Clara and Evan met at the weekly Folk Review, a night of bluegrass music, hosted by one of Evan's best friends, Tom. Across the room, Clara spotted a handsome and quite mysterious Evan wearing his classic leather jacket with a chessboard tucked under his arm. They talked easily and eagerly of France and religion over beers and in between bluegrass sets. At closing time, they exchanged numbers on Manny's beer coasters, which they both still have. Having met at a bar, their first date was a sensible mid-afternoon coffee date before they went to their respective election night parties. Much conversation was had over Clara's classic apple pie recipe and Evan's insistence that leaf lard makes superior crust (Clara now agrees). In fact, Evan's first gift to Clara was a tub of said lard, a trade he made with fellow farmers at the market; it earned him the title of "gentleman farmer" as Genita, Clara's sister and wedding officiant, would begin to call him. It didn't take long for them to plan a second date. Intuiting that the quickest way to Clara's heart is through her stomach, Evan invited Clara over for dinner where he served Duck L'orange, straight out of Julia Child's cookbook, along with his own farm-grown beets and carrots; Clara brought the fruit pie, the crust of which was made with leaf lard. The rest, of course, is history.