As I was making the dressing the other night for our dinner salad, I started to think about Katie’s boss, Robert. Robert is more than just my spouse’s boss, he is also a friend. We’ve had him over to the house on a number of occasions.
Patty and Mary B. (they are sisters and Mary is actually a SISTER!), my sweet Katie, Me and Robert at our wedding reception
He was a guest at our wedding.
The happy brides
He was one of the first of our friends to play on our pool table last year. He even gave the table it’s nickname, “Big Pink”.
Apparently we are the second people in the entire city of Portland to have pink felt installed on their pool table.
That’s right, our pool table has pink felt! And it is beautiful.
So, what brought Robert to mind was maple syrup. The last time he was over for dinner and pool he brought us a bottle of Coombs Family grade A syrup, “the good stuff”, as he pointed out.
The Good Stuff
He always gives us the most thoughtful gifts.
The first thing Robert ever gave us was when Katie and I first started dating. I’ll never forget it. It was October 2007 and Katie came to my little Hobbit Hole of a basement apartment with the most adorable little black boxes with orange ribbon that said “Boo” on it. I’m pretty sure I still have that ribbon. Inside the box was the sweetest (literally) little ghost shaped truffle. When Katie told me they were a gift from her boss Robert, I knew we were gonna be friends. These adorable little confections come from L.A Burdick Hand Made Chocolate in New Hampshire.
A sweet surprise from "the boss"
He's "Boo-ti-ful"!
The impressive gift giving continued. He really wowed us with our wedding gift – A fabulous assortment of honey from all over the world. The honey from Italy was the most delicious, amazing, delightful sweet nectar that has ever danced across my tongue and slid down my throat hole (Little Nicky fans will get that reference)! He also presented us with a generous gift certificate for our favorite spa resort, which is where our wedding just happened to be.
Katie and I share the birth month of February (yay Aquarians!) and our natal days are 7 days and ah, ahem, several years apart. The younger one is on the first and the more mature one is the eighth. We like to celebrate the entire month, so people can pick whatever day they want to celebrate with us. I don’t recall the exact day that Robert chose this year, but he did take us out to one of our favorite Thai restaurants here in Portland, E San in the Pearl District. Our friends, Lisa and Angel, joined us there for a spicy treat of an evening. If that wasn’t generous enough of Robert, he also brought us presents! A beautiful bag filled with confections from Moonstruck Chocolate. There was a can of Mexican Hot Cocoa (OMG – soooo good and rich!) and a box filled with hand selected truffles. Our buddy knows we love coconut, so there were a couple of those and if I recall there were mocha and some Baileys (creamy beige for you “Old Gregg” fans).
Robert has taken us out for lunches for no reason at all. Nice lunches. Delicious cuisine and great conversation. He also plays a mean game of Bananagrams!
I love this game!
Another thing that is so great about Robert is he keeps me writing. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was a Jewish mother in drag ( or is it drab?), the way he can nag me about keeping up this blog for my readers.
If only he had dressed as a Jewish mother for Halloween, this would have been perfect!
In other words, behind every great food blogger there is a great hungry guy wanting his fix!
Ready for your close up, Bobby?
Dear, sweet Robert, you are a kind, loving and true gentleman. We love you.
Vampire Gran's Kitchen 