CLAMS CASINO at the OAK ROOM

Last week I bought a package of frozen Clams Casino.

Unfroze three.

Ate.

Hmm? . . . Not like I remember.

Oh, but look, they are stuffed in real shells.

I save them.

In three days I microwave three more.

Still not like I remember—like the one’s

I ordered on my first trip to NYC.

I Googled clams casino and copied off a recipe.

Today I have let the last four thaw out,

have added fresh thyme, a bit more garlic

and a teaspoon of butter.

Now I’m re-stuffing them!

The story behind the Clams Casino

I’d dreamed of going to NYC my entire life.

That first evening, my friend Virginia and I

walked from 29th Street to the Plaza at 59th Street.

"What should I get?" I asked when I saw

the Oak Room menu.

"Clams Casino," she said.

We had whiskey sours and Clams Casino

 at the Oak Room.

After we finished we walked a few blocks,

as I gazed at all the Broadway lights,

just in Heaven.

A young man approached us with tickets

to the Joffrey Ballet. $15 each.

We sat in the balcony and had a

fabulous night to remember.

And while these new re-stuffed clams

were broiling in the toaster oven,

I created a song on the keyboard.

Recorded it in One Take.

Not a great song,

but, hey!  carpé diem 

Seize the nostalgic moment with a saxophone,

choose the “‘70s glamour piano ballad style”

add a little trumpet, too.

Just play whatever comes . . . about

the sad/happy 

remembrance of a time past.

I guess the lesson here is that

you can re-stuff packaged clams

and re-mix the past and present

on a keyboard and create something new

to listen to while you savor the delicious

new clam hors d’oeuvres and remember the

Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel

on a Sunday night 

in November of 1984.

~~~

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