Monkey Bars

A lady I work with took me to see how the other half lives in the Hamptons a couple of weeks ago on my day off. She used to have a nice house over there herself where she raised her kids. The coolest thing for me was to see houses directly on the beach just like you imagine. The houses were also over the top, like pretty unreal. I kept thinking of the parties you could have in them and how good the food would taste looking out over those vistas.

The bottom of my flip flop fell off while were were walking on a beautiful restaurant outdoor deck all dressed up in white linens and flowers and heavy silverware. Somehow it felt fitting that my sole came apart. Something came to me about material things and money and how its all so silly. I just want to have fun and laugh and eat really. And create, always...continue to create things and that will keep me feeling alive and healthy in the mind and spirit. That's what P tells me anyway and I guess I believe him. There are so many wonderful things to do in this life for free (thank God!) and while I was walking in downtown South Hampton with 1/2 of a flip flop I remembered a few of those things.

One of them is baking. I'm not that good at baking 'cause I'm not that precise but I love the science of it. Things rise when you do this, they stay all moist when you do that. They can withstand high heat and even have a specific moment when it all comes together.

Like anything you create, when you present it to someone you sorta want them to get all happy and gush over it. Midwesterners gush. We're humble, we're grateful people (believe me, grateful to be out of the midwest!). But this lady is really not a gusher. She's a tough New Yorker. They play it much closer to the chest. I came into work with two bags marked with the names and calorie content of each dessert, all proud of my dorkiness. And she thanks (I think) and took a really small bite out of one of the brownies and said 'they're good' without an exclamation put them in her locker and that was the end of it.

Who cares really. I shouldn't 'give to get' they say. She said she liked them, so what do I want, a medal? But P gushed and really liked the monkey bars which were made with ripe bananas, egg whites, whole wheat flour and we had them with coffee this morning. I liked them too and had fun making them!