Yesterday’s treat was actually a double treat. Not only did I have a lobster roll at the Winthrop Congregational Church Fair/Luncheon, but I also, by chance, met my friend Debbie Maddi. Her husband, like my husband, had elected to stay home. Fair/Luncheon events are not the sort of things most husbands like to attend, which meant both Debbie and I were on our own. It was a happy coincidence that we just happened to arrive at the fair at the same time, and it took only a matter of seconds before we decided to have lunch together.

The basement of the Congregational Church was divided between fair tables and lunch tables. The latter had checked table clothes, and the room was full of people either eating or shopping. Each table had a little menu, which included lasagna and, most important, lobster rolls.

I am a lobster roll enthusiast, and I can never eat too many of them. Summer, winter, fall, and spring. All are a good time for a lobster roll. The best ones have chunks of lobster just barely held together with mayonnaise, but lobster salad, made with more mayonnaise, is perfectly acceptable, too. Not surprisingly, the Congregational Church lobster rolls were made from lobster salad. No complaints from me, and more than worth the $6 for the plate, which included chips and homemade pickles.

As we ate, Debbie and I chatted about books, family, and breast cancer. When she heard I was heading down the homestretch with treatment, she generously paid for my lunch.

“To celebrate,” she said.

Yes, to celebrate!

After lunch, we poked around the fair, where I resisted the impulse to buy a lovely old blue and white porcelain serving dish, complete with lid. Dishes are one of my many weaknesses—I suppose this makes perfect sense, given my obsession with food—and our little house is overflowing with dishes, old and new.

Then Debbie and I walked around Winthrop, stopping in at the Bailey Public Library, which was having an open house. Shane, one of the librarians, was working at the front desk, and he just happens to be the leader of the library’s book group, to which I belong.  Book group is coming right up—December 15—and we couldn’t help discussing, just a little, the book we’re reading—Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. (I’m looking forward to hearing about what others in the group think of this fascinating but flawed novel.)

So I guess really it was an afternoon of triple treats—meeting Debbie, the lobster roll, and then talking with Shane at the library.