Stella came as a flash of hope at the lowest time of my life. Having lost every penny I ever had, A beautiful home in Mandeville Canyon, a forty-six-foot trawler twin caterpillar engine, added to the loot a nice stuffy bank account and a smashing restaurant in West Los Angeles. How can you lose so quickly and so much dough in such a short time? Aliens came and made me do it? The stock market crashed? Someone forced me to invest in some crackpot venture in Brazil?
Something much easier, my own stupidity. No one else to blame, only me. Thanks to my Dulcinea’s quick thinking and savvy, she got us a job to work with the Crazy Rich and Famous. A cooking job, for me, having been a restaurant owner of the most successful restaurant in Los Angeles in the eighties, it was an easy move. It was easier still for Stella, a full-fledged chef, with very upstanding testimonials. Our five-year stint in a world we knew well before losing our fortune was such an awakening on what life can be with money up the wazoo. I never thought I had any talent to be a writer until I started a journal to keep track of those incredible stories, which only happen in a movie.
Joining a writers group in Acton allowed us to improve our writing, and then a novel took shape based on those five unforgettable years. Cooking for the super-rich was an experience I could have never had if, through a mishap, I lost my fortune. I have no regrets about my share of happiness with Stella; we live a peaceful life in France. We keep on writing about food, wine tastings, herbs, coffees, and anything related to a good life. We have started a sequel to our series, “The Last Drop,” a story about rare bottles of wine, worth a small fortune.
