Thursday, April 17, 2008

Chocolate Fondue!

Ya'll we had a blast! My friends girls and my girls we're gabbing and giggling as much as we were. Piglet took them to our little lake to go fishing. Her youngest was ready at the crack of dawn each day thereafter to go back for more. We basically cooked, ate, talked, cooked, ate, talked and shopped; and did I mention that we cooked and ate? We had wonderful mouth watering delicious gourmet everything. She brought some Californian extra virgin olive oil that was like a fruity nectar, so yummy. We also decided to have a little tea party one afternoon with the main event being a chocolate fondue. The girls cut up strawberries, bananas, apples, and a bit of lemon blueberry pound cake. We chose a very rich dark chocolate from the Fresh Market and could hardly keep enough melting in the little bowl. Six females with warm gooey delicious chocolate was almost a divine encounter. Talk about happy hormones. The tea was black current and for cleansing the palate between choices to dip. We drizzled the rich melted mesmerizing stuff onto the cake to keep the fondue bowl from getting full of cake crumbs, and also drizzled our fingers, the tablecloth and the camera. Messy is as messy does. I actually had one of those moments of complete satisfaction, and wondered if maybe I might not ever want to eat again. We discussed Johnny Depp and the movie "Chocolat," my girlfriend has actually tried the chocolate with chili in it and said it was wonderful.

The delusion of not eating vanished a few hours later, when we fixed an incredible gourmet dinner; including grilled asparagus, warm sourdough French bread with a Bruchetta topping, more roast beef, sauteed spinach, green salad, and a little taste of Merlot.

When we weren't eating or gabbing which was almost exclusively when we slept, which was brief; we went out into the country meandering around lovely areas where the Spanish Moss drips from the trees and the quiet is only broken by birdsong. The weather was perfect for having the windows down and our hair blowing, it was grand my favorite way to relax.

Our little holiday would not have been complete without some adventure. Air travel is not quite what it has been in the past. Coming here wasn't easy. When they got off the plane in Memphis they were told their flight into Jackson was cancelled. PERIOD. No idea when they could catch another, no apology, no ideas to help out, a big tough luck to 55 people. The airline personnel were very tense and nervous which made all the travellers nervous. I was thinking about driving to Memphis when some kind hearted airline agent routed them to Monroe LA. It took us as long to drive to Monroe as it did for her to fly there. We also gave a fellow airplane traveller a ride. She was sitting in the backseat receiving text messages from her daughter that went something like this;
" R U telling me that not only did your flight get cancelled but now you are in some peoples car getting a RIDE to MS? Mom, do I need to get in my car and drive 9 hours to come and get you"?
It was so funny because of the ridiculousness of it. The airline NWA now part of Delta deserves this bad rap. They refused to give refunds or credits towards another flight because they were willing to fly them eventually, someday, at their convienence, yet undecided. Alrighty then!
I suggested to the nice lady that she text back that she was riding in the back of a pickup truck sitting next to a couple of chained pit bulls and a rack of guns; but she didn't think her daughter would see the humour. It got even better when we offered to drop her off at the home she was going to stay at, and her hostess declined asking that we drop her off at a gas station near her house. We discussed rolling down the windows for the windblown hairdo that would suit the situation. More texting from frantic daughter,...a gas station?
Needless to say I showed my friend a very nice campground by the reservoir where her family can park next time they come for a visit and drive out. Considering the service and the tension from the flight it sounds like a much more reliable and pleasant way to travel. Hopefully the whole family will come next time including Dad. We will have to get a bigger fondue pot.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad y'all had a wonderful time!

Laura ~Peach~ said...

i am glad you had so much fun! sounds like the best time had by all there is nothing better than good food and great people to share it with!
How sweet of you to give the lady a ride! I can just imagine what thoughts went through her familys minds... HA HA HA awesome act of kindness i think!
More hugssssssss
Laura

Brenda said...

What a great time! Sorry to hear that about Delta. I think we are in the midst of booking a flight with them.

Karen Deborah said...

ahhh don't do it, pick a differnt airline. we always fly SWA. I have had a bad experience with Delta every time I have used them. Unfortuantely the trip home was also on the difficult side, worrisome anyway.

Kathy said...

The chocolate fondue sounds wonderful, the flight and travel like a nightmare.