Invitations and apple donuts
Sometimes I think, “Gosh, I haven’t seen so-and-so in a long time.” And I catch myself wondering, when was the last time we saw each other? I wonder how she’s doing. And then I remember that everyone—myself included—is busy and if I want to see someone, maybe I just ought to invite them out or over. More often than not, the invitation—or even just reaching out with a “hey, I haven’t seen you in some time,"— is met with a, “you’ve been on my mind! Let’s get together.”
Most of us think about our friends often. Well, except thosewith narcissistic or sociopathic tendencies but I’ll leave that for theprofessionals.
Similar to not seeing friends is not going to restaurants/cafés/bars that we love. I was in PG the other day and realized I hadn’t been to Pavel’s in a while, although it might not seem that way to you, dear reader, since my last column was Ode to a Chocolate Croissant, from there. I digress, anyways. I popped into Pavel’s for lunch and Paul, the owner, saw me. He came out from the back and said, “Remember that story you wrote about the apple donuts? You had gone somewhere.”
“Yes yes!” I said. “Apple Hill. Apple Cider donuts.” I was touched that he had remembered something I'd written. And from October!
“I’m going to be making something similar on Saturday for the celebration across the street at Grove Market. You should come try them,” he said.
Well, I don’t need to be told twice to try apple donuts so Iadded the event to my calendar and on Saturday made my way over to Grove Marketfor apple donuts. And…they were out. I asked the cashier about them and shesaid, “Oh…those were apple? They were so good! I thought they tasted fruity!”
Drat. I thought.
I ran across the street to Pavel’s. There were only 5 loavesof bread left and nothing else. It was 2pm on a Saturday, after all. I saw Paul and waved with a huge smile on myface.
“They’re all out of the apple donuts you were telling meabout across the street,” I explained.
“Oh. Hang on just a minute.” He turned around and went tothe back.
I waited patiently. OK…not so patiently. He came back with a small box of four donuts.
“Oh my God,” I said, “thank you!”
“They’re still warm,” he told me as he folded the box overitself to seal it.
“No, no. I’m having one now.” I told him. How could I nothave a still-warm apple donut that I drove all the way over there for?
I took a bite and as you can imagine it was pure bliss. Yes, it was still warm and it tasted like it had macerated apples in it and the most delicate—still soft—glaze. My eyes rolled to the back of my head and I crouched down ever so slightly into my knees. “This is amazing!” I told Paul, shamelessly speaking with food in my mouth.
His smile beamed. As someone who cooks myself, I know howspecial it is when someone likes one of your creations. I thanked him 800 moretimes and walked out eating the still-warm donut.
On the drive home, I called a friend and told him I had fresh donuts for him and he might want to put a pot of coffee on. He—a fellow food lover—was thrilled and I could hear him pouring water into the kettle. By the time I got over to his apartment there was piping hot coffee to go along with our still-warm donuts.
The moral of my story is, if someone invites you for freshly made apple donuts, always oblige. But really, invite your friends over and connect with people you haven’t seen in some time, this is why we live. We’re on this earth for an indeterminate amount of time so make everyday worthwhile. Share what you have and check up on your friends.