It seems only fitting that I began checking off my Show-Me list the way I began my writing career – with food. I got my first professional paid writing credit in St. Louis thanks to Cat Neville and Amy De La Hunt when they were both at Sauce Magazine. They took a chance on me and I’ll be forever grateful.
I’ll also be forever grateful to Nancy, Jeannine and Gail – fellow writers I met 10 years ago at a Washington U (in St. Louis) Writers Workshop. All of us with ambitions to write and publish fiction, we have all been successful, slowly but successful nonetheless.
We get together every couple of months to exchange encouragement and advice over a good meal. I credit Nancy with the Show-Me List idea, she wanted to know what was on my bucket list before I moved. I hadn’t really thought about it, so we started one.
One of the first things we listed was Blood and Sand http://bloodandsandstl.com/. A members only restaurant in downtown St. Louis, a strange concept, but Nancy has a membership. A few weeks later, with the person who inspired me, I checked off the first item on my list.
The place was quiet on a rainy Wednesday night, but that was fine with us. The restaurant is beautiful – with a kitchen that opens to the dining room, I always like that for some reason.
We started with a long chat over drinks –
We discussed how we’re going to accomplish so much before I leave while we ate appetizers:
Branston Cheese and Pickle Toasties, a UK speciality, which only made me think about my Scottish writer friend Sheena. And:
Braised short ribs.
We talked about visits and publishing and moving over dinner. I had Amish Chicken
It was a relaxing night with delicious food and good friends that took my mind off the fact I was home alone for 10 days. We haven’t managed to get together again, not yet anyway, but we will – still so many places to see and eat with good friends before I say goodbye.
Laura Hazan 