A Great Day in Easton

Saturday, December 1-Up and out by 7 to help Historical Society Curator with the Garden Club Green Sale at the old railroad station. Helping consisted mostly of staying out of the way of the Garden Club members and waiting for the chance to buy some Christmas wreaths. This show has been going on for years, and its hard to beat this example of "enlightened self-interest." Club members cut their greens just days before the sale guaranteeing a long lasting wreath at the best price around. That's the self-interest part, the enlightened part is supporting the Garden Club which is one the most active and effective community organizations around. Most of the money we donate goes back to beautifying the town. The Green Sale is over but you can help out the Garden Club by visiting the Festival of Trees at Queset House this week. This is the second annual event with more than fifty decorated trees on display and available for you to buy a chance on. The Festival of Trees is open from noon until 8 today as part of the Lions Holiday Festival and from 4-8 pm during the week before extended hours next Saturday.

Aristotle recognized three kinds of friendship. His most interesting category was "friendship of utility." This was the friendship that is based on a mutual business interest-like that between a shopkeeper and his "regulars." In our Walmart society it's hard to get people to understand this kind of friendship-who gets to build a relationship with a salesperson these days? Well, you can find out at the indoor Farmers Market at Simpson Springs every Saturday from 10-2 where a real community is building between shoppers and sales people. Frankly, I'm doing most of my food shopping at the market where I can buy from people I know I can trust to give me great quality fish, meat, cheese, vegetables, eggs, pickles, chocolate, coffee, and baked goods. Farmer's Market is becoming a misnomer as the market adds cosmetics, jewelers, painted scarfs, and chocolate to go along with the best food around. Yesterday Selectman Colleen Corona turned photographer and shot a lot of pictures that will be on the town's Facebook page. That's the Facebook page that brought me back to social media--an definitely worth a look.

Hopefully, uploading photos kept Ms. Corona occupied long enough for me to beat her to Easton's newest restaurant. This is an ongoing competition that usually involves me walking into a new spot in the area to find the Corona family sitting at a table. Not Just Thaboule opened yesterday in the Center Street location formerly occupied by the late lamented Soups on Center. The new food spot is the idea of the owners of The Pub in Brockton which has been serving Lebanese food for thirty years. The Easton menu mixes Lebanese specialties with typically American sandwiches like grilled cheese, tuna melt, and turkey at reasonable prices. I stopped by last night and went with two Middle Eastern dishes. The first was stuffed grape leaves, something I don't usually like. It's too easy to get overly lemony or sour tasting grape leaves stuffed with rice and very little meat. I figured this would be a good test of the new restaurant. I ordered an appetizer size portion-6 leaves for $6.95 and they heated they up for me to take home. They were amazing-lots of flavorful ground beef mixed in with the rice in fresh tasting and tender leaves. Each stuffed roll was about twice as big as normally seen in things like the Mazza Plate in other Easton restaurants. Four made a filling supper for me and I finished the other two, heated in the microwave, for breakfast this morning. I also bought a pint of Baba Ganooze to take home. I first tasted this smoked eggplant dip at The Pub thirty years ago and wondered if it still tasted as good. In recent years I've been getting my fix from Athena International Foods just down the street from Gerry's Farm in Brockton, but I find their Baba to be overly smoky. Not Just Taboule does it right-a delicious healthy spread or dip for parties or a wonderful change for a quick sandwich-the taste has just the right amount of smoke to liven the taste and surprisingly it is not overly pureed to a mush like consistency. We all know the track record for restaurants in this spot-parking for this strictly take out place is sometimes a hassle (hint-park on the side), but if the whole menu is as good as what I tasted it should be worth a momentary delay in getting back on Center Street. Give it a try-Eastoners can't lament the lack of restaurants in town and then not support the ones we have!

Back to the Historical Society today for more sales of our new Christmas ornament that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Town Offices with a full color ornament of Wayside. Over the years I have done a lot for the Historical Society-tours, writing, etc.. Chances are, though, I'll be remembered as the guy that donated the antenna that allows our big screen TV to play the Patriot's games. Yup, you can visit our museum, Christmas shop, and not miss a single play of the game. It sure beats a DVD of a burning Yule log!