The Dining Divas  Bring Their Own

Food, Take It to a Parking Lot

By Lisa Kampeter

Like last month, and every other month that I talk about the Dining Divas and our outings, our excuse to get together is for the food, but the reason to get together is really about just that…getting together.   With stay-at-home orders well in place for last month’s Dining Divas, we once again had to get creative, and this time, we made it a “Parking Lot” Dining Divas.

Each month, I try to find a restaurant location that accommodates a large group, that takes reservations, and, often times, is centrally located. “I’d go anywhere for you girls,” said the Metro East Diva who often drives the farthest. This particular outing the Grafton and Washington Divas were unable to make it, and their drives would have been longer than hers. But as she said, it doesn’t matter where. She just loves getting together with the girls.

With restaurants not being an option, we decided to make our next outing outdoors. We’d had Virtual Dining Divas the month before, and this month, we wanted to see each other in person. So, we chose the “central” location of the Creve Coeur Golf Course close to Olive Road off Olde Cabin Rd, thanks to the recommendation of a Diva who had lived in the area. Great idea, but one thing we hadn’t considered was that, even though the golf course closed at 5:30, it didn’t mean that those people playing would be done at 5:30. Which also meant that our idea of a “parking lot” Divas with a beautiful view of the course also meant that we were right in range with golf balls hit with too big of a club. So, of course, the parking lot was crowded, and we decided rather than hearing “fore” all evening, we’d move.

Fortunately, when we chose this location, we did so with the knowledge of a safety net across the street. Plenty of office buildings with empty parking lots. We packed up our lawn chairs and moved there.

The Blonde Diva met the Active Diva early enough to get a nice walk in in the area. Unfortunately, it took the Blonde Diva awhile to get to the location. She just assumed the Creve Coeur Golf Course was near Creve Coeur Lake. Not so much.

Once we were all happily arranged in a large circle in our lawn chairs with our food and drinks, I noticed a few things. You had half of the group that had fixed their hair, put on some makeup, and dressed nicely. You had the other half who were presentable but envious of the nice manicures, and haircuts and colors the others had, and thought, “I should have worn something besides tennis shoes.” What is one to wear on a parking lot?

The Mood-Making Diva lit a candle, drank wine from her lovely glass, and played dinner music. Just like as if we were in a restaurant, some of the Divas complained of the choice of music and wished they had silverware instead of plasticware.

The Ornery Diva and the Educator Diva laughed so hard they had tears at the expense of the Pot-Kettle Diva. Apparently, they make a good team of making the joke be on her. They did find it ironic as she was talking about her “quaran-team” and social distancing that she took a drink out of another Diva’s wine bottle. Right out of the bottle. We had to laugh.

You could tell we were being careful not to cross the line of judgment of each other when discussing anything COVID-related. Who’s wearing a mask? Who’s staying home and away from others? Who’s traveling? We’re all in the same storm, right, just in different boats. We’ve all read that enough on social media. We’re all in different situations. We should not judge.

At this point, I believe the Epicurean Diva had made 80 different recipes since the stay-at-home orders were placed. Crazy!   The Non-Foodie Divas were happy to have found five recipes to sustain through all of this.

Another thing we hadn’t considered when we decided on Parking Lot Divas was the lack of bathrooms. Although there was the recommendation of a bush, a couple Divas decided against it and instead went to a local Starbucks and begged to be allowed to come in. They obliged, and the ladies happily bought coffee to go.

At 8 o’clock, just like every night, the Praying Diva’s phone alarm went off, and the entire group prayed together for an end to the coronavirus and safety for all of us and our friends and family. And we prayed a special intention of healing for one of the Divas. This small gesture made my evening and reinforced why I was so to be back together with this group.

When we talked about what to do next month, we were all in agreement that regardless of what the “state” decides to do, we would do this again. Outdoors. It sounds like a great plan, but we still have the restroom issue. We’ll address it the way we’re used to. Hold it!

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