Staff party

photo: Lindsey Shere

Eastside Road, September 16, 2012—

GRAB YOUR HAT and your iPhone: it's time for one of the big summer outdoors parties, our annual staff party. This time, probably two hundred people, from great-grandparents like us to babes in arms, as the multigenerational staff-and-associated gathered on the lawn at Bob Cannard's farm down near Glen Ellen, source of much of the produce that appears on la table panissienne.

The menu, as you see, had a distinct East Mediterranean flavor. Samin is a favorite of ours, as woman, writer, and cook; she has an intuitive way with food and with people, and the whole thing seemed to proceed effortlessly. We had our wineglasses, plates, forks, and bandanas in a nice wicker basket; we spread out a car blanket on the lawn; we talked to dozens of friends old and new, and listened to other conversations in English, Spanish, French, and Pashto — that last a melodious language completely foreign to me, alas.

Straw bales to sit on, and a long picnic table. Wine and water and melons cooling in stock tanks. Kegs of beer and ale, and all the delicious rosé I could handle (thanks, Michael!). A fine time was had by all.

Rosé, Château de Guilhem, 2011