Lunches with Barbie

Barbie is Elissa's oldest friend. They were friends in Milwaukee when they were just girls and now, courtesy of Elissa, Barbie & I are friends.

Barbie is, besides being a doll, a true foodie. That suits me to the ground because, well, I may not be a foodie but I sure as hell love eating. We've eaten in sushi restaurants in the valley and on the west side where she's taught me sushi bar etiquette and exactly what is yummy. California cuisine...we love it. Seafood, we love it. Hot, spicy food, I love it (not Barbie). Hotel dining rooms that make you feel like you're on vacation, we love 'em. And today we loved Cora's Coffee Shoppe on Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica. It's not that we're not fussy, it's just that we choose our dining spots carefully. And even though Barbie knows more about food and LA, she lets me choose restaurants, too. Today we sat outside on this little strip of concrete with a hedge of bougainvilla our privacy screen on one side and nothing between us and the parking lot on the other. And guess what, the food was so damned good that we even notice the parking lot. Last week I ate there with my friend, Betsy, and she ordered a Portuguese tuna pannini. We were served a pannini with Serano ham and a fried egg...not even remotely like tuna but it was so delish that we didn't even remember we'd ordered tuna until two days later.

Food is almost secondary when Barbie and I eat. We talk a mile a minute about our grand-
children, what we're reading, vacations, mutual friends, husbands, kids and yet again, our grandchildren. She just got back from Hawaii and I only now realized that we never got around to talking about her vacation.

So, thank you Elissa, for being a generous friend and, while I'm at it, thank you Patty Bertha for sharing your dearest old friend (Betsy).