As August winds down things are starting to get back to normal. Or to put it another way, my whacky sleep cycle has returned and I’m more overwhelmed with projects than ever! But then, these are good problems to have (well, the whole sleep thing, not so much, but the other one, yeah).
To close off this month, EATING AUTHORS returns once more to that amazing author cooperative, Book View Cafe, to feature as this week’s guest one of its founding members, Nancy Jane Moore.
I first discovered Nancy’s work in the pages of Polyphony 5 more than a decade ago, and I continue to delight in it. If you like strong feminist themes in your science fiction you should definitely give her a read!
LMS: Welcome, Nancy. So what stands out as your most memorable meal?
NJM: Coming up with just one memorable meal is quite a challenge. I love to eat. According to my father I came home from the hospital hungry and I’ve been asking what’s for dinner ever since.
But a meal last fall on our road trip up the California Coast en (slow) route to Eugene, Oregon, for the Tiptree Symposium honoring Ursula K. Le Guin gets my vote these days.
We left Oakland midday, and took back roads from San Rafael until we were north of Point Reyes National Seashore. Route 1 isn’t so heavily traveled there, so we lazed along up to Jenner, where we splurged on a room that overlooked the water.
Jenner’s not a big town, and most of it is one side or the other of Route 1. We walked up the highway about a half mile to the River’s End restaurant. It was dark by then, but if we looked hard we could see the Russian River flowing into the Pacific out the restaurant window.
I ordered oysters on the half shell. I had something else – a nice salad, as I recall – and a glass of wine, but it was the oysters that made this memorable. Fresh caught oysters from Tomales Bay, a few miles to the south. Small oysters, with a deep dusky flavor, not quite smoky, but rich and dark. Without a doubt, they were the best oysters I’ve ever eaten in my life, and I’ve been eating oysters since I was six years old.
There was a special sauce for them, one I’m sure the chef was justifiably proud of, but it wasn’t necessary. You didn’t want to hide that taste; you wanted to savor every bite of it.
My sweetheart doesn’t like oysters. He ate a hamburger. But he really enjoyed watching me eat them.
The rest of our trip up the coast was also memorable – driving through redwoods and staring out at the Pacific. We ate well several times that trip, but the first night was the best.
Thanks, Nancy. You remind me that sometimes the best thing about a meal can be watching how much someone else enjoys it.
Next Monday: Another author and another meal!
#SFWApro
Tags: Eating Authors
