A Sassy Women's Lunch

Friendship and cocktails and stories savored at a seaside cafe.

Just as the summer started, so does it end at Coney Island. Except this time it’s to meet my oldest friend and her impossibly exquisite daughter to walk down the boardwalk to Brighton Beach and have lunch at Tatiana. We take possession of an outside table to admire the grand parade of grandmothers pushing strollers bursting with grandchildren and stout old men in tight bathing suits and flip-flops coming off the beach. Teenagers perched along the boardwalk railing like birds on telephone wires flirt and brag as girls sashay by them.

We order overpriced cocktails and entertain her daughter with horrifying and comical stories about all the ways we survived being girls and women together. She really likes the one about the time we went to a nearby club—maybe it was Tatiana, maybe the one down the street under the subway platform. It doesn’t matter. The point is a man staggered in with a knife in his head and collapsed beside our table. This was back before we had babies and could be out dancing all night. It was probably a feud between one of the neighborhood’s Russian gangs. We assure her the bartender quickly took care of the man and everyone continued to dance.

We require more cocktails and platters of marinated herring, hummus, pelmeni dumplings, and one other thing I can’t remember because of all of our overpriced cocktails. How happy and carefree we are! Two women luxuriating in their golden age. One young woman dauntlessly assured of all the possibilities to come. We are a high spirited, spunky sight as the first chill of autumn ruffles the sea air.

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And now….

A recipe peak at next week’s story where your writer visits some firehouse cooks!

Summer Corn Salad

about a dozen ears of freshly picked corn (see note)
1 medium red onion, diced
1 or two large ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, diced
1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
1/2 cup good balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Shuck the corn and, as carefully as you can, cut the kernels from the cob and place in a serving bowl. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and gently mix together.

Add the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and taste. You may want to add more basil--there should be a balance of taste but fresh basil is one of the huge joys in this salad. 

Refrigerate for at least an hour. Carefully stir once more and taste. Add more vinegar to ensure the salad has a pleasing a sharpness.

The salad goes very well with anything you serve. It also makes a fine lunch meal when paired with a good crusty country bread and sweet butter.

Note: The fireman who wrote this recipe down for me used Del Monte summer crisp corn.  That works in a pinch, too.

Today’s lunch—corn salad with brown bread slattered with very soft brie. It’s not a great photo but it sure was good.

And let’s talk!