For the size of city that Boise is, the art and culture offerings never cease to amaze me. And it’s not just that there’s quantity – there’s definitely quality. The Idaho Shakespeare Festival presents live theater in the most gorgeous setting under the stars all summer. Trey McIntyre chose Boise not only for his home but also for his amazingly talented dance troupe. And The Cabin promotes the love of all things reading and writing including a series called Readings & Conversations where they bring four nationally known authors to the City of Trees for an evening of inspiration. I’m a long time season ticket holder and while some years I sublet them out to friends that have much more time to keep up their reading than I do, this year I saw the name that had me reclaiming those tickets with lightening speed.

Ruth Reichl.

If you have read my blog before, you may know that I’m a huge Top Chef fan. If there was a Comic Con for foodies, I’m sure I would buy tickets at first chance. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that’s exactly what the National Restaurant Association show held each May in Chicago exactly is, explaining why I have been there the last two years and why I am already dreaming about it for next. I could care less about meeting Brad Pitt or Jude Law but put a celebrity from the food industry in front of me and I am star struck.

So there was no doubt I was going to hear Ms Reichl speak but my wonderful husband took it up a notch when he secured tickets to have dinner with her before the show. The night of the event was our second wedding anniversary and he knew there would be no better gift for his foodcentric wife.

For Ruth’s (we’ve met so I can call her by her first name now, right) first visit to Idaho, I was glad to see a menu that celebrates all the wonderful products produced in the area – fruit, eggs, veggies, meat and, of course, potatoes! Also wonderful to see was the collaboration of local chef talent.

And what is the perfect accompaniment to all this great local food? Local wine, of course, and from one of my favorites – Cinder Winery.

After dinner, we moved into the auditorium and took our seats. Ms Reichl spoke about the history of food writing which was all fine and good but the best was the Q&A session afterwards where we heard more about her days at Gourmet, as a food critic for the New York Times, as judge on Top Chef Masters and that of all things, she doesn’t like honey.

Yep… it was a great anniversary and a great day. But I’m pretty much thinking any day I meet Ruth Reichl is a great day.

Honey – this is going to be a tough one to top for our next anniversary. I know it’s a year away, but you might want to start figuring out how to get Fabio Viviani to Boise. Just sayin’.