Food and Friends

I had promised a man at church that I would bring him one of CVCA’s retired computer projectors, and I knew I was not going to be in church on Sunday because of the Cleveland Marathon. So, I used it as an excuse to take Mer to Hartville to go to the Hartville Kitchen, a huge and hugely popular Mennonite restaurant. We got there about 7:15 on Friday, and they close at 8:00, so the supper rush was over and we got seated right away. We both thought about ordering lighter meals, but in the end both went for a full meal, which is hearty. Mer got pie for dessert, and I tried the brownie sundae, just to see how it was. It was good, but the Kitchen is known for its pies, so I’ll stick with those in the future.

After supper, we headed over to church, but it was locked, since it was after 8:00 on a Friday. I thought we could drop the projector off at Pastor Ken’s house. Ken’s wife, Janet, was home, and she invited us in. We chatted until after 9:00, when Ken got home. Ken and Janet love games, so they invited us to play Gang of Four, a card game based on Chinese hierarchies. We love playing Gang of Four with Ken and Janet because all four of us keep a running commentary going. Ken is really good at the game, and he kept winning hands. And winning. And winning. It took us eight hands before Meredith’s score went over the top to end the game (low score wins), and Ken had won all eight hands and scored no points. He asked Janet if he could frame the scorecard. It was a really fun time, even though Mer and I both ate too much by continuing to much on snacks at Ken and Janet’s.

On Saturday, we got together with a former student whom Mer and I had both had (Mer in class, me in Ceili Club and Royal Fools), and her friend John. Sarah wanted to join us to see The Great Gatsby, and John had never seen it or read it, so it was set up to be an interesting evening.

Mer and I were both impressed with the film. We both thought the film did a fantastic job of displaying the opulence of wealth that the book portrays, and the cinematography was amazing. The parties were huge, and the representation of the Valley of Ashes was great. Both Gatsby’s house and Tom and Daisy’s house were jaw-dropping in size and splendor, and it was well cast and well acted thought out. Sarah and John seemed to enjoy it as well, and it was fun to be part of a party to introduce someone to Gatsby.

We wandered next door from the theater to go to supper at an Italian restaurant called Jimmy Dadonna’s. Mer and I had been there once before, and Sarah and John were game for Italian. The food was plentiful and quite good, and we had a good time getting caught up with Sarah and getting to know John a little.

Sarah and John are both slim young people who decided to pass on dessert. Mer and I are not those people, so we headed home via Handel’s. My compromise with having to run a marathon the next morning was that I got a medium ice cream instead of a large. How stoic of me. Gatsby would have gotten a large….

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