this blog is actually quite tardy. about seven months late, in fact. the idea for it came about last august as a result of a conversation between two strangers who happened to be sitting next to each other on a plane to costa rica. but that's a meat cute for a different post.
part of the reason i took so long to start this blog was that i couldn't come up with just the right name for it. as a marketer, i felt that the brand should be just as, if not more important than the content. first, i wanted to call it 'love at first bite'. cute, right? this palm springs caterer thought so too. then i thought maybe 'meet.eat.love.' hey, if the device got elizabeth gilbert a bestseller and a movie, then maybe me too? but like a good-on-paper-relationship, it just didn't feel right.
then this february, i was in palm springs with my college friend ashley. i was out there for work, and ashley and her husband trevor were out for the long holiday for some shopping (her) and golf (him). as ashley, her sister jamie and i were driving from strip mall to strip mall, i started telling them about this blog and mentioned my branding issues. ashley suddenly turned to me and said, 'why don't you call it 'meat cute'?'. to which both her sister and i replied, 'call it a what?!'. then ashley went on to explain how, in films, the moment when a couple meets in the story is their meet cute. eureka.
my meat cute with ashley goes back 13 years. she was my student host (meaning she let me, a total stranger and over-eager high-schooler, sleep on her floor for two days) when i visited washington & lee, where we both went to school. i still remember meeting her and watching her lay in her top bunk eating string cheese before she took her 6pm pre-study nap. i should mention that the factoid commonly passed around our small campus about ashley was that she was miss teen delaware in high school. she is simply stunning. and brilliant. and vivacious to boot. and did i mention that both she and her husband trevor used to work for the department of homeland security? so that's their meat cute...ashley and trevor met at work, like plenty of other couples have. but what i love about their meat cute is how ashley tells it (or how she told it to me that day in palm springs).
before i go any further, i have to say that trevor is one of the nicest guys i have ever met. when we met at the wedding of a mutual friend of ashley and me, trevor was very patient in letting me show off my 'vast' sports knowledge. i still give him credit for not even cracking a smile when i told him i learned about football by reading and watching The Blind Side. according to ashley, she was the girl who played it totally wrong before they actually got together. when trevor would ask ashley what she was up to and make loose plans to meet up for drinks friday after work, ashley would break any existing plans she had, go home and prettify/get excited/imagine-her-wedding-to-this guy and then...would never hear from him that night. then on monday, when ashley saw trevor at work, instead of cold-shouldering or yelling at trevor, she would smile and pleasantly ask how his weekend was. (did i mention she's a former beauty queen?) this went on for six. months. at this point in ashley's story, i asked (yelled at) her, 'how did you keep from going crazy? and why did you put up with it?'. to which ashley responded, 'i just knew he was different and that he needed some time to realize he was in love with me.'
ashley and trevor were married in september 2010 and now live in manhattan beach, cali.
when they (finally) got together, they used to frequent an italian restaurant in DC called Sorriso Ristorante where trevor typically gets the pasta carbonara. for their meat cute, i used Food Network recipe adopted from North End Caffe in manhattan beach (cause that's where they live!). but instead of linguini, i subbed rotini in honor of ashley's corkscrew curls (did i mention she's stunning?). i also added peas for a bit of color and because spring is finally kinda here in new york. as a starter, i dressed mesclun greens and mini heirloom tomatoes with truffle oil, white balsamic vinegar and sea salt. as a finisher, i drizzled some clover blossom honey over ricotta and added some chopped dates.
ashley, thanks for the namesake...can't wait to make this for you and trevor next time i'm in LA!
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