Columnists

Right now I’m nursing a memory with a poor substitute: dinner leftovers from the past weekend. But I’m comforted knowing that next week I’ll get what I’m missing right now—tasty morsels delivered hot and fresh from a mobile kitchen parked on Third Street.Yes, it will be Wednesday, June 7, and I’ll be sitting on an upturned red 5-gallon bucket with about 1,000 other foodies in front of the Third Street Plaza. The Moveable Feast is back!It doesn’t get much easier to join in the fun. Park in the Downtown Parking Garage and walk out into the Third Street Plaza. Just beyond will be a string of food trucks surrounded by fans of the diverse range of cuisines being offered. Maybe we can start to get some of the feasters used to parking in the VTA Parking lot across the railroad tracks too…The feedback I’ve heard from the community about the gourmet food trucks has been overwhelmingly positive, usually followed quickly by the universal question, “When will they return?”Short answer is next week.It seems that most of the residents I’ve heard from like the Moveable Feast trucks on Wednesdays, but how about the downtown businesses and the residents?That’s a mixed bag, but still mostly positive.A few businesses do not support the Moveable Feast events at all, but that’s a small number. Some don’t feel they benefit, but still support it in light of the exposure brought to the downtown. Others experience a benefit and are happy these events take place. This last group is a small number that we hope will continue to grow this year. By the way, this is from a business survey undertaken by the committee that brought you the Moveable Feast trial last year.I am obviously a huge supporter of Moveable Feast on Wednesdays but I’m just hoping you end up downtown eating and hanging out.I hope you, your family and friends come downtown on Wednesdays and find that something special at one of the gourmet food trucks. But maybe you won’t. Maybe the lines are too long, you’re not in the mood for what’s being offered that week, or you run into some friends and decide it would be nice to sit down and be served. Maybe you just walked past a restaurant and saw the most incredible plate of barbeque and your stomach just changed your mind for you.So I want to tell everyone that the Moveable Feast is coming but I also want to say that the rest of your favorite restaurants are here too. Maybe make Wednesday night the night where you commit to trying something new, whether it be a different food truck or a different restaurant. Can you say you’ve been to all of our downtown restaurants?Consider that a challenge.Give the kitchen a break on Wednesdays and get out and eat. It doesn’t have to be downtown (that would be nice though)—just get out and enjoy yourself on hump day. The rest of the week will feel a lot shorter. I promise.   Please dine out and shop often.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance and a city commissioner. He can be reached at [email protected].

A week or so ago I learned something earth shattering. To be honest with you, I'm not even sure I should write about it - because, well it could alter the very foundation of humankind. By revealing this horrifying truth, many of us (and by that I mean me) will question everything we have ever learned. And what is this potentially catastrophic truth that will shake you to your core?

Here we are again at the end of the year, and everyone is in great spirits. Everywhere you look the symbols of the holidays twinkle and sparkle and generally scream out that you’re supposed to be a part of the celebration. Go out on your street corner and see if you don’t just feel it in the air—I bet you’ve been conditioned to identify the smells of this time of year with the holidays. I know I have.My e-mail inbox started bubbling over around Thanksgiving with holiday cheer, and advertisements, but now it’s virtually exploding with those deals that “just got extended” and offers of delivery in time for Christmas day. I sense a whimper coming as the offers spin out of control and there’s no time for delivery, so reason sets in and someone stops hitting the send button launching those ads. Besides there’s nothing left in anyone’s inventory as each item I pick is no longer available, and if it’s seasonal you’re not going to see it again until summer wains next year. Since when did the day after Christmas mark spring fashion time?Locally, the stores are running out of those unique and sought-after items, so I reach for the next best thing—gift cards.I love gift cards! I went shopping at REI, Bass Pro Shop and Best Buy while standing with ice cream melting in my cart at Safeway. I also love the aspect of gift wrapping being less stressful: insert gift card in Christmas card and done! Now I only have to worry about whether I guessed which type of store was right, but you can even bypass that with your credit card so you are completely safe.So with all of the shopping options you have to really screw up to totally disappoint someone—unless you should’ve been more attentive and sensitive and really picked out something personal. This is where I get into trouble—unless you like wine and spirits, because then I can totally get into it and then subscribe to the one-for-you, one-for-me shopping methodology.Actually, most of this holiday season shopping has been for myself. You know, I need clothes and wine and motorcycle gloves, too. As a matter of fact, I consider the holiday season a great time to stretch the budget. I usually buy most of the stuff I can think of because it’s usually at least 20 percent off this time of year. My only issue is that I always seem to buy a bunch of stuff for other people, and that can hurt the budget. But then if you’re going to buy stuff for someone else, isn’t it great to get it at a discount? Who says I don’t have the holiday spirit?When it comes down to that spirit, it’s all about the people to me. Not the requisite giving, which I enjoy, but the way everybody acts around this time of year.This is the time of year when it is OK to get together more often than usual, to stay out later, and to enjoy food and drink with the budget being a little less of a concern (remember those discounted gifts…).I hope you have enjoyed the shopping, the celebrations with friends and the spirit of the holidays with all of the right people, and may you have a Happy New Year!John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].