Lunch at Irma's and Other Stuff

It just doesn't get any better or any fresher or any sweeter. That would be lunch at Irma's yesterday. Aggie and I had little bowls of beans a la charra, plates with 1/2 a chicken breast covered with mole sauce and 1/2 an enchilada filled with spinach so deftly sauteed it was still bright green.

All of this followed with coffee and a plate of warm sopapillas drenched with honey and dusted with crushed pecans and cinnamon. For dessert, we thought about flan, but Irma said that sopapillas went better with coffee. Of course.

I'd say our lunch was a perfect rendition of what could become Irma's 'Second Seating Lunch Special' that she'll serve during the exhibition.

Aggie and I've been running around for two days, thinking about lighting fixtures for Second Seating, seeing the actual space, talking to the chandelier man and to the owner's of an East End kitchen appliance resale shop. Plus a visit with Jesse Sifuentes to see how his coffee buffet table is progressing.We are aiming for a completion date of June 30 so that Laurie can photograph it for a new press release and we can get it moved from his garage into the Harrisburg studio. That's the plan.

And there was a gardener's discussion about the pomegranate trees in Jesse's front lawn. After that we drove over to a used kitchen appliance shop on Polk St. where Aggie spotted a vintage turquoise gas stove. She's thinking of designing a vignette, make that tableau, with an old stove, her etched metal as back splash all with assorted kitchen utensils and 'stuff.' Sounds wonderful, especially if placed adjacent to Ted Estrada's table which he is calling "Las Comadres en su Merienda" ("The Godmothers' Coffee/Tea Time").
It's been wonderful to have Aggie in town and great to talk with another person who 'sees' what can be for Second Seating just by looking at the space and who offers terrific suggestions and some ideas that never occurred to me.
I am really tired today and may take it easy this afternoon. Just do quiet things. Would that be back to collaging? And just a few phone calls. Perhaps?