With that in mind, I went to visit an old haunt from my high school days. The Inkwell was this total dive place tucked away along the Shore. The menu included items like celery with peanut butter, toasted pound cake and Russian coffee. The lighting was always poor, so sometimes you wouldn't recognize anyone until you were right on top of them. I remember once going there with a group of friends, and we left the check with our money to be paid by Judy Malik. But on the way out, she saw someone she knew and stopped to chat. The rest of us left, but found ourselves chased by a big guy with a baseball bat who thought we were dine-and-dashing. Ah, the wonderful memories of the the Inkwell.
That place is gone forever. Here it is today, all well lit, with friendly staff, and more of a diner menu. You can still find celery and peanut butter, but its buried, as if they are embarrassed by their past. So shameful!Luckily, other encounters with my past have been much more pleasant. Armen McOmber and I went to high school together ages ago. Since graduation, we had some contact in the earlier years, then a break, until our last meeting at the wedding of another high school friend, Karla (Nemeth) Dawson. That was seven years ago. But I got the chance to have dinner with Armen last night.
Armen, and his lovely, charming wife, Nathalie, invited me to their home for some wine, and then showed me the wonders of the Red Bank culinary scene. Over the hours, we talked about old times, current plans, (this section has been deleted on the request of consul), the wonder of Trader Joe's, and how in so many ways, we really haven't changed that much. We also discussed the expected arrival of a baby girl in the next few months, and I think she is very lucky to have such great people as parents. Thanks for a great time, Armen and Nathalie, and I hope we get to repeat the experience again soon!
Can you believe we graduated high school ?? years ago?
3 comments:
I hope you're not hurting the Inkwell with all this bad publicity. I will come to its defense since I had a perfectly delicious piece of peanut butter chocolate cake there (or as Katie might like to call it, "sell-out cake.") ;-)
Glad to see the new entries on here, Katie!
I like your blue hoodie. Where'd you get it?
Wow! So, that is what the Inkwell looks like in the light... I can't believe that you let Travis order "sell-out cake" instead of the traditional toasted pound cake with any topping!
Congratulations to Nathalie and Armen on the upcoming addition to their family!
Everytime I look at one of your NY/NJ postings I get so homesick for Jersey. Do you think that the girls and I can spend next summer with your parents?!!
Have a safe trip back to SF via MN!
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