My birthday dinner at Chez Panisse

"The American life-style is non-negotiable," said George H.W. Bush -- and then he and his sons almost immediately proceeded to negotiate away as much of it as they possibly could to bankers, tycoons, weapons manufacturers, lobbyists and Congressmen on the take.

And not only was the Bush family's and the corporatists' enthusiastic deregulation of our public safety guarantees and the wholesale looting of our treasury a huge threat to the American life-style, that but when our oil runs out in a few years, we can forget that life-style completely! According to James Howard Kunstler's book "The Long Emergency," in less years than we would like, we'll all be back to living like the Amish.

But there is one part of the American life-style that I absolutely refuse to negotiate until I absolutely positively have to -- my yearly birthday dinner at Chez Panisse. Even if I have to scrimp and save all year long, even if I have to beg my grown children to treat me, I'm going! Nothing makes getting older more bearable than having a birthday dinner at Chez Panisse.

I can't find the fancy little souvenir menu they gave me which says exactly what me and my son Joe ate, but I can still (vividly!) remember most of it anyway. Salmon carpaccio, rack of lamb and cherry pie. Plus I took plenty of photos. Here they are.