"I find ecstasy in living—the mere sense of living is joy enough." —Emily Dickinson
Cecile and I joined our friends Susan and Nelson Bye for dinner at Oren’s Hummus Shop in Mountain View followed by a houseconcert at Casa Amaranta in Palo Alto.
We were familiar with the Oren’s brand from the Farmers Market in Saratoga where we buy their hummus and eggplant products. Oren Dobronsky, is a high tech maven originally from Tel Aviv who missed the creamy Hummus from his homeland. Together with his wife Nancy, an experienced restauranteur, they opened Oren’s Hummus, an authentic Israeli restaurant.
For starters we shared the yummy Quick Fried Cauliflower florets with pesto labane; Romanian Eggplant, Greek-Style Eggplant, and fresh Pita bread. For our entrees, we enjoyed a satisfying Rice Bowl: Basmati rice simmered with garlic, mint, parsley topped with chicken kabob and tahini. Nelson and I had an Allagash Triple Ale that was the perfect complement. The food is not only authentic, it is fresh, healthy and extremely tasty in an exotic Middle Eastern and Mediterranean sort of way.
After dinner we headed to Casa Amaranta, for what was billed as a neighborhood music gathering organized by Ray Sliter, a marine geologist who is one of the owners of Travieso Winery in Campbell. He enjoys sharing fine wines with friends, promoting local music groups in a home owned by his mother whose artwork is displayed in a room that by my count held over 120 people.
The evening event featured The Goodbye Girls, a new quartet out of Boston comprised of four musicians from the US, Canada, and Sweden: Their common love for old-time, bluegrass and Swedish traditional music is what brought them together. They are known to be some of the best acoustic musicians around, playing the fiddle, base, banjo and guitar. They have appeared at the Newport Folk Festival and Stockhom Folk Festival and have recently completed an International tour.
Lead guitarist and vocalist, Molly Tuttle has two million views on YouTube, is an award winning songwriter and has appeared on the iconic “A Prairie Home Companion,” on public radio. These ladies were awesome and very entertaining, especially the quirky, blonde Swedish fiddler, vocalist and storyteller Lena Jonsson who was a real hoot. The other two fine musician-vocalists were Allison de Groot—Banjo, and bass player, Brittany Karlson. I love to support up and coming musicians and purchased their CD: Snowy Side of the Mountain.
Hugs and bows to Nelson and Susan for coming up with this great plan for a fun evening.
https://www.thegoodbyegirlsmusic.com
http://traviesowinery.com/bios.html
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