Monday,
November 12,
2007
Solvang.
The weddings this weekend went well, by all counts - I was delighted to get reports on the
delivery I was unable to attend personally - despite the rain, the reception was warm, colorful,
and tremendous fun.
I was in Solvang. If you've seen Sideways, then you know a little about the area, although
they play up the sophisticated wine angle and don't really get into the Las-Vegas-y Danish angle.
It's an odd town, full of hokey souvenirs and busloads of senior citizens and the ubiquitous aebleskivers.
And then there are the rare, tiny gems that you can find, like this one.
Kurt and JoEllen have created a tiny, comfortable, beautiful space - not a windmill in sight -
and they were just so nice.
We arrived at five after nine, not realizing that they closed at 9pm
(they hadn't
quite gotten a chance to flip the "closed" sign), and Kurt told us they'd be
happy
to serve us. So we looked at their extensive menu and tried to pick things
that wouldn't be too
much work - lasagne? I assumed they had prepared a pan of
it and I'd get a square, heated, to go.
Instead they set several pans on the
stove, one for noodles, one for fresh marinara, and a small
skillet for the Italian
sausage. Each dish was made just for us, and every one was terrific.
We rode our bikes for around 50 miles through the countryside, seeing wild pigs, ostriches,
buffaloes, horses, cows, goats, and a lone cranky skunk, who bared his teeth at us before he
waddled into the underbrush.
Then we drove hundreds of miles to make it back in time for a dinner party in Half Moon Bay,
where one of my best friends was celebrating a visit with her father and his wife - their first trip
to California. I wasn't the most exhausted guest - one of our friends had just stepped off a plane
from Ireland and come straight to the restaurant. After years of hearing wonderful stories about
Tom Healy, he was a celebrity of sorts, and none of us wanted to miss the chance to meet him.