August, 1982. Fukuoka Japan. The heat and humidity were oppressive. Everything looked, smelled and felt different. I’d just arrived for a year long stay to attend Seinan Gakiun University, and was wondering what I had done! As I walked down the street, I saw another foreigner coming towards me. He must be another one of the new exchange students! We met and introduced ourselves, and he felt SO familiar. He was from Baylor University- bright and funny, and in that moment, I knew everything was going to be ok, and I had a new (but probably old!) friend. Brent and I had so many adventures that year, and in the years since as our lives wove in and out of each other’s. We got drunk one night and decided to creep into the other exchange students’ rooms in the dorm where we were staying temporarily- we covered the other sleeping students in baby powder. We thought it was hysterical- the other students, not so much! 😊 Our first Thanksgiving, cooked as exchange students- I don’t remember how we got the turkey, but I still remember we cooked the giblet bag in the neck cavity! (who knew?!) But even then, Brent was a fabulous cook. He was always up for adventure. We went scuba diving together in Iriomote Island, a remote island at the southern tip of the Japanese chain, close to Taiwan. It took two planes and a boat to get there. He wasn't worried about the sharks. We went to Kyoto and Nara together, with the rest of the exchange students, and had a blast staying in a Buddhist guest house and exploring thousand year-old temples and shrines. We had a sake drinking contest once where he drank me under the table. We both crawled home that night. We rode bikes together around Fukuoka, went out and had amazing food, great nightlife, karaoke, dancing. We exchange students had a Halloween party- Brent dressed like a priest and carried a “Holy Babble.” He was irreverent! Over the years, Brent came and stayed at our beach house in Japan. I came to LA to see him. Once back in the 80’s I was home visiting my parents in NJ and called him- he was on his way to a Bruce Springsteen concert, and promised to call me back the next day. He did call me back- a couple years later, from Tokyo! I told him that must have been one hell of a long encore… When I was back in NY working at the Culinary Institute of America and hadn’t heard from him in a while, I suddenly got a text from him- he was at the CIA, taking a culinary bootcamp course. He didn’t know I worked there, so I walked downstairs to his classroom to surprise him and we had a great reunion! Brent was like that. Funny. Adventurous. Caring. Generous. Irreverent. Passionate. The kind of person you could not see for a long time, and then, it was like no time had passed, and you picked up where you had left off, laughing, eating, playing. I know we will do that again someday. Godspeed, dear friend.