The Pastaria and Market in downtown Los Gatos has become our favorite place for take-out food.
Our friends and family agree and have followed our lead. The plan for the evening was to meet Bill at 4:45 PM for a pre-dinner bike ride, and scheduled pick-up and delivery to Bill and Sarah's backyard at 5:45 PM where Sarah and Cecile were enjoying refreshments. The Rothenbergs moved into Rinconada Hills, a gated community sometime after we did over five years ago, and live just a short block away. We have known each other since our kids were young. The pandemic had forced Bill and I to create our own Door Dash type service strictly for our respective families and friends, made possible by the attached courier bags on our back fender racks.
Dinner was almost aborted as Bill got a flat tire on the Los Gatos Creek Trail that we took on the way back adjacent to Vasona Lake. Holding the record for the most flat tires in a year (5), I know that sinking feeling, especially in a place there is no car access. Fortunately, my handy portable electrically charged inflater pump at the bottom of my bag saved the day. It didn’t hurt that it was only a slow leak which allowed Bill to ride all the way home. Bill has bailed me out plenty of times, so it was nice to be in the position to reciprocate and being able to continue on with our social evening together with the ladies.
Sarah and Bill really know how to utilize their abundant outdoor space in their backyard with several levels of decking, a quaint gazebo which is a main focal point, elaborate, colorful and big roses and other flowers and plants including tomatoes that help to create a scene straight out of a storybook. Coupled with Bill’s artistic talents in painting and woodworking (his brother is an artist in NYC) that includes wood wind spinning widgets hanging from the gazebo and van Goughesque sunflower murals on the back and lower corner of his good neighbor fence to name a few.
The inspired setting is much better than a restaurant. We had an intimate dinner under a trellis and patio lights. We brought two bottles of Gerard Bertrand Cote des Roses Rose' wine that our son-in-law Kyle and Michelle gifted us and Sarah and Bill provided several beer and flavors of our favorite Talente Ice Cream. A restaurant grade propane heater eased the mild chill of the evening air.
Bill and Sarah’s dogs Roscoe and Misty provided the entertainment. Bill lifted Roscoe onto his thighs and jokingly stated this is our “lapdog" (photo), while Misty was nipping at Roscoe from below as if to say, “It’s my turn, I want some of that love too!” Van Goughish floral fence designs in the back corner part of his yard. As a former watercolorist for over seven years with the Saratoga Community of Painters I appreciate the childlike wonders and courage of an artist. Vincent van Gogh himself is quoted as saying he found “comfort in contemplating sunflowers.”
Postscript: After we finished off a bottle of the Gerard des Roses Rose’ Bill took a cutting of a rose from one of his and Sarah’s rose garden and placed in the bottle for me to give to Cecile. A class act.
