My friend Julie, one of my oldest friends who now lives in Santa Barbara, arrived yesterday evening with this lush bouquet that she designed and that the florist put together. It is really beautiful and fragrant, and the photo cannot do it justice.

Then we went for dinner at Terroni, which we seem to do everytime she's here. We ordered three dishes and shared them: calamari salad, sliced filet mignon with caramelized red cabbage and potatoes, barley risotto with shrimp. They were heavenly, a gastronomic triumph. We finished with a panna cotta (one of our rituals), but I left most of it for her because I couldn't eat another morsel. Julie and I first met as young editorial people on the late Epicure magazine, so when we get together, food always has an important part to play!

In the sticky, humid aftermath of last night's spectacular thunderstorm, or as the CBC News put it: "a thunderstorm of operatic proportions," with more to come, it seems, I went out and did my chores, all of them.

Tomorrow I'm going to see Julie and Julia. This is one movie I would have wanted to see with my friend Julie, and old friend and foodie buddy with whom I worked on several food magazines a lifetime ago. But Julie lives in Santa Barbara -- wait, I was cleaning out some boxes filled with old correspondence and I came across a letter from mystery writer Sue Grafton (a fantastic person I met in New Orleans...but that's another story), and I see her return address is...Santa Barbara!

Back to the topic. I am making it official here so that I don't get sidetracked and decide not to go to the movie. I need to do something nice for myself!