dinner with vivien and m (lyn)

I last saw Vivien in August of 2009.  I was on the Cape and she and her daughter came down to visit.  It was the first time that Vivien had ever seen me heavy.  Throughout our childhood, into college, and for many years after, Vivi and I were always the thin ones.  We didn’t think much about it; we just were.  But during the summer of 2009, that was no longer true. Both of us could reasonably be described as heavy, or at best, overweight. 

Tonight, Vivi, M and I  are meeting for dinner at Orleana, a restaurant in Cambridge that “centers on the Arabic influenced foods of the Mediterranean with a strong lean towards Turkish.” I’m anxious to try this exotic restaurant, excited to see Vivien after a two-year absence, and curious for her reaction to my 40-pound weight loss (which she of course knows about as we talk frequently).

M and I arrive late.   We know we are at the restaurant only because our GPS lady assures us with the words, "You have arrived at your destination."  There is no sign on the restaurant and there is no easily found door.  Already the restaurant offers challenges.

Vivien is seated when we arrive.  It’s great to finally see her. She says nothing of my weight loss.  Maybe because Vivien has seen so many pictures of the thinner me, it has erased all images of the heavier me.

The menu is large and complicated.  Foods are prepared with foreign-sounding ingredients such as green wheat pilaf, tahini-brown butter, pickled wild mushrooms, baharat, toasted polenta fondue, and spicy fideos, to name just a few.  To make it easy, we all order the five-course vegetable tasting menu with dessert.  I have no idea what I am eating, but the tastes range from interesting/good to interesting/outstanding. The textures and flavors are all new, and nothing I eat is familiar.  

We get back to M’s and she asks, “So, how many points do you think we ate tonight?  About 50?”   Since we really don’t know what we ate, I guess 50 is as good a guess as any, even for an all-vegetable meal.

Note:  M was in the picture but she made me crop her out!  Imagine her thin and beautiful as that is how she looked.