Life’s Embarrassing Moments

If it’s Wednesday night, it’s supper with Betty. We went to Pacific Table tonight, at my suggestion. Once seated, I realized I forgot to transfer my cell phone from my desk to my purse, and my credit card is in a pocket on the back of the phone. Betty: don’t worry. I have my credit card.

So we had a good dinner—salmon sashimi for me, shrimp rolls for Betty, a fire-roasted artichoke to split, and a glass and a half of wine each. Our waitress was super nice, talking with me about the fact that tuna carpaccio is on the menu on the website but not on the actual menu in the restaurant. I settled for salmon sashimi, which was delicious. She said she talked to a manager, and she bet the next time we came in carpaccio would be on the menu. Carpaccio, be it tuna or beef or elk, which I’ve actually had, is one of my favorite things. I made a mental note to tip generously.

Bill came, and Betty discovered she didn’t have her credit card either and had no cash. I had enough cash for all but slightly under three dollars of the bill but none for the tip. I suggested calling Christian, thinking he might be home and could run my credit card down to me. We couldn’t get him, so I asked Betty to call Jordan (remember I had no phone, and besides I couldn’t hear in the noise of the restaurant). Jordan is a super negotiator in such situations—she asked to talk to the manager, and pretty soon the manager said it was all taken care of. Jordan will go by tomorrow and pay the balance and a tip. And then Betty discovers of course she has a checkbook—the manager, Charisse, waves it away.

I’ve been trying to convince Jordan that I really can have my car back. I’m recovered physically and mentally and responsible enough to drive, so I’m sitting there thinking this is a huge setback, and she’s going to be laughing on the outside about two dizzy old ladies but not so jovial in the long run. She’s not home yet, so that remains to be seen.

Christian called just now and laughed aloud at the scene, sorry he had missed being involved. We’ll hope Jordan also laughs.

The only other interesting thing of my day is that I discovered that my now-defunct food blog, Potluck with Judy, is still online, and I’ve been raiding it for recipes for my new cookbook. Lots of old favorites that I thought I’d lost when we downsized and many of my recipes went away. I’ve been having great fun—chicken in crescent rolls, a beef and noodle casserole that is the best ever, an overnight salad. A great array of tempting goodies.

This ditzy old lady is signing off for the night—no, I take that back. I don’t want to be known as ditzy!