Of Kibbeh, Jazz and the Purple Dress

Yesterday, Lithus reminded me that we hadn't celebrated the end of the new book or getting the novel out of copyedits. We'd hoped to do it when I finished them ~ but he was on tour and out of town in Montana. We'd hoped to do it when he got home from his tour ~ but that didn't happen and we all know why. We'd talked about the fact that it was one of the things that had gotten put aside but we were both still in that shruggy-who-cares place and, well, shrugged and didn't care. But yesterday, Lithus cared again and suggested we go out. Anywhere I wanted.

We found Lebanese food. And a jazz club. And I wore my purple dress.

Now, Middle Eastern food is a favorite of both of ours. Love the flavors and scents. There are, however, certain foods that you generally won't find on menus at generic "Middle Eastern Restaurant" menus. Like kibbeh. Kibbeh is, to my knowledge, a strictly Lebanese dish. I was introduced to it by the Lebanese grandmother of my college roommate (so I know good kibbeh) and have never seen it on a menu except at Lebanese restaurants. I wasn't disappointed. Ground lamb, ground beef, perfect seasonings...yeah.

As for jazz, I really know nothing about jazz except that I like it. I like it a lot. So there we sat, at a bar in downtown, listening ~ and watching ~ these four guys do what they love. The pianist was still young enough that he didn't quite have the cool, suave, jazz thing down. He was talented ~ amazingly so ~ but he was still in that place of being very excited to be doing what he was doing. Nothing cool or suave about him. But the bassist, saxophonist and drummer...these guys were in their 50s and 60s and had been doing this all their lives. You could just tell. They had it down.

And the purple dress...last summer, before leaving New England, I went to visit the Lovely Cats et al. MomCat and I had brunch and she took me to this great consignment shop. We were looking around, oohing and ahhing, when she pulled out a purple lace dress. It was lovely. It was elegant and romantic. It was my size. It was five bucks. I only had about ten bucks on me and was trying to decide between the purple dress and a gorgeous coat (which cost ten bucks) when MomCat took the dress away from me and walked up to the counter. She bought it saying "This is to wear when Lithus takes you out on the town." That was June or July last year. For lots of reasons, it never got worn. Until last night. Celebrating my books. Out on the town. With Lithus. Under a full moon. With jazz.

Yeah, life's good.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.