Dear Feastlings,
I do adore this cloudy, rainy weather, but I find it pulling me down from wakefulness as if I’m some unlucky beast on a nature program, my eyes fighting, thick-lidded, to remain open while the tranquilizer dart empties its soporific contents into my dusty hide. I feel like I’ll wake up with a colorful tag in my ear and a numbered band around my ankle.
I don’t think I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I do know that my intention of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt when I find them ill-behaved was challenged less than halfway into New Year’s Eve, and I know that today’s weather prompted me to question how anyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest accomplishes anything. Ever. At all. The sun wear out its welcome in the summer months, but this cloudy, drizzly, chilly time does make it challenging to accomplish what one sets out to do.
Still, when I come to with that tag in my ear, I’ll lick my wounds and go on about my business. What business, you may ask, is that? Well, despite the frantic nature of the season, we did manage to eke out the January menu on the appointed day, even if I didn’t manage to eke out an email about it, so here’s a link to that menu:
https://www.eatatfeast.com/dining/menus/lunch-dinner/
And there’s this week’s wine tasting as well:
We still have three seats available at next week’s Basque in the Borderlands dinner with Alex LaPierre of Borderlandia and Arielle DeSoucey of Civil Wines as I write this, though it’s Tucson, so those seats may be gone by the time you get this, and then available again tomorrow. We’re famously non-committal, we Tucsonans. But here’s the menu, and the talks from Alex and Arielle promise to be good ones.
There’ll be more, for certain. Even though I already slipped and started thinking poorly of people on New Year’s Eve, it was only a few and only under duress, so now that we’ve made it through the holiday season, I’ll be getting back in touch with my new pals at GAP ministries this week, and we’ll begin sending food to people whose situations are dire enough that they need to choose between paying for food, medicine, or rent.
And we’ll be serving those whose situation is less dire and who still deserve to have a special night on Valentine’s Day, for example, or who just need a break from the stresses of their daily lives. Whatever the case, we’ll keep trying to spread a little comfort and happiness through food and drink, and we’ll hope a little of that comfort and happiness reaches you. Come on, everyone. Let’s see if we can make 2026 a little better than 2025 was.
Love,
Doug