Eulogy for Claudia

Our friend Claudia Cabrera has died. This comes as an unexpected shock, and I'm still processing it. The last time anyone spoke with her was sometime on Friday, Nov. 5. By Monday, friends and co-workers had become concerned, and she was found Monday evening. Her next of kin have been notified, and her cats are being taken care of until they can be placed in a new home. Beyond that I have no further information on her passing.

I met Claudia on Facebook the summer of 2019. She was a German chef who'd just arrived in San Antonio fro San Francisco to work for Whole Foods. In San Francisco, she'd supplied cocktail syrups to a number of tiki bars in the Bay Area, notably Zombie Village. I invited her to a tiki party we were hosting that September. She responded by gifting me an assortment of her custom, scratch-made cocktail syrups:

1. Saigon Shrub (cilantro, jalapeño, cucumber, vinegar)
2. Five Spice - Szechuan pepper, cloves, fennel, cinnamon, star anise
3. Fassionola - Yellow peach, rambutan, fresh passionfruit
4. Grapefruit / Smoked Pepper
5. Finger Lime / Calamondin

Do they look good? Because they were. All had a flavorful pop and distinctive profiles that can't be found in off-the-shelf products. She was also a skilled jeweler and made some stylish, mid-century-style glass swizzles. She was a woman of many talents.

After that, she became a regular guest at our tiki parties and dive-in movies. She was friendly and open and very, very opinionated. She didn't drive, so arranging rides to and from San Antonio was always a bit of a challenge, but we almost always had someone from there driving in and they were invariably happy to spend a little extra time with Claudia.

When she found out Hugman's Oasis was in the works on the River Walk, she was over the moon. She applied to work there as a chef, making syrups and garnishes. I think she was the only person in the state who wasn't confident she'd get the job. She fretted over her interview. (Spoiler alert: She got the job). Then COVID hit, resetting the clock on everything. Having departed Whole Foods, she launched a business as a private chef and delighted by how quickly she was in demand. And she kept a hand in Hugman's development--literally. Claudia hand-tied the netting on every single glass fish float in that tiki bar. I seem to recall her saying she expected it to take about three weeks, and in the end it took three months. She invested a lot of herself into that bar. And every time I go I can't help but look at those floats and see a little bit of Claudia still there.

The strange thing is, Lisa and I didn't know her that well. Certainly not well enough to account for this outsized hole she's left in our lives. I have a suspicion that we're not alone in those feelings.

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