I had lunch with a friend the other day—we’ve been friends for over 20 years and have witnessed many chapters of each others’ lives. Currently we’re both finding ourselves in new chapters (perhaps new stories altogether). He’s already made progress in his new story while I still have a mostly blank page before me, with only the title written. Since he’s a few steps ahead I listened intently during lunch at Mumbles, a local, neighborhood kind of place where everyone seemed to know each other—a place to meet friends for drinks at happy hour or enjoy a leisurely lunch as we did.
Over Artisanal beer, glasses of sangria, sliders, arugula salad with shrimps and flatbread with gorgonzola and figs, which are currently in season, we chatted about our children and lives. Instead of dwelling on “what’s next?” I feel at ease with “what is.”
We’re both in the space between one way of life and a different one. It’s nice to know old friends stick around no matter what phase we’re in.
After having lunch at Mumbles I was inspired to make the flatbread with figs and gorgonzola at home. You’ll love the creamy, earthy, pungent combination. I picked up fresh figs at Fairway and gorgonzola cremificato, an Italian blue from Lombardy, at Murray’s Cheese.
You can serve this as an appetizer or main course. If you can’t find fresh figs and want to use dried ones, place them in water for about 20 minutes, then remove the stems and slice.
Mumbles is located at 179 3rd Avenue between 16th + 17th Streets.
[gmc_recipe 5103]