This is an understatement. I joke that one of the reasons that I invite him to dinner parties is that he’ll wake up early to bake and cook. He’s full of kitchen creativity and ideas… and one day I’ll get him to guest post here. I’ve known Dave since around 2001, though we really only met in the last 5 years. We became friends after meeting on a dating website and I decided that I didn’t want to pursue anything. He’s great at keeping his network up. We finally met in person years later at a party. I’m glad things went the way they did because his wife is awesome, her parents are awesome, her friends are awesome. Their children will be awesome. I doubt I could live with him 24/7 but appreciate him so much.

This is a very long, and a somewhat personal blog post. Bear with me during the cheese (both literal and figurative) and my “Ode to David K”.

My favourite Saturdays are the ones that are spent with Dave and/or his wife. They moved into my neighbourhood three months ago. He jokingly refers to me as his “other wife”. They’re going to be parents soon so I fill roles that she can’t: Drinking buddy, ceviche sampler, partner in crime when she needs to get off her feet.  I’ve threatened “fake divorce” numerous times but I hear that the paperwork is a bitch. Also, all those fake attorneys…. (and I don’t mean Jeff Winger types)

As I tend to abandon all tentative plans when they’re around, I ended up skipping FoodPrint Toronto yesterday and having the most wonderful day with these two. Around 8:50am he text messaged me to alert me that they were at the Wychwood Barns farmer’s market. Up early, I headed over. I was at the market earlier than I leave for work during the week and subsequently a fair trade coffee did its job. The three of us hung out at that market before we dropped wife #1 off at home. She was intent on making gazpacho.  In and out of their place all day, we did some great food shopping. At Brick Works farmer’s market I got some haloumi from Ruth of Monforte Dairy and convinced Dave to do the same. He’s got a barbecue, whereas I feel like haloumi is kind of wasted on me – though I’ll cook it under the broiler or pull out my George Foreman Grill,  used twice in the last year. I bought Swiss mint and lemon balm from Vicki’s Veggies.

Funny story about that: He (Vicki’s husband?) asked me if the two herbs were for tea. I said that I’d been wanting to try lemon balm for awhile and he answered that he’d recently made lamb burgers with it because a “regular customer” tried it and told him about it. “I know him!” I exclaimed. That “regular customer” is Joel S., aka Foodie411/ Community Foodist. Also, around noon the market wasn’t too busy and there was still a lot of product. I say this to mockingly scoff at those who get there for 8 or 9am on a Saturday when I’m still in bed. Some of us are early risers, some are not.

Trips to T & T Supermarket and No Frills (sometimes you’ve got to) followed. Dave had decided that he was going to cook lobster for dinner. T & T has a great fresh seafood section. For myself some of what I picked up included a red bean cake, a green tea cake, black sesame ice cream, Gai lan – aka Chinese broccoli – which was used in dinner, baby ginger, fresh tumeric and fresh ginseng. Not sure what I’ll do with the last three but as I put them in my basket I had an image of Meghan‘s smiling face in my head a la discombobulated Scott Pilgrim head. (Okay, maybe not her face but I thought of her.) Tea, likely. Possibly a little ginseng and/or tumeric in my morning smoothie? I’ll have fun experimenting. Somehow when I was at T & T with him last week I’d missed the entire produce section.

There was a stop back at their place for a a fortifying lunch of brisket sandwiches on sesame pita with aioli and his BBQ sauce (all except for the pita made by him and more breakfast than lunch for me) in the middle of our day.

An afternoon/evening hanging out on their nice porch with friends lead to dinner prep time. We decided that Jodi’s gazpacho would be better the next day and so the menu was thus:

• Lobster boiled with celery, onion, garlic, ginger and a whole bunch other ingredients that will make a nice stock.
• Gai lan sauteed with plenty of garlic and ginger (we were without soy sauce) and finished with sesame oil.
• Salad of watermelon (No Frills), goat feta (same – Dave was specific in what he wanted), the Swiss mint that I’d bought and a balsamic vinaigrette that chef/writer Joshna Maharaj had made at his place on Thursday. I contemplated adding lemon balm to that but played it safe on the advice of my cooking partner. I love experimenting in the kitchen and will try it.
• Corn, picked that morning. I’m not a huge fan of corn but this was perfection, the way the kernels burst in my mouth.
• Side of garlic butter and lime butter, the latter of which I think Joshna had suggested.

I had so much fun cooking. I enjoy cooking but I feel like I do so little of it because I live alone and cooking for one just doesn’t seem worth being elaborate for.  Not that I don’t deserve it, and cooking for multiple meals is great as long as it keeps, but I much prefer cooking for and with people. I take pleasure in entertaining and cooking for others. When people ask what dish I’m really good at I shrug because I throw things together. I’m good at elaborate salads and roast chicken and smoothies and quinoa dishes, but I digress.

Check out some photos of yesterday, and a few videos that make me laugh. At one point I was enjoying watching David struggle with the lobster shell so I had to take video. You can hear me giggling throughout. I laughed so hard I cried.

[The song I was trying to think of was Les Poissons. It was there but not quite accessible at that moment, and I hated Julie and Julia but have Julie & that book to thank for a reason few know.]

It was such a pleasure to hang out with an old friend for the day, shopping, eating, cooking, eating, laughing. An ideal day with good friends and the second consecutive Saturday that I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with them. It’s a rejuvenating way to spend the weekend. Dave is one of the most authentic people I know, and authenticity/being genuine is something that I highly value in people. I have little tolerance for bullshit and pretense. Although a lot of people don’t understand him (he has a lot of energy, can appear to be “always on”, is crasser than anyone else I know) he’s a deeply caring individual, creative, issues-driven, entertaining, fun, intelligent. He’s outgoing, the extrovert to my sometimes social-phobic and socially awkward introvert (it used to be a big problem, now less so). One of the best networkers I know, he engages people in a way that makes them remember him. On numerous occasions when I’ve re-introduced myself  to people their response has been, “Right, you were with that guy…” Once, after he and his wife – then girlfriend – left one of my parties, someone asked “Can I see them again?” I used to fear that he’d offend someone at one of my parties. It’s never happened.

I need more people like that in my life. I say this and yet part of my inner skeptic has been having trouble believing that a new friend who I know is truly genuine, is. I think I’m there.

On this long weekend, call a friend. Cook or spend other quality time with them.

As I told a friend earlier, think happy thoughts.

Eat well, be well.