Darkest Suburbia...and Beyond!

More than usually interesting Mother's Day dinner this year; for special-occasion dinners, I sometimes pick places we haven't been that look capital-I Interesting (within the limits of my parents' culinary tastes). This time I chose a relatively new establishment in Portland's Western suburbs, Dessert Noir. It was in many respects an excellent meal, but I find myself more than usually conflicted about the experience.

( Lengthy comments beneath the cut to spare the non-foodies: )

I am faintly astonished.

As I type, there is turkey and dressing in the oven. The table is set (for three -- my parents will be over shortly). Two-thirds of the components for apple pie are prepared and awaiting the arrival of the third (I admit it, for pie I cheat and use refrigerated premade crusts, but the store was out when we went shopping Tuesday night). But there is only one dirty dish in the sink -- the sauté pan in which the veggies for the dressing were heated -- and the kitchen is otherwise in extraordinarily tidy shape.

What's really astonishing is that the kitchen is that neat, and I have time to type a LiveJournal entry, even though this is the first Thanksgiving dinner I've hosted in a very long time. Most years my parents and I go visit the Kid Brother and his family in sunny southern California for Turkey Week. David is a superb turkey-chef (he indirect-grills his birds), and my sister-in-law's family joins us for the feast, so it's definitely a full-scale Thanksgiving. This year, however, Mother is recovering -- very, very well, mind -- from knee replacement surgery, and isn't yet up for a long trip. So we are having a smaller Thanksgiving here.

( pause, answer phone/door )