[stylist] Back to writing anyone?

[Miss Thea]

Okay, girl, you got it.
I whipped this up yesterday.

Thea
This will appear on my blog shortly, but for now, here it is.

Try The Baklava

Description: On the first above-zero day in March, I crawled out of my shell 
and visited Terry’s restaurant and Bar on 120 Ellesmere.

I left the medical building on 120 Ellesmere, in Scarborough, and walked a 
few steps. The cool, sunny air sent waves of savory come-ons. I walked into 
the first restaurant, where the come-on was the most savory, and the 
closest.

As a totally blind person with pain issues, whose mobility isn’t that great, 
I’ve learned to take whatever’s first on offer.
I pushed my way through a glass door, and found a seat by the entrance.
Soon after I sat down, a friendly server came by and asked if I’d like a cup 
of coffee. I asked for Decaf, but as the kitchen was too small to carry both 
a regular coffee-maker and a coffee-maker for Decaf, I skipped the Sanca and 
went for orange juice on ice.
I brought a Braille book to read—one of those old, musty, fragrant Braille 
books whose smell reminds me of the Braille library on the 3rd floor of W. 
Ross MacDonald School for the Blind, where I attended between 1970-1977, 
when I left in seventh grade to move to B.C., and its infant mainstreaming.
But that’s for another day.

While reading, I sat back in my chair and “listened” to the place. People 
spoke from two rows of tables—the one I was sitting at, and one to my right, 
with nice walking space between.
Again, the friendly server came and asked what I’d like to eat. I asked what 
they had.
I chose the Eggs Benedict from their all-day breakfast menu. I’d go for the 
Suvlaki the next time I went to Terry’s Restaurant and Bar.
Solemn promise.
I read, listened to the quiet conversation, and Toronto’s at-work station. 
It suited the cozy place quite well, I thought. I liked the uncrowded feel 
of the place, my table seated as it was, beside a metal Venetian blind, 
where the sun touched my fingers.
Of course, I did a little tactile exploring.
The Eggs Benny came, and I concentrated on the homemade breakfast and the 
serenity of the first above-zero day in the year. The announcer on the radio 
declared the day “gorgeous”, and the happy chatter around me gave credence 
to his words.
I’d heard my server talking to others, heard them choosing from a wide 
variety that included burgers, chicken suvlaki and Greek salad.
When she came to ask if everything was satisfactory, as she did a few times, 
I asked her if this was a Greek restaurant.
“Not really,” she said, “though it’s Greek-owned. This is a family-owned 
restaurant, and everything we make here is homemade.”
“Such as …” I grinned at her. “dessert?”
They had two choices. I chose the baklava.
My server presented me with a roughly triangular  pile of onion-skin thin 
phyllo pastry layered with crushed almonds and walnuts and saturated in 
syrup. The honey and cinnamon smell wafted up to me. It didn’t stand a 
chance. I began undoing all the chef’s hard work. First, a slice of 
syrup-saturated, paper-thin Phyllo. Neat texture, I thought, as I chewed. 
Feels like wet paper, tastes like honey. After that, a mouthful of meaty 
nuts. The pile grew smaller and smaller.
It had the taste of some of those grain cereals lathered in honey.
I made short work of that baklava.
I made sure to tell my server that I would do my first “blind foodie” 
write-up on my blog about Terry’s Restaurant and Bar.
Though I never sampled the bar, I found the restaurant with its friendly 
server, its low-key crowd, and its unobtrusive music, a thoroughly enjoyable 
way to spend an afternoon.
Not only that, the very capable chef gave me a piece of baklava to take 
home.
-----Original Message----- 
From: Bridgit Pollpeter
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 3:40 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: [stylist] Back to writing anyone?

Hey,

It's been a while since we posted our actual writing. Anyone up for a
writing exercise? We've had some great discussions lately, especially
about self-publishing. But it would be great to flex our creative
muscles a bit. Maybe no specific exercise but just post a short bit of
writing?

Bridgit


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