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  Home Page » Features » Columnists » Neighbors » The Hayeses Wish Their Guests Bon Appetit

The Hayeses wish their guests 'Bon Appétit'

by Ann Butler
Neighbors

Time after time, organization after organization, auction after auction, dinners with one theme or another are offered for bidding.

I have sat with groups that marveled at how much money folks were willing to pay for the meals, which range from a taco party with a frozen margarita machine for 25 to gourmet multicourse Italian, French, Moroccan, Asian fusion, Turkish, you name it ... repasts for six or eight.

Well, after you read this story, youÂ?ll be enthusiastically raising your hand, too. Don and Judy Hayes donated a Dinner in Provence at their home at an auction at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango.

After three years of sprucing up their buildings, the fellowship was looking for funds to complete a charming landscaping plan, and the fundraiser brought in $11,000 that made a big difference.

The Hayeses have a reputation as gourmet cooks, so the bidding was lively, to say the least. Four couples ended up the winners Â? John and Aline Schwob, Eb and Kathy Redford, Ken and Lois Carpenter and Dwight and Katherine Burgess.

They had expected the Hayeses to join them at the table and were surprised to find their hosts in white jackets and toques prepared to create a memorable dining experience. Their daughter, Elizabeth Capdevila, came down from Denver to serve as the sous chef, and brought a number of hard-to-find ingredients with her. Both Don Hayes and Capdevila are graduates of Olga ManguinÂ?s French Cooking School in Avignon.

So hereÂ?s the meal the Schwobs, Redfords, Carpenters and Burgesses enjoyed:

The first course was a choice of foie gras with fresh figs (IÂ?m guessing those came from Denver) or smoked white fish with olive tapenade. The course was served with a 2003 Chateau La Tour sauterne. (Oh, did I forget to mention the Hayes clan selected superb wines to accompany the feast?)

After a rich lobster bisque paired with a 2007 Rombauer chardonnay for the fish course, the entrée was an unforgettable roasted quail in a baked pear with a bourbon-tarragon-mustard glaze served with wild rice and haricots verts (aka green beans, but so much yummier en françis) with an Angeline pinot noir from 2007.

After a salad course Â? butter lettuce with French dressing Â? it was time for the cheese course, Morbier, Forme dÂ?amber and St. André triple crème served with a 2007 Schmitt Sohen Riesling. One might assume the guests would be sated at this point, but no French meal would be complete without a sinful, decadent, utterly scrumptious dessert.

In this case, it was a chocolate gateau with crème fraîche and fresh raspberries paired with a 2006 Easton late harvest Zinfandel. Done yet? Not quite. The guests adjourned to the fire outside the Hayeses� Shenandoah home for espresso, cognac and cigars. (Well, not everyone partook of the cigars.)

The meal also was the leisurely kind of experience the French have mastered. While they were seated shortly after 6 p.m., they didnÂ?t leave the table until almost 10 p.m.

The travelers among the group declared the service a three-star experience and the meal worthy of at least two Michelin stars.

I only have one question: Where was my invitation?

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Happy Libra birthday greetings go out to Roy McLaughlin, Andrew Ferguson, Travis Dalenberg, Ashleigh Glenn, ShannonKunkel, Toby Ariel Mary Lawson, Emily Rohren, George Rose, Benji Mickel, Marna Burnett, Evan Gonzalez, Scott McClain, A.J. Folk, Calvin Buffalo, Louise Bell, Ron Atkinson, Katrina Longwell, Marilyn Holland, Tristen Mantineo, Kenyon Bunch, John Viner, Richard Robuck, Christopher Berger, CreightonHatten, Pat Garofalo, Mary Thompson, Joan Rhodes and Brad Fassett.

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Start with a disabled Navy veteran mother who continues to serve as a member of the Honor Guard for American Legion Post No. 27. Add to that a daughter who has excelled academically and as a leader who wants to serve her country. The total equals Deanna Tindall and her daughter Brittany Tindall.

Deanna Tindall served in the Navy infantry in Desert Shield/Desert Storm before going on to work in the Judge Advocate GeneralÂ?s office after being injured.

While her daughters helped care for her after numerous surgeries, she apparently taught them important lessons about persevering, working hard and striving for excellence.

Brittany Tindall is 18 days away from graduating from Navy boot camp at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Ill. She enlisted after graduating from high school with honors, where she also accumulated 24 college credits. After a short stint modeling in New York City and Los Angeles, it was off to the Navy.

The young woman has the eventual goal of becoming a JAG lawyer, but to get her feet on the ground (so to speak), she will be working as an engineer operator rebuilding buildings in hot zones.

In the meantime, this is the first time the young woman has been away from home for her motherÂ?s birthday. So she got every single member of her company, 77 in all, to sign a birthday card for her mom.

HereÂ?s wishing you the best as you begin your military career, Seaman Recruit Tindall, and a wish for the same to all of Ship 12, Division 382 as you go on to serve our country and protect our freedoms.

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This is a column full of apologies Â? well, two to be exact. The first goes out to the energetic ladies of Chapter BR P.E.O., which held its 80th annual rummage sale Oct. 10. I had promised Ahne Elliott that I would run a short story on it in my Oct. 7 column. Color me a space cadet, but I forgot.

And then I learned that The Durango HeraldÂ?s chairman and editorÂ?s health was failing, and I needed to learn and write about her amazing life, so there wasnÂ?t a Neighbors column at all Oct. 10. I hope you had a great turnout and made a lot of money for the scholarships P.E.O. gives to deserving young women.

Now, Chapter FX P.E.O. is doing its fundraiser for scholarships. If you always have a poinsettia or two for the holidays, how about doing your decorating for a cause? The women are taking orders for small, medium, large or extra large poinsettias. Small, large and extra large only come in red. If medium is what youÂ?re seeking, you have a choice of red, white, pink, maroon, Jester Jingle (rose-colored with lighter pink spots) or winter rose (peony-shaped red flowers). Smalls are $7, mediums are $14, larges are $18 and extra-larges (in a 10-inch pot) are $25.

Orders with checks are due no later than Nov. 6. For more information, call chairwomen Deborah Barnes at 259-5844 and Susan Brown at 247-5443. Checks and orders may be mailed to Barnes at 303 County Road 204, Durango, CO 81301.

Poinsettias will be available for pickup from noon to 6 p.m. Dec. 1 at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 495 Florida Road. If you canÂ?t pick yours up then, you need to make other arrangements.

And just in case you think those scholarships go to faceless women elsewhere, two women from Durango have received invaluable help from P.E.O. scholarships recently.

Last year, Tracy Deffenbugh received both an Educational Loan Fund grant and a Program for Continuing Education grant. This year, Sarah Branch Boyle was honored with a P.E.O. State Star Scholarship.

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Last weekend, I was writing about Morley Ballantine for her obituary, and it was all about the facts and other peopleÂ?s stories. This week, I want to write about my recollections of a woman who more than any other person has shaped what Durango is today, and whom I was honored to know.

While I had known Morley since I was a child, I didnÂ?t get to know her as an adult until after my parents were in a catastrophic car accident in December 2003. My mother, Kathy Butler, died, and my father, Charlie Butler, received a number of injuries, including significant traumatic brain injuries. Morley was one of the first to call, and she and her son, Herald publisher Richard Ballantine, made the load lighter by running a daily update about my fatherÂ?s condition.

After my motherÂ?s service, which she attended with her longtime friend Sally Morrissey, she wrote a lovely editorial that lightened my spirit much as the stories had lightened the load. After about six months, my dad decided that if he remarried, he wanted it to be to Morley, because they would always have interesting dinner conversations. She graciously endured his version of courtship, which wasnÂ?t far from a 14-year-old boyÂ?s version of riding his bicycle past her house.

And she understood how much being remembered by his friends mattered. Wherever she traveled, and wherever he was living, Morley always sent him a postcard, mentioning how much she was looking forward to their trip to Mexico to find gold. (He was a geologist.)

You would be reading a Neighbors column written by someone else were it not for Morley. When Morrissey announced she was retiring at the age of 80, after 36 years, I got a phone call from Morley, asking me to apply for the job. I had never taken a writing class, never worked on a school newspaper, and if you had asked a Durango High School Ann Butler what she wanted to do with her life, journalism wouldnÂ?t have been in the top 50 careers.

Morley had seen a small column I wrote for the Leadership La Plata newsletter and liked my style, liked how I was an old timer having grown up here and a newcomer having returned after almost 20 years away. So I trusted her, and went for it.

About six weeks in, she called. Â?Ann, dear,Â? she said, Â?I like what youÂ?re doing with the column. But you seem to be having trouble with the names.Â? I was calling people I knew by their first names, a style returned to for this item. Â?Have you checked the AP [Associated Press] Stylebook?Â? she inquired. Â?No, whatÂ?s that?Â? The next day, I had a copy in my mailbox.

Lesson learned Â? and thanks for the friendship and the adventure, Morley.

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I owe a big apology to little Sophia Â?PumpkinÂ? Hardesty. Taking the word of the organizers of a ride for Cadence Therapeutic Riding CenterÂ?s, I said she was 8 in a story in WednesdayÂ?s column. Well, lo and behold, the young horsewoman in only 5, so her accomplishment of riding her pony Princess Piggy the full 11-mile course is even more impressive. Born to ride, indeed.

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Carving pumpkins for their anniversaries are Mark and Michelle James, Luis and Jamie Marquez, John and Kay Cooley, Noel and Virginia Peterson, Sean and Danette Jackson and Bob and Virginia Houghton.

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For information on upcoming events and fundraisers, check Local Briefs.

HereÂ?s how to reach me: neighbors@durangoherald.com; phone 375-4584; fax 259-5011; mail items to the Herald; or drop them off at the front desk. Please include contact names and phone numbers for all items.

If you are submitting an item for preview, please send it with briefs in the subject line and e-mail it to herald@durangoherald.com.