Our regularly scheduled Thursday morning meeting was held on Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. in downtown Santa Rosa at Gerard’s Paella on 4th Street (in the old Arrigoni’s Deli). Gerard has been a speaker at our club (February 2019) and even hinted at his interest in joining the club ‘one of these days.’ We may even see him next week according to my sources. This was the rare Rotary meeting in which no one said a word about any of the usual Rotary stuff! (Maybe because the current president and the next two presidents weren’t in attendance, although I’m told that all had good cause for not appearing).
This “meeting” was all about food, drink and socializing. Kent opened the festivities thanking us for attending and supporting Gerard, Lizzie likewise said a few words, and we even heard from Gerard. He talked about the difficulty operating a restaurant in downtown Santa Rosa but pledged that he’ll reopen somewhere else in the County soon and will continue with multiple events and pop-up dinners in the area. He thanked us for supporting him and mentioned that it meant a lot to him! Now to the food! We were served a couple of delightful tapas before dinner, including a shrimp (gambas) tapa.
The main meal was one of three paellas; chicken/chorizo, vegetarian, and seafood (I didn’t get the name, but I think the seafood was the Pescador). One of the meals was nearly all black from the squid's ink! We had a great turnout, with approximately 50 attendees, about half of whom were club members, so there were many spouses or significant others in attendance.
Also in attendance was our newest almost member, Lori Rodrigues, whose application is now pending before the highly rigorous, FBI-level, Investigations Subcommittee (see Marty’s email from 3/1/2020). Welcome Lori!
Thank you to all who attended the “meeting” and thank you for keeping it social and super-fun!
