For lunch at Cosmic Cafe, I picked up Catherine at her office. Carpooling, you know. Besides, Cosmic’s parking lot is so tiny that it was a good thing I was able to steal, er, snag a space in such a tight spot. (Sorry, white Camry, but you need to learn how to make a three-point turn.)
Catherine knew her way around the new menu, including the fact that the okra remedy sandwich is so popular that it’s often sold out by dinner. Slurping creamy squash bisque, we talked about Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth and whether people would ever trade their SUVs for smaller hybrids. (Catherine drives a Prius.)
She was right about the okra sandwich, with sautéed okra and melted cheese enclosed in a pita. She also opened my eyes—my third eye, too—to another new dish, the Dharma bell, a pepper stuffed with spicy mashed potatoes and served with a small salad.
After holding out for many years, Cosmic finally raised its prices by a couple of bucks—less than what you’d pay for a gallon of gas! And last year, a second Cosmic Cafe opened in Austin, a town where carpooling and bicycling are very, very big.
Over a thick, surprisingly rich slice of no-dairy chocolate-almond cake, I tried to focus on Catherine’s news about the fabu nonprofit art foundation she’d helped organize. But my thoughts drifted to the fact that, even though I’d eaten a ton, I didn’t feel overly stuffed. Catherine agreed to catch the bus back to her office. I really wanted to beat the traffic home.
Get contact information for Cosmic Cafe.
