SPLATH!

When I received a text from daughter #3 from college in NY, asking "are you watching TV right now", two ironies were immediately present.

The 1st, that I was having dinner with daughter #2 in Chicago while having seconds earlier shared texted laughs and restaurant news with daughter #1, who was simultaneously dining in DC. ("You need to open a Speakeasy in Cobblestones basement.  I am at The Gibson....where men get yelled at for wearing hats.  Paradise.")

The 2nd irony was in the last time I remembered receiving a text asking if I was watching TV.  That time, I was driving home from the destruction of Cobblestones fire, on the morning on September 11th, 2001.  That text reached me at a time that I was feeling sorry for myself and my situation, and when I reached home only moments before the 2nd plane reached and felled Tower #2.

(And, of course, put my own problems in immediate and proper perspective.)

Last night my youngest was in her dorm room no doubt already packing to come home in 3 days for the summer.  Attending art school, #2 Tara is helping me once again to rewrite and re design the two restaurant menus, and all it ever costs me is a couple of days in Chicago and a couple of new restaurant bills.  (And clearly, my daughters don't choose Chili's. Oh, how I suffer.)

Last night, Tara chose "The Girl and the Goat", where we sampled goat belly confit, grilled oysters, pig face with sunny side up egg, and roasted beets tossed with white anchovy and avocado creme fraiche.  Ironically, a few hundred miles away, #1 Aislyn was soon sampling Calves Brains for the 1st time and later texted us  ("crisped in brown butter, so that helped")

But from NY, "We killed Osama bin laden!" came the exciting news, as the waitress informed that the Chef 86'd the chickpea fritters, while Daughter #1 suggested from DC that we "Get the cherry crisp with bourbon ice cream"  for dessert.

This time, over 10 years later, the ominous  "are you watching TV" came at a much brighter time, with much brighter news as I shared with three beautiful, relevant and adventurous young ladies.  What a world!

(For the record, we had the "hot gooey brownie with shiitake gelato, creme fraiche and sea salt".  As #3 would say; "Ridiculous"!)