Brian...And His Ice Creams Of Many Flavors

Today, I returned from a writing retreat. I spent several days in Provo, Utah. I’ve been to Provo many times—I even lived there for ten weeks back in the winter of 1985.

Back in the winter of 1985 I first met Brian and we’ve been good friends ever since. During the retreat, I had a night off, so I thought it would be fun to drive over to his house and we could go out for ice cream. Who doesn’t like ice cream?

Exactly!

I found his place (with help of another good friend, Jeff...) and we caught up. We haven’t seen each other for maybe more than a year. It’s always good to catch up and see how both our families are doing. It’s strange that we’re at the grandparent age, he—already there, me—well, I’m at that age. I told Brian we could go for ice cream. It was then, he let me in on something he’s been doing for the past couple of years...

Creating his own.

He invited me in and went about placing several pints of his creations on his kitchen counter. You see, Brian has found a new calling and he’s following the Salt & Straw bible. They bought the ice cream cookbook and have been following it. The several pints were only a small fraction of what he’s made.

It was heaven!

I tried Chocolate Gooey Brownie, Double Fold Vanilla, Goat Cheese Marionberry Habanero, Green Apple Mayo, and others that I can’t remember. It was SO good! The man has a gift. I know, I know—he’ll probably say he was just following the recipe, but a recipe is only directions. You have to be good to make it work.

Yes, it’s been too long since Brian and I caught up...I believe I’ll have to make sure we don’t go that long before doing it again. Oh, and the ice cream will help. Thanks Brian for a fantastic evening!

 

Instead Of My Dinner With Andre...I Had My Lunch With Todd

It' hard to believe that ten years ago (or maybe a little longer...), I had never met Todd Wente before. Then, in a matter of months, not only had I met him, he and I were in a performance group together. It was called A'cabbella, a Christmas handbell and singing troupe. Soon after that, he and I were in our first show together.

We've been doing shows together ever since.

But, it's been a while since I last hung out with Todd. We decided today would be the day to change that. The location: Crown Burger on 33rd and State. The Menu: fast food. The topic of conversation: lots of things.

If you haven't met Todd, he's a force of nature. I can honestly say there's no one quite like Todd. I guess you can say that about anyone, but some people make you realize just how unique they are. Todd is one of those people. Today, we broke bread, we had some laughs, we talked about shows, school, FanX, and second careers. And after a while, with the food long gone, it was time to go.

Working at home, and not doing as many shows as before, there are many friends I don't see near enough. I suppose that's part of getting older. Other things take precedence, priorities change, the importance of time changes. 

I guess, with time separating events like today, they mean even more. And if any of you (that know Mr. Wente...) are thinking of having lunch with him, I highly recommend it.

Lunch With Eddie...

Tuesday I ran into an old friend. That isn't to say he's old because "old" is subjective, but he is a few years younger than me and to some, I am old. So, there you go...

But enough of that. Eddie and I worked together for several years. He and I got new jobs and found ourselves doing different things, but we both worked in the same building. A few years ago he took a new job and his family moved to Southern Utah. Soon after that I ended up leaving the building as well.

We ran into each other this week and we decided to do lunch the next day. We ate and talked and in some ways time had stopped. It was as if we still worked together and our kids were still young and not driving or graduating from high school and things had not changed in Salt Lake and times seemed simpler.

By the way, I borrowed these pictures from Eddie's wife's Facebook photo album and I hope it's okay for me to use them. If not, I'll take them down. 

Eddie and his family will be headed home soon, back to their lives where the rocks are red. I wonder when we'll get together again. I don't know, but I do know when we do, we'll have a good time.