Gifts

It is Mother’s Day.  I’m sitting in first class on a Boeing 777-200. That would be the one with the pod like cubicles, sort of like a personal space ship.  The wine is flowing, the shrimp salad for lunch excellent, and I am on the last leg of a wonderful week.

Aside from the very scary tornado warnings last weekend while I hunkered down in a Motel Super 8, this was a very memorable, wonderful trip.  I have never taught in Mississippi, and I found Southern Hospitality no myth.  The second leg of my trip was spent in Jackson, the heart of Mississippi, and my hostess was Marcy Petrini and her delightful husband Terry Dwyer, if you have read Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot, you more than likely have read Marcy’s columns titled, Right from the Start.  Both Marcy and her husband, medical academics by day, and gracious hosts by night, wined me and dined me until my jeans no longer buttoned!

The workshop participants, a delightful group of Southern women, were eager, and bright, and very very hard workers.  I even had two students that attended not only last weekend’s workshop in Hernando, but all four of my seminars at the Mississippi Craft Center, followed by the two day vest class this weekend.  Through it all, they smiled and kept plugging along.  Talk about endurance…

On Thursday, I got a real taste of Southern Cuisine, at a local place called Fat Tuesday’s.  A round of fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, all with Comeback Sauce and a Fried Crawfish Po-Boy!  My gall bladder will never be the same…

Marcy and Terry took me to a local gastronomical experience called RóChez.  RóChez is located in Ridgeland, MS, and if you blinked, you probably missed this little hole in the wall, run by chef James Roache.  This is a five course meal, and the menu changes every week.  There are no choices, just what the chef concocts based on what is available and what inspires him.  I’ve never had such a meal.  Marcy and Terry provided Champagne, wines and Madeira for each of the courses, having carefully checked online for the menu first, and we began with a Crab Ceviche, followed by a Salad Espanola.  Since we had just celebrated Cinco de Mayo, the third course was called Cinco Filet and featured a Beef Tenderloin.  My favorite course followed the Filet, called Margarita Shrimp.

Baby Shrimp Sautéed with Tequila, Garlic, Shallots, Oven Dried Tomatoes finished with Angel Hair Pasta and Cointreau Cream.

If anyone out there has a clue how to make a Cointreau Cream, I’d love some advice. This was undoubtedly the best dish I’ve every tasted.  My creativity is satisfied with threads.  I’m totally impressed with someone whose creativity is satisfied with food.

The meal was topped off with Terry’s Madeira, and Strawberry Sopaipilla.  Sadly I’m allergic to Strawberries, so I had the Sopaipilla without the fruit, which turned out to be a cinnamon fried tortilla.  I staggered home, too much wine and good food, and great company, swearing I’m not going to eat for three days, as I hold my wine glass in first class, flying home to Newark via Houston.

I’ve had some grand adventures this week, and I’m looking forward to reconnecting with Marcy and Terry at Convergence in July in Albuquerque, where I will spend the week prior in New Mexico with my husband.  I’m anxious for my husband, who is the hero of the hour, to meet some of my wonderful weaving buddies and their spouses.

Thursday night, my daughter was inducted into the National Honor Society.  I remember when I had that privilege, too many years ago, and I remember the candlelight ceremony, and what a big deal it was.  Sadly my husband and I received the invitation to this solemn event, simultaneously finding out that my daughter had been accepted to the National Honor Society, the day before we were both heading out for our business trips, me to Mississippi, and my husband to Jerusalem.  We have always tried to have at least one parent present at all major events in our children’s lives.  We were able to contact my son in Oklahoma where he was finishing up artillery training with the Army, and since he was returning to New Jersey the day after our departure, he agreed to escort his sister to the induction in his Class A Uniform.  I haven’t seen him yet in his Class A’s, so I knew this would be a treat for his sister.

My husband was able to wrap things up in Jerusalem a day early and caught an early flight back to New Jersey, and even with the flight delays, he came skidding into the High School parking lot in a limo directly from the airport in time to watch my daughter in her own candlelight ceremony.  And my son was there in full uniform.  Later he posted all the photos on Facebook where I could share in the event as well.  What a dad…

And now, I’m sitting in first class, heading home, on Mother’s Day, taking a break from knitting my first pair of socks.  I will hit the ground running tomorrow morning, since I have to do the final edits for my debut column for Weavezine, and I have to warp the table loom since I will have to bring that along with my spinning wheel to an elementary school in Mountain Lakes where I will be demonstrating and lecturing all day Wednesday to a series of second graders, all about fiber, where it comes from, and how cloth is made.  The timing isn’t the best on this series of lectures, but then life doesn’t always come in perfectly timed, neat little packages…

This week was full of gifts, including tornadoes that left me and all of my work and teaching materials alone.  Great new friends, the ability to share what I know, a husband who raced halfway around the world to make it to my daughter’s important event, and a son whom I couldn’t be prouder of, this is one of my more memorable Mother’s Days.