Bookbinders

Friday 9 January

On Friday we went out to a dinner in honor of Barbara's old excavation director at Sardis. It was at Bookbinders (old, original), and was amazingly elaborate - there were huge platters of every kind of cold seafood appetizer, including lobster, huge shrimp, both lump crab and claws, and raw oysters and clams. We didn't want to be too rude about gobbling, but we managed to polish off just about all the shellfish we wanted, which is rare, as we just love that stuff. For some bizarre reason the people at the center of the table kept falling down on the job, and we were forced to hint that if they weren't planning on eating that mussel there were those that would.
We had a fine seared tuna and grouper, which were nearly superfluous at that point. Our glasses seemed to replenish themselves of their own accord and a fine cognac followed. We dined like Lydians, and them boys knew from food.