This past month my life has accelerated with activities and outings to pretty much match my pre-pandemic levels. My husband and I dined at a couple of our favorite local restaurants that we have not visited for more than two years, and we also took in another play as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the last concert of the year at the Britt Festival.

In the past when we were celebrating a special event, our go-to fine dining restaurant locally was Gogi’s, in Jacksonville. Chef/owner Gabriel closed down the restaurant for much of the past two years but recently quietly reopened, and we knew we had to book a table for our 41st wedding anniversary. In the intervening months the intimate dining room was refreshed, but the service and the food was, as always, excellent. Along with the warm, house-made sourdough bread and addictive basil pistou, we received the chef’s complimentary tuna tartare amuse bouche, cupped in a shortbread-like crust and brightened with lemon. Harry then moved on to a creamy, savory tomato soup while I opted for the butter lettuce salad with fresh pear, shaved cured egg yolk and crispy panchetta with a lemon vinaigrette. It was a slightly different version of the former salad served here but was just as satisfying. Our entrées followed, a cider-brined pork chop served with smoked cheddar polenta and a pomegranate pan sauce (which nicely balanced the richness of the meat) for me and pan-seared salmon served with lemon-roasted potatoes and a salsa verde for Harry. We enjoyed a lovely bottle of a 2011 Corliss red blend from our home cellar and topped the meal off with a light and refreshing pavlova with fresh berries for dessert. We left so happy to be able to enjoy this favorite spot on a special evening once more.

Soon after, we visited another, more casual restaurant we’ve enjoyed in the past, Masala Bistro & Bar in Ashland. The scent of spices greets you the moment you come through the door, a promise of the delicious food to come. We like to order the Decide Your Karma Thali (“thali” being a selection of small dishes), where in addition to basmati rice, roti (a flatbread) and dipping sauces, one chooses two entrées to sample. We both opted for the lamb marsala, while Harry chose the butter chicken and I tried the coconut tofu curry. I appreciated the unique and tasty combinations of spices in each dish, no one overpowering the others and without too much heat to wipe out your tastebuds.

From there we headed up the hill to the Thomas Theater at OSF to see Confederates, a West Coast premiere production and one of the commissioned plays in the United States History Cycle, which examines moments of change in U.S. history. The action of the play swings between Sara, an enslaved woman during the Civil War, and Sandra, a tenured professor in a modern private university, in an examination of the complexities and challenges Black women have faced in every era. It was a powerful and thought-provoking performance, and it made us thankful that we are once again able to experience such world-class theater so close to home.

Over the years we’ve also enjoyed great musical acts at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, which features a lovely outdoor amphitheater and covers a wide range of genres throughout the summer months. We attended Celebrating Billy Joel, a tribute to the Piano Man and his music, the last concert in the 2022 season. It was Sept. 11, and the concert opened without explanation or comment with an elegiac performance of “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” as still photos of the city were projected on a screen at the back of the stage. Joel wrote the song in 1976, when New York City was on the verge of default, but he also played it at Madison Square Garden one month after 9/11 in the Concert for New York City. It was a bit of a somber but very fitting way to begin the show, but from there it was mostly upbeat and a lot of fun, with the audience often singing along to Joel’s iconic tunes.

Two Brits, Rob Stringer and Alex Dee, took turns singing the lead vocals and playing keyboards, backed by really talented musicians. We were especially impressed by Rhiannon Dewey, a young woman who really did justice to the great saxophone riffs sprinkled throughout those great songs. They made the music their own without straying far from the arrangements we love. It was a great way to wrap up our summer of jumping back into a full social life.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor