Dining and Driving with Cats: Alice Unplugged
Dining and Driving with Cats: Alice Unplugged
Overview
Dining and Driving With Cats - Alice Unplugged is a heartwarming and beguiling adventure of a couple who shares a love that most of us only imagine. Pat Patterson is a born storyteller and makes readers feel as if they are part of the road trip. This book is as much a story of sweet devotion as it is an exquisite example of discovering life's hidden joys in the smallest of everyday experiences. Not since Michael Ondaatje’s hypnotic voice in The English Patient has a book spoken with such an allure for the reader. You might even spot a bit of Irish in the author and his spouse's detailed arguments comparing a dish from one restaurant to the same of another restaurant.
They, along with the cats, dine frequently during a sometimes hilarious but always romantic auto trip across the South. As the miles flip the odometer, we are given insight into how this unusual relationship between the couple came to be, evolved, and gradually, at the end revealed in a secret you didn’t see coming. What, you say? There is a twist in a dining dialogue? Yes! And you’ll just have to read it for yourself–no spoilers here. Dialogue is so natural between the two; you’ll swear he recorded the entire trip. Alice is revealed in the first pages as a real life brainy, successful business woman enjoying life in San Miguel de Allende a small cathedral town high in the Central Mexican foothills. For over thirty years she lived in Washington D.C.. When she was fresh out of grad school and managing her firm’s D.C. office she captured the heart of a young man who came in from the rain. He fell hard. He pursued her. She said no –she told him she had cats. What she didn’t tell him was that she also had a secret. Over thirty years have passed since Alice revealed her secret. The young man is no longer young but he still pursues her. She calls him hubby. This is their story of a shared love for travel and history, for food and for their sweet and wily cats Munchie and Tuffy.
You might also say the book is unusual in that it totally engages the reader from the first page without a hint of violence, bloodshed, graphic sex, drugs or language. The author's main character (besides the two cats) Alice, does say "you bastards" once. Alice is supremely self-confident and comfortable in her own skin as we learn early on when she promises the author a vehicle of his dreams if he will join her in a multi-state road trip from Mexico across the South and help wrangle two cats into restaurants, diners, cafes and hotels. He expects to find a Suburban or maybe an Escalade in the drive. Alice surprises with a Japanese sub-compact - a Honda Fit. She says it's "flexible". They drive - Scott La. & the Boudin War. They dine - New Orleans at Gautreau's, Clancy's, and Herbsaint. They laugh - the Carousel Bar. They cry - tragic death. If you come along on this moveable feast you will find yourself caught up in a romantic love story that involves the Other Woman and a secret that Alice cannot keep. You will dine on scrumptious creations from America’s most acclaimed chefs from Austin and New Orleans to the Procope and Odeon Relais at Buci Market in Paris. Along the way you will laugh at cats stuck in boxes, fight with a Pirate, terrify a US Vice-President, discover cat smuggling, and learn how the Other Woman persuaded Alice to accept the author's ring. So what’s keeping you? Hop in ‘cause these cats don’t bite. Besides, “The Get In Here and Eat” pop-up food truck is waiting just up the Austin highway.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940154075289 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Pat Patterson |
| Publication date: | 06/30/2017 |
| Sold by: | Smashwords |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
I was raised in the South by a pack of wolves - good wolves with a pack leader and lifetime mate that protected the young and taught the three male pups how to survive in a chaotic world without losing the gift of kindness and love for fellow wolves. My love for writing started with a gift from my father. Entering high school he gave me a Norman Mailer war story titled "The Naked and the Dead". For the first time I realized the writer could own the true world and the fictional world in the same story. From that time on writing came easy for me. In high school I wrote a weekly humor column for our newspaper. In college at Chapel Hill my freshman short story about a talking horse who gave advice to world leaders (my version of Mr. Ed) got me an invite to the Thomas Wolfe Creative Writing program. Two years in this program taught me the value of reading other people’s works and developing a critical eye. Upon graduation from University I was invited to join the US Army where I spent three years and served as a Lieutenant in the Field Artillery on the DMZ in Korea during the Vietnam War. After release from service I proceeded to Graduate School for my MBA and fell headlong into the computer trap. My years in the computer industry span the lengthy period from the day Jobs introduced the Lisa computer until Zuckerberg announced his IPO for Facebook. My "541" patent is industry famous as the iTunes Patent that was licensed by Steve Jobs for Apple's iTunes. During my career years I never stopped creative writing. An early cold-war espionage thriller garnered a call from an Editor at a Harcourt imprint in New York. This was my introduction to book editors. The Editor loved my writing but hated my story. I decided the only way that I could write and keep my story as my story was if I could afford to be independent. During the following years I continued to write for my own pleasure while I built an enviable career in the computer software industry. My favorite unpublished work is titled "Stealing Blake" which I spent the better part of twenty-four years composing and rewriting. Maybe I will revisit that one after I finish Alice’s story. It started with a love letter. Alice was my rock - my confidant and she never found me wanting. We took a trip. We took cats. There were a lot of surprises. I decided our trip called for a love letter. After fifteen pages I realized I couldn’t stop without telling it all to Alice. Now two years later Alice can read the first installment in "Dining and Driving with Cats - Alice Unplugged".
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE PLAN
Alice Draws a Route
Lupita Educates Alice
The Great Compromise
The First Big Surprise
America the Delicious
“Are Those Mexican Cats?”
CHAPTER 2: FIRST STOP: AUSTIN
Pop-Up Nirvana at Garbo’s
Texas Tower as History
Pigs Ears, and Bacon Root Beer Floats
Cats Hate Leftovers
The Road to Java
Cat Scares, Capitols, and Hotels
It’s Always Bigger in Texas: The State Capitol
Next Stop: Driskill
Monte Cristos in Paris
Finding Heaven in a Little Dish at Lenoir
Bring a Cat to Dinner
CHAPTER 3: BIGLIG AND THE SECRET RECIPE
A Change of Plans: Houston Detour
A Little Boy and BigLig
Enter the Italian
The Secret Recipe of How to Make a Child Smile
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
Char-Grilled Sprouts
Dinner, Continued
CHAPTER 4 BEAUMONT, BABE, AND BOUDIN
Gusher that Changed the World
Next Stop: Mildred Ella
CHAPTER 5: BOUDIN WARS
Munchie and the iPad
The Road to Billy’s Boudin
Boudin Wars
CHAPTER 6: OUR FIRST KISS
A Cat’s Primary Mission
Finding Alice
Alice Has a Spy
The Other Woman
A Night to Remember
No Cats Allowed
CHAPTER 7: DINNER WITH THE KING
Ralph and Kacoo’s
Dining with Pictures
Clifton’s Zydeco
Two Cheniers
CHAPTER 8: SAINTS & CATS IN NOLA
Cat Claws
Baton Rouge Surprise
Monteleone or Bust
The Great Cat Caper
Ride the Carousel
Eulogy for a Cat
A Meal Too Far
CHAPTER 9: A DINNER TO REMEMBER
Breaking Bread at Gautreau’s
Alice Has a Nose for Greens
The Secret of Life
Alice Discovers Grandma’s Chicken
Return to Tuffy
CHAPTER 10: BATTLEFIELDS AND PIRATES
Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Sorta
Johnny Horton Sings a Tune
Jefferson Buys a Bridge
‘Second’ to a Pirate
A Pirate Victory
CHAPTER 11: CHURROS AND SMART CASUAL
Telenovela Beauty
Alice Makes her Mark
Clancy’s vs RTs
Celebrity Diners at RT’s
OJ Meets the President
CHAPTER 12: ALICE TELLS ALL
Marge’s Gift from Scottie
The Three Little Pigs and The Eagles
Alice Tells All