Memorial Day

We had the cafe closed on Sunday and Monday this week so it was a special treat. I persuaded Henri  to take the city bus with me last night to hear our local Pops play on the bandstand at Cove beach. Better yet, it was free as due to lack of parking space , residents of Sothwold had only to show their id or license which waived the fee for the bus.

Cove Beach is our finest white sand beach surrounded by huge boulders and a set of caves set like a horseshoe. I have never followed the caves though they are said to be connected, but rumor has it that people have drowned in them at high tide, It was just getting dark when we arrived and he found us good seats where we could see the band. I was excited , just like a little kid, I like showing him off . I know the feeling is mutual, even if he is sometimes overprotective.

Vendors had done lobster boils and I could smell the quahog stew .  Hot links, popcorn and the aroma of hamburgers filled the air mixing with the smell of the surrounding humanity. There was so much input to be felt, heard and tasted, that I felt as if my head were on a swivel. I could smell the salt water as it dried off of the swimmers who joined the crowd and the heavy scent of sunscreen. Little boys playing on the bach gave off their own special scent as they ran by us. He put his arm around my shoulders and whispered that if got too much, we could leave. I shook my head and laughed saying I was fine and enjoyed the overload for now.

The program started with a colorguard of our local vets marching onto the beach, the captain asked us all to stand for the National Anthem . We stood, it played and the colorguard was dismissed to join their families on the beach. The tapping of the baton on the deis alerted the musical ensemble that it was time to begin the program. They started with a newer selection " An American Symphony" which had been featured in Mr Holland's Opus. From there , they went on to "The Billy the Kid Suite" , Cole Porter and later "Rhapsody in Blue" . I especially liked the Glenn Miller . They played " American Patrol " which was always played in my uncle's house after I came to live with him and before I married Henri. To look at my uncle, you would never guess that he was a World War Two vet. We Worths hold our age well but then so do the Copains, a lot of it due to good genes and diet.

Several couples stood and started dancing on the white sand . It was nice to see some of the younger people dancing in the old ways , it blended the generations nicely. I watch the conductor's face as he glanced at the crowd, this was the desired effect. When they played "Moonlight Serenade" Henri pulled me to my feet to dance. I loved the way he guided me , and felt he was the best dancer.It was nice to relax like this. I felt myself sway into him as we waltzed in the sand. I heard a woman say to her husband that it was nice, I smiled at her.

" You got one of the good ones" she whispered as I sat back down .

" I know " I smiled back at her. Henri pretended not to hear. Her husband tapped his shoulder, " Hang on to your pretty girl, she thinks you're something special. "

" I think that she is pretty great too," he replied. " How long have you and your wife been together ?"

"Sixty one years come August" he boasted . "She is still the prettiest girl on the beach."

 Maude punched him in the shoulder in jest. "Oh, you with your lies" she laughed.

" Maybe not a lie, maybe he sees you in a light that no one else does. He sees you for who you really are."

" Exactly " preened her husband.

" That is everything," my husband continued.

Maude had to agree . Her husband haltingly stood and held out his hand for her to swing dance with him to "Pennsylvania 650-0000." Maude beamed and they showed the younger generation how it was done.

" Summer people or are you residents?" Henri asked them.

" Leaving in a week," Maude said.

" I own Cafe Copain on Alcott and Hawthorne. I would like to invite you to be my guest for an early aniversary dinner before you go," he handed them his card and signed it so Katie would know if they came in too early for us.

 Maude leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. " Thank you, its getting late. Come ,
Warren." Her husband shook Henri's hand , asked him if he might kiss my cheek . Henri nodded.

" We would be honored." We watched them gather their things and shuffle off toward the parking lot through the sand.

" He has a bad heart problem, complicated by diabetes. He isn't going to make the 61st. They know
it. "I looked at Henri. He had been paying attention to their physical signs.

I looked after the departing couple who had loaded their car and were just pulling out of the parking lot. "She will be devastated."

"She won't be far behind him. They usually aren't.They are so breakable. "

 I snuggled in closer to him,"Well, I am glad that we are not. "

"Me too. "

"You're a Grand Old Flag" piped up.Henri looked at the crowd. " Let's beat the crowd out of here,okay?"

"Sure."

We dusted off our jeans and headed for the bus which was waiting under the street light at the corner of the parking lot. It would run every fifteen minutes until midnight when the program ended. The driver looked at our ids and waved us through. We took the first seat in front. There was no one else on the bus .

" I need you and Katie to guinea pig for the cafe tomorrow, " he began. " I have been offered a good price for some sausage, but have not decided how to use it yet. I think that most of it is the sage stuff, and I was thinking maybe a waffle quiche , maybe some sandwiches. I know some good toppings for the Italian stuff . But I am not sure how those toppings will go with the sage sausage. So we're going to play with the sample in the afternoon. "

"That would be fine. Sausage can be heavy but might be alright. Are you thinking like grinders or the meatball sandwiches that you bought at the drive in on out first date?"

"Maybe" he thought a minute , then looked at me in surprise." You consider that a date?"

"Sure, it wasn't a normal date by common standards but you did dress like a date, so did I . You spent the evening teaching me things that I needed to know but it was a date. Much as I have tried to convince myself it wasn't , that it was only a training exercise , it was a date. "

"Damn, I thought that I had covered up better than that. I tried to keep it professional. "

Two young men got onto the bus and went to the back.

"One minute and we leave folks.,"pronounced the driver.

A heavy set woman with bottle red hair huffed her way onto the bus complete with beach chair, picnic basket , towels, blanket and two plastic totes . Henri and I continued to talk about the cafe and the menu for the upcoming week. She folded up the chair perpendicular to ours, announcing loudly that she needed our seat to hold onto her things. She put her dollar sixty fare into the box.

Henri looked around. The bus held 130 seats , there were four other people in the bus and the driver.
"Try across the aisle , its the same. " She glared at him.

" Look , Honey , Move your ass. Out of the seat.  "

"I don't think so ." He settled deeper into the seat. I looked shocked at him as he waved her off. He was raised with manners, and if the bus had been crowded , he would have moved. He had turned into a 155 lb lead weight,

" You move and the lady can stay , " she hissed at him .

" You have 126 other seats from which to choose. This one is occupied, I didn't see your name on it." She wound up as if to grab or slap him. I glared at her.

I rubbed his shoulder. " Buzz off Bozo" I chimed. at the intruder."Or I will call the sheriff and you can spend the night in jail. Nobody but you is moving."  The driver smiled at us but did not intervene.

" I'm telling God , " she shouted as she grabbed her things and slammed down into the seat opposite ours, plugging her earbuds into her ears.

Henri surpressed a laugh " Evil woman, now you're in for it," he whispered . "She's calling in the big guns."

I grabbed his hand , looked at him and said meaningfully,"I take care of what is mine."

I took great joy in her continued sulk like a spoiled child during the ride home. As we were leaving,
I stood in front of her , gestured broadly toward the vacated seat.She pulled an earbud from her ear.
"Knock yourself out , Bitch. You can have our leavings anyday." She looked as if I had slapped her.

"And you do this all the time when you ride the bus?"

"No, she's a nutbar." I smiled at him " You had a lot of control with her. "

" Actually, I like you when you're agggressive, " he replied.

"I see the whole package and like what I see, "

"Well done," he replied as he unlocked the door.

So that was our eventful Memorial Day. Do stop by and help with deciding how the sausage will be used- I am sure that Chef has more ideas than Katie or I could possibly stand.

Bon soir et bon apetit,
Arina Copain
Office Manager

Farce

I have figured out finally why Gordon Ramsey jumps up and down when he yells. Let me explain , Gordon , who we do not know, used to be a soccer player. He is waiting for someone to lob the ball in his direction . I don't think I have ever seen a relaxed chef. They are a little hyperactive.What causes that ? Maybe the time that it takes garlic to burn and turn bitter? I don't know. But they all are including my ever loving, who is wonderful when he is in control. Ask him to wait and see, and you have a mad man on your hands cooking enough to feed a small army .

Do you know what a farce is ? I thought that I did until this evening when Jean Paul called and asked that we postpone our evening plans because there was an urgent matter that he had to discuss with Henri. He had an errand to run but would call us before he came over.

The first hour went by okay , then Henri began to fidget, pacing between the door and the kitchen , I told him to call his father and tell him that tomorrow night would be better. But does he listen? Ha! No, he pulls his knives off the magnetic strip amd begins mincing shallots, carrots and thyme . He put some oil into a heavy saucepan and sweated these for 5-6 minutes. Then he took it off the heat for it to cool,

He pulled the halibut from the fridge and tortured some innocent scallops into slices. But was that enough ? Of course not. He drops the chopped up fish into a food processor adding the cooled mixture from the first pan ino the fish and processed it until smooth adding cayenne and white pepper. He put the processor bowl into the fridge and set the timer for an hour.

All the while glaring at the telephone. I tried to draw his attention to the television in the living room instead of redirecting his anger toward some unfortunate shrimp and salmon which he cut up into pieces and added it to his farce which was the mixture in the bowl, He piped this mixture into presoaked sausage casing and tied it off.

For the next quarter of an hour , he poached these in boiling water. And it looked like the hapless phone might be next. He packaged these up after they had cooled and took them upstairs to serve for lunch tomorrow with a sauce made of butter, shallots, white pepper , vinegar and saffron. It smelled good enough but not what we had planned for the evening's meal.

The phone squeaked once when he was upstairs and he jumped from cafe level to flat level (about eight feet straight down) . Of course , it didn't make a sound once he was on the same level  as the phone. and the caller's number was blocked. This did nothing to improve his mood.

I settled in to watch tv , starting to change from the low cut black  dress that he had chosen for our evening out, into my Tinker Bell pajamas so that I could work on a baby blanket while watching RuPaul's Drag Race.

" No, No ,No " he shouted at me " Papa will call ,then we can go out . If you wash your make up off, we have to start again. " Half picking me up , he shuffled me back into the bathroom where he proceeded to stuff me back into my dress. In the midst of this, he got the baby yarn tangled around his left ankle and ripped out about a block and a half of crochet. If that weren't bad enough , he got his right sleeve stuck in the zipper of my dress and we struggled gymnastically to get him free without ripping my dress. He wasn't listening to anything that I was saying, until I reminded him that the dress fit so much better when not over Tinker Bell Pajamas. He unzipped the dress again, leaving me to dress myself for the second time that evening. I emerged better than ever.

Exhausted, he collasped into the overstuffed chair in the living room . He was hungry, angry and he hated the way that the evening had gone. There was a major sulk going on. I sympathized, neither Christopher Lee nor Frank Langella had ever had this problem .  I went over to him , pulled his head onto my shoulder. I whispered the words to him that I had wanted to say to him all evening.

" Henri, sweetie, lets just go out and get a bite. We can come right back. "

He glared at me as if I had betrayed everything that he believed in. " Papa said that he would call."

" You're right, " I agreed, " Your father always calls before he comes over ." My beloved husband gloated silently at his victory.

" But, Sweetheart, its a cell phone," I smiled " We can get the call wherever we are and he has a key."

Thunderstruck, my horrified husband regarded me " I hate you" he muttered.

I handed him his jacket. " The night awaits ," I smiled.

" Yeah, yeah, shut up" he said as he checked his pocket for his  keys.

So I hope that you all enjoy the Seafood Sausage with Saffron Beurre Blanc at lunch tomorrow.

Remember to turn your cell phones off before you order.

Bon Soir et Bon apetit,
Arina Copain
Office Manager

Confounded Confederates, Cajun to Come and Covert Customers

Okay, I am going to have to slap Bill Compton or, at the very least, tell him, "Sir, you are no gentleman!" Henri laughed at me , telling me that I should have seen that Sookie was being played. That girl really does have problems because she keeps taking him back. I wonder why her good friend ,Tara , doesn't trot the little darling over to the Bon Temps Mental Health Center, which is probably run by pod people from outer space. Dump the Confederate vet, Honey, he's a louse and go with the Viking. You know his intentions aren't good but the rebound sex has possiblities. If she get  turned, will her fairy blood still work or will it be processed like any other? Drinking the last bottle of Vintage Rothschild wine is a honor, a delight but also a regret as there isn't anymore after that one. One could spend their life looking for another without success. And we don't need any more vampires with angst , not even on tv. Have a little pride. Ann Rice's Louis whined through "Interview" and no one could mope like Barnabas Collins.

So what does this mean to the Cafe? Well, Chef is thinking of a Cajun Specials menu for the weekend of the start of the new season. I asked him to think up a fairy blood beverage which should be sparkling, and offset the spice of the food. I doubt gater tail would sell on Cape Cod but we have quahogs and those do sell. He has a couple of months (we were slow watching the last episodes due to previous commitments at night) to come up with an idea.

Our black notebooked audience is back. They observe, they huddle, they hardly speak if one of us are near. They are way too polite. Now that is something that one rarely gets to say. Way too polite in the sense of a mother asking her child what they are doing. And the child answering " Nothng, I love you Mommy." Its fake, its phony and , at times, downright creepy. Jean Paul asked me the other day if I had heard about them being at other restaurants. Not so far, but we can't figure out what attracted them to us. I don't know why but its almost feels like someone visiting a zoo or one of those old episodes of "Wild Kingdom."

Bon Soir et bon apetit,
Arina Copain,
Office Manager

Oodles and Noodles.

Color us curious. I ran across a blood scented perfume on the internet today which I have signed up for information where to find it. http://www.bloodconcept.com/EN/fragrances.php . Henri wondered how close it would come,. It comes in 4 scents A, B . AB and O . All of them are marked unisex.

It took 2 full seasons of True Blood to find out what the alleged blood substitute cost and I heard 2 different prices, $35 and $47 depending on venue. Personally , I think its exploitation. You would think if the Humans in the series were worried about bloodlust that the mark up would not be so high. HBO did manufacture/had manufactured some True Blood to sell- and online, it was about $7.00 per bottle for tangerine flavored soda . As neither of us drink...soda pop , we never tasted it. It didn't appeal.We won't be carrying it at the cafe.

If you have been following this blog, you know that I think Sheriff Eric is hot. Add actress Julie Bentz , formerly of Angel and Dexter , and I am really happy.  Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård plays a suicidal drag queen (and he is a big guy totally dwarfing tiny Julie Bentz) in Kill your Darlings, a rather strange cult like film. I look forward to seeing more of his work.

Henri came up with a very decent sauce to go over cooked spaghetti consisting of hamburger, onions, green beans,black beans, corn and a mild Chipolte sauce. With all of the rainy cold weather that we have experianced , its good comfort food and very filling. It goes on the lunch menu next week. He has a few other ideas to try next weekend. When you sign on with a chef , it's love ,honor, respect and "Honey, try this..." Definately not for the unadventurous soul.

Talking about strange, Jean Paul has picked out a program for us to listen on Tuesday night, if we are not busy with customers. There is a lifestyle vampire , Corvius Nocturum going to be on internet radio . The information did not include time zone, maybe Eastern , more probably Central . I thought that I would pass this on in case anyone else might like a little something different. 
Vampire 101 with Corvis Nocturnum.
Location: www.para-x.com/live.html
Time: 8:00PM Tuesday, April 19th .     Mr Nocturnum is the published author of Embracing the Darkness:Understanding Dark Subcultures and Allure of the Vampire, our sexual attraction to the Undead. (Perversely , I wonder if its too early in the year for Blood Oranges.)

So I will retreat to my Christine Feehan book - that's our Sunday this week.
Bon Soir et bon apetit ,
Arina Copain
Office Manager

Horrible Weather - Gee Its Nice to be Inside Watching Horror Movies

The Cape has been hit , early this year, with a series of storms that blew in from the ocean. It was prematurely warm the day before yesterday , before the day was out, thunderheads covered the sky . We closed early , no sane person would go out in such weather. Well, there was Mr. Volkey who came in just before we shut down, but he teaches at the high school. He is used to adverse conditions. We kept our power but I understand that 7,500 residents in neighboring towns did not. We do have a generator but then most long time people do here.
Henri had found a couple of new forms of entertainment , one of which are the short episodes of  something called Blood and Bone China. Its an astonishing good use of the Victorian model of vampire lit. The episodes are free and short (less than 10 mins each) . BloodandBoneChina.com.
He also got a movie called The Resident. I teased Chef that I knew it was a horror movie because Hillary Swank's kitchen in it was a mess, which wouldn't last with him. Its a Hammer film featuring Hillary Swank, Sir Christopher Lee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.It is  majorly creepy and not exploitive, something that I would like to see more, hopefully , that is the new trend.
 Forget what you know about the old (pre bankruptcy) Hammer films that gave Sir Christopher Lee, Oliver Reed, Donald Sutherland , Joan Collins their start. This is a class act . Its got 3 more , that we have learned out there . Let Me In , which is a remake of Let the right one in. The latter is Swedish and wonderful, I had been hesitant to see the former. I think I will take a chance on it. The other 2 are Wake Wood and The Woman in Black. http://www.hammerfilms.com/  They have bought up the old archive library from their predecessor and are offering informational videos on the costuming as well as cd's of the legacy(archive) soundtracks.
About the cafe, Katy came up with a wonderful idea, Pizza boats which are all of your favorite toppings ( and the cheese, I love cheese) in a hard roll. Henri has agreed that we can do samples next week to test it. Come by on Thursday or Friday to get a free sample
Bon Soir et Bon Apetit,
Arina Copain ,
Office Manager

New on the Menu

There is something that will sound different about to appear on the lunch menu . It was a recipe that Chef found on the internet , and  being rarely satisfied, tweaks everything. Its called bacon cheeseburger pasta. With the popularity of fried pickles  growing, it even has pickles in it. ( Yeah , there was a moment of gross out factor for me as well but , with my involvement with Henri , came the responsibilities of test subject. ) It has everything in it that you would find in a bacon cheeseburger. The pickles are not fried but they are hot. He experimented with about four brands of pickles , and surprise, the ones that held up best were Breckenridge Farms Hamburger Chips- Bigger shock, these are the least expensive ones that I buy for home use at my local dollar store. They seem to hold up better under the heat,staying crisp.  He upped the cheese from cheddar to sharp cheddar as well. It is amazing and good. 
The men with the notebooks are back. We thought that they might be critics or from the health department but that does not seem to be the case. They are very secretive about the notes that they are taking. It might be nothing but they act like students cheating on a test, they are trying so hard not to be noticed that ,of course, they command our attention when at the cafe. We did speak with the Sheriff in case we are being set up for a robbery. They just don't feel right. 
This being Sunday , Henri and I spent some time on our own. We watched the last four episodes of  True Blood (Season One ) while we drank our coffee this afternoon. Can't this poor girl find herself a Human boyfriend? Even her boss is s shape shifter... I like the Vampire sheriff- he's hot. And as for Bill's Fledgling? The eposode whould have been titled "When Good Christian Girls Go Wild." I don't think much of Bill as a training master. But he does have it bad for Sookey. 
Bon Soir et Bon Apetit ,
Arina Copain,Office Manager

Another Sunday but not so sleepy

As I mentioned before , I love Sundays, the only day that the cafe is closed. I get to cook. I made my famous ( in my family) unstuffed cabbage .(Henri claims that its unstuffed because its easier to chop the cabbage up and add it rather than spend the time making the little tiny meatloaves wrapped in cabbage leaves. I'll never tell.)

We listened to Cole Porter, Glen Miller, and Scott Joplin. There was an article online , I think  that it was alternet.org which spoke about the appeal of evil, which we read . My comment to Chef was that the concept of Evil is subjective . The article was based on Christian values. We don't embrace those as we were both raised more generic pagan.  The author of the article was bemoaning the fact that evil is appealing- Henri wanted to know what degree of evil the author was discussing. Is it as Evil to not want to do without in the name of the common good when the people that will benefit have nothing in common with the doer? And what if your survival depends on it?

 I believe that some acts are intrinsically evil, molesting children for one, but to call lack of thrift and maybe good judgement because you bought a Dior ( I haven't) evil just does not measure up. I am sorry if there are children starving in the Third World. I don't understand my responsiblity in their support - I certainly do not want to see anyone hungry,

Is it more evil to let a dictator kill his own people than it is to send US troops to fight the said dictator, knowing that you may cause nine children(one family)  from our neighborhood  to lose their father after serving three tours in Iraq and is currently serving his second in Afghanistan? We know these nine children, we have met their parents. Though there are many things that their mom and I  do not share in common- what of the privation that their children would suffer at his loss? It was probably preventable if anything happens to him. Losing a parent is hard no matter who you are.

The author also claimed that evil was lazy and good industrious. If a universal definition of good and evil cannot be agreed upon, how can one determine the quantity or quality of the work involved in one's life? If two people each wrote a business plan and one required five hours of labor like some executives, and others like Henri , put in sometimes twelve or fourteen hour days due to the nature of the labor, is one more evil than the other? What if the man who works five hours a day puts hundreds out of work due to the nature of his labor? Is he evil? He does not know the people who will suffer at his hand. But they will suffer all the same.I don't view either of us as evil, but I am sure despite the long days at work and lack of involvment publically with charity towards others , there may be some who would consider us to be evil.

I am reading Night Rising by Chris Marie Green as my bus book . Like the writing, hate the vampires that I have encountered . They aren't human , have tails and lack intelligence.

We are looking forward to the premiere of Atlas Shrugged Part 1, due out in April. We have heard good things about it and seen the trailer.

Chef is thinking about some kind of special relating to the movie that week so do watch for it.

Bon Soir et bon apetit,
Arina Copain , office manager