Tid Bits...

Tid bits... were this awesome sampler platter that my mom used to order for us at Dave Wong's in Stockton. Dave Wong's was this fantastic American Chinese place that had a side deli with the best "Garlic Chicken" ever, deep fried to greasy perfection with moist chicken and perfectly crunchy crust. Tid-bits were deep fried green beans, crab puffs dipped in toasted sesame seeds and I think foil wrapped chicken. They opened a new place shi-shi place in even northerner North Stockton. I didn't like it very much.

I love the old Chinese Restaurants in Stockton. There was one with private rooms, the little accordion door would shut behind the stooped old waiter and the big round table with the lazy susan in the middle. Primarily Cantonese food... via 3 generations in America.

Stockton... I loved it there. Unpretentious but trying, with the largest inland shipping port on the West Coast winding like an artery out to the bigger world. Stockton always felt like an older woman from the wrong side of the tracks with a lot of soul and twinkle in her eyes. Lazy docks bumping against mossy shores, deep gray clay under pete soil. Sunshine and BBQs and flip flops and mangy beaches covered with bloated river plants. We dug for clams with our toes and sold them for bait to grizzled old fisherman on dilapidated aluminum boats. A gallon baggie for $2.00.

This week Stein and I are prepping for a wedding in Santa Cruz. I really like the menu, simple but elegant. We got the stone fruit for the mostarda at the farmer's market. We tried the peaches and apricots and cherries, so full of mid summer flavors, before we bought them. Today the slow delicious process of shopping for just-the-thing went in earnest.

I want granite serving platters similar to the ones we used at Wente. They were elegant, natural and kept food cold. Such a simple thing. So we found a small purveyor online and toddled over to their Concord store. A small Asian man showed us around the discard pile of granite. It was all cut very straight and I asked how we could get the jagged natural edges I was looking for and he held a slab over his head and dropped it, shattering it... PERFECT!

Then we scoured some local stores for the pillars to hold the smaller pieces over the larger ones (I promise pictures later) and found just the thing at Big Lots. I felt triumphant!

Tomorrow prep goes into high gear. It is going to be fun!