The First Last Meal: Part Two – What Fireside Village confirmed as conviction

Fireside Village - Hat Creek, CA - prior to last weekend.

As I mentioned in part one, inspiration for this new blog came while at Beasy’s in Ashland, Oregon. But I would have procrastinated, and perhaps convinced myself that there were plenty of other food/restaurant blogs out there. But that changed. Here’s how.

On our last trip to watch the Giants play baseball, my mother donated two dining chairs for our Hospice’s annual “Chair-ity Auction.” They needed a little regluing, and the pressed-image leatherette insert on the seat was in need of either refurbishment or replacement. They rode well in the back of our Saturn Vue, and found a temporary resting place in the corner of our guest room until I could round up the appropriate craftsmen to enhance them. I was prepared to procrastinate until much closer to the date of the auction, but through the attentions of some of our Hospice volunteers, in short order the chairs were cleaned up, strengthened, and ready for new tooled-leather inserts. I was excited enough by their collective enthusiasm that I called the leather-smith they’d recommended, and was at his shop that afternoon.

After last weekend.

I still nearly managed to procrastinate, though. As we looked through the various designs he had used before (literally hundreds), the craftsman seemed hesitant to suggest what might best represent the Burney Basin and the Fall River Valley on the respective chairs. I offered that I could put together a design for each, at some point. But I also wondered aloud about the fishing more prevalent on Burney’s end of the Intermountain Area and the geese whose flyway brought them in waves of species through the Fall River Valley. Five minutes later, my host had two designs in front of me, and we’d agreed that if I’d cover materials, he’d donate the labor.

His enthusiasm resulted in two twelve-inch leather squares of 9 ounce saddle leather, tooled with the images we’d discussed, and ready to be picked up just two days later.

And, yet again, I nearly procrastinated. A full afternoon of counseling awaited me in Burney that Wednesday. A trip out to Hat Creek was only marginally “on the way.” (It’s about a ten minute detour out there, ten minutes back, but I knew we’d visit a bit, too.) But I went there first. Thankfully.

But unfortunately, I still managed to procrastinate on one count.

The Restaurant at Fireside Village

You see, when I’d asked for direction to Jack Garner’s shop, he pointed out that it was at Fireside Village, “the only A-Frame restaurant in downtown Hat Creek.” Of course, there are no other restaurants, and there isn’t, in fact, anything that would suggest there is a “downtown” along the shores of the Hat Creek. But there I was. And exiting the shop, tooled-leather seat inserts in hand, I looked across at the restaurant, intrigued by it’s shape, it’s view, and what I imagined would be simple food done well.

I’ll never know whether those imaginations were accurate or not. I’d made a mental note to drive out to Hat Creek again sometime, just to have a meal with my wife at the only A-frame restaurant in downtown Hat Creek. But today, whatever “downtown” there may have been is gone. The photos you see here are of what used to be Fireside Village, destroyed in the spread of the U.S. Forest Service’s “Eiler” wildfire this past weekend.

The store & Jack's shop at Fireside Village

Now, I admit to a certain carefulness about what I choose to consume. I am a fifty-three year old diabetic carrying about eighty-five pounds more than I’d like. (That’s down from over a hundred and twenty extra pounds, but it still requires significant diligence not to go the other direction again.) But I still stand by my decision to set as the theme of this blog, “Eat well; eat now.” Because when you decide to go back again to try it, it may prove to be worth the effort, just like Beasy’s proved to be. Or it just might be gone forever, just as I fear Fireside Village may be. So…

Eat well; eat now.