Lonely Love
1 For my birthday last year, I was lucky enough to celebrate turning 38 at Chez Panisse with my best friend. She picked a nice bottle of red wine for us to share over baked goat cheese and melt-in-your-mouth halibut. For dessert, a handsome slice of apple sour cherry galette with vanilla ice cream came dancing towards our table with a honey-colored candle in the heart of the melting cream. It’s almost a year later and I am living in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. Two nights ago, I took myself to see the film version of Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays at the New Beverly Cinema, owned by acclaimed filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. Because I was in public, I did not lick the butter-laced popcorn residue on my warm, greasy fingertips. I found the condensation on my medium Diet Coke to do the work for me until I could properly wash my hands. Looking around the dark, clean small theater with blue velvet se