Hiding Behind My Keyboard

It’s been way too hot to take Izzy eating. We learned that when we went to review Sarasota’s #1 pizza. Today’s not too bad except for the off-and-on drizzle. It’s not a good day to take my favorite canine out, though, since loud noises scare her so much and you never know where the fireworks are on the Fourth of July.

The pizza review never saw the light of day. It was a good pizza, don’t get me wrong. I’d eaten at the restaurant before when I used to work in the neighborhood. The food is terrific. The parking lot leaves a bit to be desired. The one table where Izzy might have eaten in the 90+ degree heat had an umbrella but was on a little corner of concrete jutting out at the end of the parking lot. Poor girl stayed inside the locked and running van while our pizza was cooked. We raced home to eat it. Izzy got more than I wanted to give up.

Giving up was not what we wanted to do with “Eating With Izzy.” Right now the plan is to resurrect the column when the weather cools off. We could feature a recipe eaten with Izzy once a month as a preview of an upcoming cookbook but that might compromise copyright with a publisher. I could take myself out for a meal and actually give the doggy bag to the dog and write restaurant reviews that way. I could beg off for most of the rest of hurricane season. Begging off doesn’t feel right.

I have been writing, though, and writing every day. Just this morning I finished an essay that, like most of my recent writing, won’t make me any money. Though I always caution new writers never to write for free, most of those cautions are posted on a volunteer message board. Go figure. The essay contest I just entered is taking me far from attempting to make a local name as a foodie. An international foodie name fits just fine.