Stopping For A Bite

There is this wonderful little Thai place right next door to the salon where I get my hair cut. I purposely go an hour early so I can stop for lunch before hand. The place is small and has a warm and wonderful atmosphere. I order the same thing every time I go (which is really out of character for me) - the coconut noodles! I can conjure up the their fabulous flavor in my mind and my mouth literally waters. It is like an explosion of pure delight. It has become my very favorite thing to eat (which is also out of character. I never have favorites.). It does bring back a memory of routine however.

In the town of Hastings where I grew up there was a little cafe down on 2nd Street. This is the main street of the old downtown area. Our house was just up the hill on River Street. On nice Saturday afternoons in the summertime I rounded up my best friend Lisa, who lived behind us, and we walked downtown with our books in hand. The walk was about ten blocks long and the sidewalk ran along the small cliff that overlooks the Mississippi River and Lake Rebecca. Our plan was to sprawl out on the grass down at the levy and read the afternoon away. By the time we got all the way down the hill we were bushed and thirsty. The cafe was on the way to our final destination so we stopped in for a bag of onion and garlic potato chips and a coke. Always onion and garlic potato chips and a coke. For a girl who likes to mix things up it was odd to have this ritual but I think it was just because it was a part of this activity. Reading at the river and a stop at the cafe. We didn't do this more than a few times a summer and for only about a three year span of time. But we felt so grown up at 10 to 12 years old. It was a time of innocense and safty in a small river town. I miss those days

copyright 2009

What have become your rituals?