Today is my husband’s and my anniversary. Due to our kid’s swim team schedule, we celebrated it last night. If you know the central valley, you know that there is not a huge supply of culture here in Central California, but a small local place was just the thing we needed for our little get away. I was unaware that the night would mark “very significant” on my creative meter.
The Orange Blossom Junction in Exeter, California brings in musicians from all over to entertain. The restaurant is only open to the public Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but during the week they will have special events like we saw last night. Dinner is included with the concert. This is where we enjoyed our first bite of creativity.
The four items on the dinner menu all sounded so good — Salmon, Chicken, Flat-iron Steak, or Artichoke stuffed Portobello Mushroom; all with their distinctive specialty sauces. I would have loved to have a bit of them all. Although our main dishes were very good, it was not the entree that surprized our taste buds, but rather the salad. It was a nice full salad with their signature dressing and sautéed asparagus. That alone would have been delicious, but instead, the chef added one other element…a french onion sorbet. Yes, that is right, french onion. It was not some sweet fruity dessert, but a rich, full flavored french onion. The taste of a french onion soup with the shock of the cold was a very interesting combination. The flavor was almost too strong for me, but once I combined the sorbet with the salad, it blended wonderfully.
The musician for the night was Peppino D’Agostino, a guitarist originally from Italy. Peppino didn’t just play the strings, but the whole guitar. He would be playing one part with his left hand and another with his right. I know you are thinking, “don’t guitar players always use both hands?” Yes, but he was actually plucking and playing parts of the melody with his left. His left hand was not just used to help the right hand make the notes or chords, but was used like several instruments being played at once. The best example of his style was his song “Why Not?” You can see it on You-Tube here.
So why am I writing about a guitarist and a restaurant, when my primary creative outlet is quilting? Because, the whole time as I ate and listened, I kept marveling at the fact on how we are all made with such different spirits of creativity. I might be visual and my creativity comes out in my art and quilts, but I tasted and heard creativity last night.
Für Mackenzie - Designed and made by Ronna Ross (c) 2006
As we look at various quilts and art, we can appreciate a creativity that comes from that person. We dream of fabric and colors, stitches and texture. But what about the chef who dreams of flavors and textures, spices and arromas? Or the musician who dreams of chords and notes, harmonies and songs? Are they any less creative? We all have our venues and mediums.
What I want to know is where does it come from? Is it a disease that some catch and others are ammune to? As quilters, we joke about being obsessed or fabric-aholics, but few would say it is a disease and needs to be cured.
Some might argue that it is all part of natural selection or we have evolved to be this way. I would argue back that if that were true those living would all show developing talents or being dying away.
To me, creativity is like a spirit that comes upon us. It is something extra that enters us, stays and breathes life into our vary soul. How we feed and listen to that spirit will determine how our creativity, thus our talent, grows.
Last night, my all my senses went on a creative ride with tastes from a talented chef and a man that stood in front of me making more sounds come out of a sixed-stringed instrument than I thought possible.
Pippino played a song called “Close to Heaven.” Thank you to him and the Orange Blossom Junction for taking all who attended a little closer to heaven last night. And thank you to my husband, for 8 years of creative marriage.
Authors bio is coming up shortly.
