Last night’s meal at the Walla Walla Steakhouse ended on the perfect note. We enjoyed our favorite dessert – Bananas Foster. It’s an after dinner tradition that we started over 20-years ago at Brennan’s in New Orleans where the dish originated. It’s prepared table-side, but during the last three months of isolation there’s been no table service at all. Most of our out-of-home dining has been to-go, so Bananas Foster was a long awaited treat. 

Our last bites of Banana Foster were at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa on New Year’s Eve. Little did we know at that time how much things would change in the world. In fact, we were a group of six last night that by social distancing laws had to be divided into two tables. The same was true with all our tasting sessions. It was odd having to rotate our seats so we could have an all-inclusive conversation. We have been planning this Walla-Walla get together for over two years now and finally made it despite the challenges.

My wife and I have a full day of Walla Walla tastings today before we head to Spokane. It’s our third day of the drive that will ultimately take us to Glacier National Park. This morning I ran past the sun and eight planets of our solar system on a path laid out in perspective to their actual distances apart. It was a little more than a mile from the sun to Neptune, just beyond Uranus (not mine, ha!). When I was in school, we were taught there were nine planets including Pluto – but that has changed, along with the number of people that can legally sit at a table. It was a good way to run-off some of the calories from the Bananas Foster.