2021 Begins
I don't know anyone who wasn't happy to say good bye to 2020. Sheltering in place has been challenging, especially for the families I know with children who needed to be schooled online as they worked from home. For Richard and me, it was less stressful. Though Richard was in the middle of co-directing a revival production of "Harvey" with Broadway director/producer, Craig Anderson, that was a week away from opening when theaters doors were closed, we are basically writers. Translation, we are used to 'sheltering in place,' writing days, weeks, even months on end - hunkered at home. Of course, as you know by now, we do entertain a lot, but we've managed to entertain ourselves with explorations into a cocktail world (which I've blogged about earlier in this Pandemic Diary) and Richard has been challenging himself in the kitchen as he's become our "chef in chief" - many of his meals I've also blogged about. We also walk/hike and he plays tennis and golfs, so exercise and fresh air are not absent.
Wanting to support our local restaurants, we did have a few dinners out during 2020 when outside dining was open, and I had lunches with girlfriends (one at a time, of course) at some of our favorite Ojai watering holes... but, outside dining was shutdown again at the end of 2020, and, since we're not normally big New Year's Eve celebrants, we planned an intimate dinner at home. I tried to make pretty...
while Richard planned our dinner... a pork roast rack at my request.
It was his first foray in pork roasting and it couldn't have been more delicious.
We enjoyed dessert (assorted nuts and peppermint tea) in front of the fire and our lighted, downsized, very dead, Christmas tree (it's last hurrah).
A few weeks into 2021, outdoor dining in Ojai returned, so we decided to celebrate the year's romantic holiday by going to the 6:30 seating at Ca Marco, our favorite Italian neighborhood restaurant. It was a beautiful evening... being out sipping a nice wine...
... and eating a nicely cooked meal that Richard didn't have to cook and I didn't have to clean up after, made it a perfect Valentine's Day.
As we both now have had our first vaccination shot - my second is Mar. 1 and Richard's a week or two after that, we are looking forward to entertaining friends again, some of whom we haven't seen since the first lock down.
Please stay masked, safe and healthy - there is now a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.
