to worship a cerulean sky.

Golden apples scattered in the grass. 

Rotting into the roots.

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2008