10 years, 2 movies, 4 chickens and one camaro
Aug 10th, 2009 by Matt
My co-author and I reached a major milestone in our partnership over the weekend. 10 years ago, we went on what we consider our first date. I am a nostalgia and tradition guy, so I proposed we repeat elements from that initial connection - the basics being a movie and dinner. The 1999 inaugural date included the flick “Runaway Bride” at Valley River cinema, a meal at Red Robin, and a ride to and from in my chariot, a ‘91 Camaro named Zeke. No lie.
Since our tastes have - shall we say, evolved - since then, the 2009 version took a little different path. First, we rode our bicycles to the theatre. Second, the theatre was the Bijou. Third, we went to “Food, Inc.” a documentary about the industrialization of the US farm and food system. And last, we had a fabulous dinner on the terrace at Belly. By the way, I highly recommend both the movie and the dining spot - although a further recommendation is to reverse the order: dinner first, movie second.
I’d say in 10 years, we’ve advanced ourselves in the dating category (although we both miss pressing Zeke’s gas pedal from time to time).
Sunday was just a great Sunset Magazine day. We kicked it off with some Dutch Babies (from Joy of Cooking) featuring local blueberries harvested last week by good friends. The left photo is of our niece overwhelmed by the sight of them!
We then made plans for our fall/winter garden, which included an assessment of our seed inventory. Then it was a run to Down to Earth for starts and more seeds. Supply was thin, so we just picked up a few packets of seeds (Amy actually went back today to pick up starts from a fresh order that came in).
Next stop was Benedettis in Springfield to stock up a little on our meat supply. Love that place!
For lunch, I grilled up a couple of Benedettis specialty sausages and Amy made a green salad including fresh cherry tomatoes from the backyard.
In the afternoon, I worked away at neglected mini-projects on the side yard while Amy processed our first harvest of tomatoes into sauce.
Meanwhile, the chickens were free ranging and taking dirt baths and bees worked blossoms all over our property (the top picture is of echinacea in our front yard).
In the late afternoon, Amy turned 3 rows of our fava bean field over and got them ready for new crops. The hens were fans of this fresh dirt. We ran out of gas and time, so seeding and planting will have to wait another day.
Dinner was a summer linguini pasta featuring a medley of fresh vegetables. We had another green salad, this one featuring figs from our tree - roasted and folded into a vinaigrette. Outstanding.
What a great weekend and great life. The next 10 sure look sweet.
Wow, what a beautiful post. Thanks for sharing! On the topic of Food Inc., there is going to be a “community conversation” about the movie tonight from 7-8:15 at Davis restaurant (94 W. Broadway, Eugene). We saw it and were very moved. I agree, dinner first, THEN the movie. (-:
I agree with Robin, and congratulations! It’s pretty funny that all the landmarks of your first date are local…sort of.
[...] Happy anniversary, Amy and Matt! I thought it was funny that you took almost the exact same bee shot as I did, so I thought I’d post it here in honor of you two. May the next ten years be as healthy as echinacea, as industrious as the bee. [...]
Love this! You’re as busy as the bees in your garden! Sue
Great post! Very charming. Congratulations! Matt - suffice it to say, you’re lucky Amy ever agreed to date #2!
Thanks everyone.
Robin - thank you for bringing up the discussion tonight at Davis’. Amy and I will be there!
Sarah - you are right. That crossed my mind too.
I adore this posting, Matt. To see how you appreciate all you have is wonderful and Amy is equally as lucky to have you in her life (and so are all McCanns!). Also, I envy your dedication to tradition & nostalgia - it is very sweet & creates great memories.
I love all of it. Congratulations on 10 years together. Your life sounds peaceful, rich, interesting, and tasty. Thanks for sharing it all with us in this way.
Hey - thank YOU for finding it for me/us! We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you!
Congratulations, you two. Thanks for sharing the fava beans–I hope you continue to grow them as a cover crop. I ran into the same problem with starts for the winter garden–the local producers just quit growing after the Spring rush. So I was pretty much limited to seeds and few broccoli plants I could get