My sister called me today to tell me she had talked to my stepdad. It appears he thinks my mom is haunting him in their house. He says she is asking him to help her. He says he sees her sick, well and as a little girl with a cold. She has been dead since July 31st and I cant say he has been doing too well since. He is getting very thin, looks like he does not sleep much, has gotten sick twice and I think its fair to say he is in deep despair.

One thing you learn when your parents are therapists is they dont need therapy.  Or at least thats what they tell you every time you suggest that or grief counseling.

So what do you do with a guy who is being haunted? My sister says he has certain pictures of my mom that travel with him to various rooms. She notices the pictures moving.

Its sad I tell you.

There I am, banging on the door of Music Go Round at 8:04 pm screaming please let me in - I need a Saxophone. There is one man in the store who took pity on me and $750 later and a few less meals out on the town my kid has a Sax like Lisa Simpson. I hate to squelch her musical fire but I give her till Thanksgiving before she is crying when its time to practice the insturment for the rquired 30 minutes a day and frankly, I DONT WANT TO HEAR IT. Damn the music teacher that tried to inspire her - I want the Flutophone to be enough - that was $5.

I remeber the flute in 7th grade and hiding it in my locker while I sat outside the back door of the high school and smoked cigarettes - could this be her destiny or am I making  a kenny G:)

Another Monday and another week of ... this week Ill eat so much better than last week. My friend is doing the "half of what you want - more of what you dont diet" and she has lost 5 lbs. It makes tons of sense actually and you dont get deprived - I am all about that otherwise my littlegirl in my body starts screaming out like Varuka on Willie Wonka. I want to NOW.

Have you watched "Tell Me You Love Me" on HBO?

I watched the first episode last night after hearing Margory say it was soft porn and I too was a bit taken aback. Good show that chronicles the sex life of various couples. In a nutshell it looks like this:

20' s couple, Having sex everywhere. Ball slapping, pubic hair- less sex which was shocking. When I see sex anywhere than the big screen and naked full on types on TV it shocks me still. 

30's couple. having sex on command for ovulation purposes only. Over achiever, suit wearing, convertisble driving success types who sit in therapy and nothings wrong until they leave the office and fight.

40's couple. have not had sex in a year- probably couldnt if they wanted to as the 7 or 10 year old kids are constantly in their beds. I could relate to these folks. Always tired and knowing ther is always tommorow.

50's Couple. Spare, demure sex. No goobers, not slapping, no skin basically.

It was a very interesting show that I may add to my viewing list a few more times. Crazy but I am interested in others sex lives if nothing else to make sure I am tracking in the normal column and to see what everybody ele is doing.

Nothing better than a 75 degree Fall day.

GO SEE JAYNE EYRE:

If you have not gone yet to the Guthrie to See Jayne Eyre, I would highly reccommend it. Stacia Rice is magnificent and the staging is really top notch - I thought the production values excellent. While there... take a minute to stand on the bridge overlooking the Stone Arch and the Lock and Damn. That is really a magnificent view. My husband and I sat out there in this glorious weather and split a Summit beer at 12 noon and I have to say all was right with the world.

MY REVIEW OF BANK: 

I have been also meaning to share with you my experiences at Bank. Bank is the new restaurant in the Farmers Mercantile Building at 6th and Marquette, (home of the new Westin hotel). The inside of the building is beautiful and very cool art deco details everywhere you look. The room feels a bit cavernous but the wood used in constructing the booths and the way the room is closed in seems to work. We sat at the bar overlooking the magnificent, giant stainless steel kitchen which was bustling on the day we went there.

Reviews of Bank have talked about the less than fabulous service but my impression is they are trying to step up their game as they were expediating food fast and furous and seemed very much as if they were on top of our order. We ordered a remarkable tomato soup and white bean soup with bacion and arugula and riccotta to start. It was clearly fresh slow roasted tomatoes that were pureed to the most velevety consistency with a basil olive oil swirl. The Bean soup had that equally wonderful consistency and the ricoota garnish was tart and while I was unsure in the begiing, a perfect companion to the soup. Both soups were tremendous and buttery and roasty tasting. I loved the fact that they garnished the soup with a mini grilled guyere cheese grilleed sandwich on a type of sweet Challah bread. The 4 pieces of cheese sandwich were arranged in a tic tac toe square which was a sweet touch. I could have been full eating just the soup but we I went onto have the Egg Salad sandwich with pickeled onions. I loved the pickled read onions. The onions were tart and salty. The egg salad was a very sophisticated version with more egg puree than chunky mayonaise but it worked. I particularilly loved the arugula  salad with radish, fennel, red onions and a citrus vinagret that accompanied my salad, It was very inventive.

My friend had the noodle chickken salad that looked like a fancy version of ramin noodles with fresh vegetables with some broth at the bottom of the bowl. The salad was good, salty, lots of soy, rice vinegar and ginger, like good Ramen noodles and sadly I have never met a bowl of Ramen I did not like.

Desserts were very interesting. The desert tray was 8 glass 4 oz cups that sat in a metal rack. You picked each dessert and each was $2.50. They were all in the 4 oz glasses - so they had bannana rum cake with whip cream, in a glass, Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, in a glass, cheese cake, in a glass, bluberry buckle, in a glass, key lime pie, in a glass - this tremendous presentation made me want to order one of everything and had I not been with a client who I did not want to think I was a cow - I would have. As it was we ordered the bannana rum cake which was deliciuous and gone in two bites and the bluberry cobbler which was also great and had a sharp Junniper berrry after tase which was pleasant and unexpected. All in all it was a great lunch and it made me want to go back for dinner soon.

I always love hearing and reading about food. So feel free to send me any thought, comments or suggestions.