Merry Christmas to us!

It was a chilly, grey day on Wednesday when Mark and I went downtown to sign our wills and a "durable power of attorney for financial management" document. Mark and I figured out that the first time the two of us sat down and started to talk about getting a will was 12 years ago. Every time the subject came up, it always seemed too confusing and frustrating so we kept putting it off.

But Mark's A-fib event in April and some sudden serious health issues among close friends finally spurred us to do it. I have to say it is a wonderful feeling to know that it's all done and witnessed and signed, along with our health care power of attorney documents. We don't have to wonder and worry about those aspects of our future any longer. It's a lovely Christmas gift to each other.

To celebrate finally getting this big step out of the way, we took advantage of being on State Street and lunched at the wonderful Himal Chuli. Mark had Cauli, our favorite variation of Takari, aka "fresh vegetables stewed with turmeric, coriander, cumin, fresh garlic and ginger." Cauli features cauliflower, carrots and peas.

But this time I opted for the combination platter (above and below): Two meat-filled momos with a tomato coriander sauce (right), one samosa, roti (bread) and a cup of dal (soup). Samosas are veggie pastries filled with onions, potatoes and peas in a blend of Nepali herbs. They're served with yogurt sauce.

Himal Chuli was the first Nepali restaurant in the country when it opened in the 1980s. Today it is a stalwart of State Street. And there is nowhere with food as comforting or an atmosphere more welcoming, especially on a cold winter day. 

Lunch was followed by shopping at The Soap Opera, a stop to check out some of the new art books at the downtown public library and a visit to MMoCA. The Joel Shapiro bronzes were stunning and may be the largest sculptures I've ever seen inside a museum. Our last stop was a visit with good ol' Frida.

Kahlo's painting, "Pitahayas," is part of the museum's permanent collection and we've seen it many times over the years. In MMoCA's former State St. iteration, I loved the room at the top of the stairs that typically showcased work from their permanent collection. I would always make a point of seeing what was on display and visiting favorite pieces like "Pitahayas" while they were out to be enjoyed. 

This time, "Pitahayas," was on the 2nd floor of the museum, outside the main gallery featuring Shapir's sculptures. It was all alone in a small darkened room with a staff member keeping vigil. Somehow this special showing didn't feel right. Kahlo never struck me as an artist who wanted her work to be enshrined in a darkened room like icons from a dead saint. Still, it was a treat to visit it again. A lovely end to a memorable day.    

Comments

[Peter/Outlaw]

What a delightful way to celebrate signing all that paperwork! Nice to have that done. I looked up Himal Chuli and found that they deliver (or that someone delivers for them) but I may be a bit outside of their delivery area. The menu looks fabulous.

[Barbara H.]

Congratulations on getting those important papers completed! That's huge. I need to update mine to make sure they work in Alabama. I'm sorry to hear about Mark's A-fib and hope that all goes well. It sounds like you had a perfect way to celebrate.

[Loree / danger garden]

Ugh. A task we really need to take care of as well. Thank you for the inspiration.

[Linda Brazill]

Not many restaurants where we walk in and get a hug from the owner! That tells you how many years we've been going there.

[Linda Brazill]

They're treating the A-fib with meds and he hasn't had any problems since the original episode. But it was a bit scary to suddenly be the "old" people in our driveway at midnight with Mark being loaded into the EMT ambulance. Don't want to do that again.

[Linda Brazill]

Mostly we just wanted to make things easier for each other on the assumption that we are unlikely to exit together.

[Kris P]

I'm sorry to hear of your husband's health scare but those preparations are smart, as is celebrating getting that task behind you!

[Linda Brazill]

He's been fine since then but it was the real impetus for us to finally get this done.

[ceci]

Thank you for sharing your lives and especially, in this post, the art gallery visit. I have favorite paintings that I like to visit each chance I get at various galleries - it makes such a difference how they are displayed and I begin to feel quite proprietary about "my" paintings. I'm pretty over the dark grey walls that seem popular everywhere; I guess the paintings pop against them but life can be gloomy enough without dark grey walls.

ceci

[Linda Brazill]

We now make it a habit to stop in Cleveland to visit their fabulous galleries every time we drive out east. And if possible, I visit Buffalo and visit all the works I grew up with. You are so right: we do have favorites and are quite proprietary about them!

[Lisa at Greenbow]

It is a relief to have those things accomplished. Now...live on.
Your celebration dinner looks good. Makes me hungry looking at the pictures.
I am with you in thinking that Kahlo wouldn't want to be enshrined along with her works. Maybe they are just afraid someone would steal it. Sad but people do those things.