1. It's January in Kellogg this week. It's not quite an Arctic freeze. Temperatures have not dropped near zero, but they are in the teens. I love the clear skies and the late October sunshine, but it takes me a few days to get adjusted to being outside for long when it's first cold like this. I had planned to walk uptown and, on the way, drop off the Avista bill payment before going up to deposit a check at the bank.
But, I drove to Avista's payment drop off, then drove uptown, and drove to Yoke's. I wasn't ready to face the freezing wind in my face just yet.
2. Back home, I wrote out a birthday card and decided I'd start acclimating to this weather by walking down to the mailbox down at Hill and Cameron. I enjoyed getting my legs moving again and when I got home, I relieved the chill on my face and in my bones by sipping on a couple shots of brandy. It was a pleasant way to warm up!
3. Around 4:30, I hopped in the Sube and plunged back into the North Idaho vortex and drove to the Conoco station just south of I-90 on Highway 3 and Linda was waiting for me in her pickup. I parked, hopped in the truck, and we were off to Spokane's South Hill, off to the Rock City Grill, to meet up again with Mary and Kathy to play trivia. Linda and I got in more solid yakking on the way over and back. We got settled in at our table at the bar and I ordered a classic dry gin martini stirred with olives. I also met Kathy and Mary's friend Beth. She lives in Kathy's apartment complex and, as it turned out, she had lived many years in Eugene where she worked at Sacred Heart, went to Law School, and even taught night school at LCC. I ordered a French dip on pretzel bread which I enjoyed a lot and soon the questions were being announced. We had a little trouble with the Great Lakes questions, were a little shaky on the Animal Kingdom category, and weren't as knowledgeable about Brad Pitt movies as we might have liked, but we had a blast enjoying one another's company.
Toward the end of the night, Mary decided to treat us all to a shared dessert and suddenly two jaw-dropping dishes appeared: a mammoth piece of Gi-normous Mud Pie and a piece of cake called Chocolate Decadence, served with vanilla ice cream.
Oh. My. God.
I enjoyed the way the Gi-normous Mud Pie transported me back to when I went to Whitworth and then was first married and living in Spokane. For many of us, in those days, it was a real treat to go to a restaurant called Chapter Eleven and have their Mud Pie. Until 1978, Whitworthians had to venture down to the corner of Mission and Ruby to go to Chapter Eleven, but then a Chapter Eleven opened near the Y intersection on North Division and Chapter Eleven's salad bar, prime rib, steaks, and Mud Pie were much closer to the campus and became even more popular for students and faculty at Whitworth College.
So, tonight, the dessert was sweet, as were the memories.
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