#51 Reflections: On Food, Wine & Friendship

Unforgettable meals at sea-level and at 11,000 feet.

Glen Gormezano, Masae Kawamura, their son, Aki (best man) and their younger son, Koji (groom) on the sand looking out toward the Atlantic Ocean.

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Our friends, Glen Gormezano and Masae Kawamura, invited Diana and me to the wedding of their younger son, Koji, on Long Island. We went last week.

I met Glen 43 years ago when I was living in California. We were all young. He lived in a house on the Stanford University campus with seven other people some of whom were foodies at a time when foodie culture was ascendant there.

The foodies in that house decided they would put on dinners for their friends. The point was to feed us fine food and wine. Nothing was off-limits.

It wasn’t free. To attend, all you needed to do was be invited; kick in $20 on Monday; and show up on a Saturday for a meal that went on well past midnight. I had never eaten so well in my life.

That was when, for me, food and wine became a constant.

Glen was one of the foodies, and every five years or so, for the next 43 years, he and I have re-connected, as we have married, as our children have been born and as we have aged.

And food and wine have remained the constant. So many times, over meals. Often simple meals. Always hand-made.

In Substack #40. I described a 1989 late-harvest Gewürztraminer with blue cheese at the end of a meal. That was at Glen and Masae’s house. Just wine and cheese. Unforgettable.

But it was not always extravagant food and wine. Not at all. On this one occasion, Masae made a meal so simple, so timely, it might have saved our lives.

In July 2005, from left: Aki Gormezano (best man at wedding), Nick Murray and Claire Murray (my kids, twins;) Masae with hands on knees; me, Koji (groom) and Glen posing at Bishop’s Pass, 11,972 feet, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

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That morning in 2005, we had left Glen and Masae’s house at sea-level in the Bay Area and drove toward the Sierra Nevada Mountains to trailhead at an elevation of 8,500 feet. At 3 PM that same day, we arrived to start the hike. Having started the day at sea-level, we were clearly not acclimated to that altitude. But we started to climb anyway.

We climbed 3,500 more feet to Bishops Pass at 11,972 feet and took a quick picture. We were hurting. Hiking further, we arrived at our campsite around 7:30 PM, all suffering from the climb and severe altitude sickness.

In pain, we pitched our tents, lay down inside and attempted to recover.

Someone was active in campsite outside our tent, but we were too tired to pay much attention.

After 30 minutes, someone unzipped the flap to our tent and came inside with a cup of rice and broth for each of us. It was Masae. She had started with us, and she had climbed alongside us up from 8,500 feet. But she did not collapse the way we did when we made camp She started the stove, boiled the water, made the rice and added the broth so there was enough for everyone.

No, we had not donated $20 at the beginning of the week to sit down to a miraculous meal for the coming Saturday. Masae had made and delivered simple, re-hydrated rice and broth. It was as delicious and memorable as any me that had come before.

Diana and I were very lucky to be able to attend Koji’s wedding on Long Island and spend time with Glen and Masae and their friends. Thank you both. Your friendship, enjoyed over food and wine, at sea-level and 11,000 feet higher, means so very, very much to us.