GINKGO TREE IN THE GRASS:

EMBERS ONLY SUPPER CLUB AT

GREATER GOODS

MAY 1. 2023

It is a little ginkgo tree. It grows from the grass in the back yard of the old brick library in Meiners Oaks…..behind the gas station where the air compressor rumbles most of the day. Maybe inconvenient and bothersome but in all honesty the gas station is a store of convenience and comes in handy for the bags of ice and cold sparkle by noon when the Saturday heat rolls in.

Vaughn is a man with a vision….perhaps fraught with vision overload and the potential of old things. He finds beauty in the unwanted, the often discarded. I joke with his wife at the farmer’s market stand that I saw his old red truck full of chairs again the other day. She exclaims, “THE MAN LOVES CHAIRS!” If I think about it though it makes perfect sense that he loves chairs. I read one time that “a chair can become a familiar friend in a lonely life”…..and I’m not saying he is lonely, but I think he subconsciously knows that giving people chairs to sit in creates community and familiar comfort….a rest for the weary, a space to talk, play music, tell stories……and around a table, a place to eat food. His heart rests closely with a desire for people to connect……intellectually, creatively, spiritually….as family. Human interaction as healing and his choice medicine, music.

Greater Goods is the brain child of Vaughn Montgomery. It is a non profit communal art space in MO Town. Originally located across the street in a small space on El Roblar Greater Goods has organically morphed over the years into an eclectic space of mosaic wood design, drift wood mobiles, blue carpeted church pews, pianos, drums and microphones. We joke, “a place to donate your organs”…..Vaughn has two, one inside and one outside tarpped. I asked if he plays….and he does.

This is Embers Only’s third dinner venue and Cade and I set up in the heat of the day Saturday. The day prior Cade mowed the grass around the ginkgo tree and set in motion a beautiful spring makeover. Tables laid out Saturday with chairs, OH CHAIRS….dinner settings of mixed thrift china, garden flowers of morning mist foraging…..pleasantly disheveled country cute vibes….and the oven by the bamboo. Cade convenienced himself an ice cream pop at the gas station and sat cross legged on the stage. He plays lumberjack with the ax to prep out the oven logs but on an eighty five degree day without shade that can be brutal so we imagine sprinklers and summer block parties graced by the little powder puff blue ice cream truck that used to putz around the neighborhood pide piping tunes to the children. He watches the oven while I run back to the bakeshop to finish up the food for our dinner at six.

I made sprouted quinoa sourdough boules. I messed up the mix because I am a rusty baker now. I was one with my dough for many years, but I am having to reintroduce myself to it. Bread is a daily practice if you want the best…..a commitment like love. The sprouted quinoa makes for a lovely flavor and fabulous crunch on the crust that makes a mess of every table. The cheese Torte is my aunt’s recipe…..a layered party pleaser of pesto and sun dried tomatoes with cheese. We made two salads…..old reliable with mixed garden greens and vinaigrette and a winter beet, citrus, avocado toss with lemon cream and micro greens….the pixies made for a sweet surprise against the bitter old beets. Cade’s Psycho Kaler pizza of massaged kale, garlic, mozzarella and parmesan was a stunner….followed by his honey spiced Calabrese pizza pie and the old margarita with early basil. Dessert of course, shortcake with strawberries and cream. I brought the little table mixer with me and plugged it into the yellow extension cord to whip my cream fresh with vanilla and sugar under the bamboo and lights of the evening.

If the stage at Greater Goods was a boat it would be the rickety old wooden one at the end of the dock. It is a character of it’s own and when lit up at night it shines special and sweet. Driftwood enscribes LOVE across the back wall. An alter of sorts you might find nestled into a space at the corner Mexican market or maybe on the side of the road in memory of something deeply loved. Locals played us some music to fires and hums of neighborhood sounds. I wandered the tables when given the chance and what a delightful group of people together to eat.

It is not just about the food we serve. It is about the place we serve it. It is about the people who eat it. Maybe it’s about the chairs too…..our familiar friends to rest our souls.