Lunchbox Liz

In 1976, my family opened a small café in a college town. We were the first restaurant to serve exotic fair such as quiche, vegetarian enchilada, and big salads. The menu changed daily with about seven entrees and two desserts. It was a wildly popular place and through the eyes of a child full of magic and wonder. My best friend and I would roller skate up in and out of the building making a general nuisances of ourselves with the staff who were--in addition to being restaurant employees--poets, musicians, PhD candidates, thespians, ballet dancers, philosophers, writers, and scientists. We also employed a number of people from a sheltered workshop for deinstitutionalized mental patients. I liked them best or maybe a truer statement is that I felt proud that liked them best. Over the fireplace in the front dining room was the Tenniel drawing of Alice’s Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland. In the winter, I would sit at the table underneath the drawing with the grownups feeling a bit like Alice and listen to ther talk of Kafka and Kesey. In the summer, my brother and I would hang out on the porch while our finest salad maker and dishwasher would use the plastic dish racks as a lute and tell us tales accompanied by bursts of song. Today’s lunch was one the most popular dishes at the Café. It sounds odd, but it’s really good.

Today’s Lunch
East Indian Vegetable Salad

Combine 2 cups of cooked rice, 1 can drained kidney beans, 1 can of drained corn, 1 chopped green pepper, 2 stalks of chopped celery, 2 chopped hard boiled eggs, 1 bunch of chopped scallions, 4 tbsp mayonnaise, 2 chopped pickles, 1 tsp. horseradish, 1 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper.