Yenta Tanja

Lately, I have been moonlighting as a matchmaker. I have been moderately successful or, to say it in corporate speak, I’ve had some successful failures. I have learned from my mistakes and my disappointing master plans. Matchmaking is not an easy job. It’s like finding a missing sock. You know it’s somewhere out there and good luck finding it. But I am resilient. In San Francisco, love is in the air. It’s in the fog, it’s in the sun, it’s in the local organic produce and it’s certainly in other people’s smiles. It’s in the tattoos and the fedoras and in the late-night poetry readings at Virachoa on Valencia Street. It’s like some air-borne virus. If you know what it is and you have tasted it, you want to pass it on. And that’s exactly what I am trying to do.

Tonight, I am cooking Jerusalem artichoke risotto for two single lesbian friends, because yes, your Yenta became a vegan. Also out of love. Love for the animals, the planet, and her own health. And mainly out of a well-trained sense of guilt, now fittingly triggered by Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Eating Animals” and Robert Kenner’s “Food Inc.” Luckily, vegan gluten-free food can be delicious. You don’t have to be a bra-less communist feminist from the 70’s to be a good vegan. Today, I am launching it as the new big thing for corporate attorneys. Vegetables are the new meat. It’s hip and we know it. Also, I read somewhere that artichokes may be an aphrodisiac. That’s much better than red meat which makes you aggressive. Let’s see tonight if it takes.

My two friends don’t know each other. I’ll introduce them tonight and I am already excited for them. I think they would make a great couple. They have so much in common. And they may be each other’s type. I am already dreaming of their wedding party. Let’s hope they do a destination wedding; I have always wanted to attend a wedding at the beach. But of course, we’d first need the right to get legally married.