a quick trip

so right after my birthday we headed north for a weekend visit with Lee and Angela in their home town of Durham.  They are one more year settled into their place and their cat Clarence is skinnier than ever (POOR BOY!) and we had a really great weekend (in this case Saturday through Monday) with some spectacular meals and brunch made by Angela and Lee - he did the crepes and she did the cake!

so here is a run down on the way things went- but first a fun photo from our visit to google fiber's new office Raleigh-  and later I will tell you why I have this photo-

we flew Southwest to RDU - we were early - we got a rental car and checked in on time to our hotel (six minutes from Chez Stimmel-Friedman or Friedman-Stimmel we aren't sure which LOL) we met them in the lobby for a drink before dinner and then headed out to one of the best Italian places we have ever eaten in - outside of Italy... it was a perfect meal with some good Nebbiolo wine and very good service to match the standard set across the board in the restaurant...

we had a full selection of the crostini- pesto /ricotta with honey/olives/ricotta/white bean

followed by chicken liver mousse/butter and anchovy/n'duja/speck and beefsteak drippings with sea salt! (OMG that one was amazing)

somethings did get missed in the excitement of the evening - LOL - the appetizers we had were the carcofi (x3) and the meatballs (x2) and it was the best Carcofi alla Giudia that we had outside the ghetto in Rome where this dish is ultra famous... first rate!

the cacio e pepe - LOL the best since we had it last time in Trastevere - across the Tiber in Rome- (this place was rockin the Italian food!)

black pasta and bay scallops- Lee's dish below and below that the Angela choice of Rye pasta with veggies-

my choice the bolognese bianco- oh my god yum! and Phil's amazing choice the brown butter sage seasoned pork and veal!

 
LOL we had no side dishes after the multiple crostini and the pasta with the extra courses - even at half portions it was still a ton o food....

Oh yeah and we had to save room for dessert- LOL - Phil and Angela had chocolate things and I had a warm ginger tart and Lee had gelato and espresso -

I think the below dessert was the winner with espresso and chocolate flavors (Angela won that round LOL)

I loved the logo of this place - named after the horse race in Sienna - the logo has forks and wine bottles and Tuscan trees all in one lovely logo- how can you go wrong?

so we were thoroughly stuffed when we parted late that evening and made plans to meet for brunch at Lee and Angela's house-  Lee made crepes (we all chose chocolate) and Angela baked a fab cake with cream cheese frosting in my favorite color of turquoise!

  and chocolate bars as a take home gift!

OK so they actually were from the grand opening of the google fiber office in Raleigh - which we got to have our own tour of after brunch and before the late afternoon snack meal LOL- seriously -

so this giant TV was the place for the demo of the amount of data that you get with fiber- and OMG the picture was amazing- I sat on the couch and took these photos with my cellphone and this is how they looked-

remember the first photo - that was this exact picture blown up and cropped a bit- amazing detail!

the oyster bar behind the fiber office wasn't open on Sunday but this place was - so we snacked here LOL-

 
Phil had fried chicken and I had biscuit and gravy- Lee had red bean rancheros and Angela had three sides (salad and a biscuit and sweet potatoes LOL)

 lost Angela's snacks photo somewhere along the way-

Headed from there to the Art museum for a walk for the three of them and homework time for me - so we had some room for dinner LOL- we headed back to drop them off at their house and made plans for a later pick up for our later dinner at Rue Clare-

 

Phil and I started with the misnamed consomme-  which was full of much that was non consomme LOL

we all three had the pork belly for the middle course-

Lee had the beef entree/Phil the duck and I had the sea bass-

Angela ordered a la carte- veggie and a crepe-

and as if we hadn't had enough to eat - LOL we met up for lunch on our way out of town- at a superb pizza place in Durham-

we had the pig's ears - excellent-

then the first four pizzas under the WHITE category -

Lee's egg-

Phil's venison sausage-

my mushroom and then Angela's four cheese pizza photo disappeared - making two lunch photos of Angela's food that somehow got lost in the shuffle (portable black hole I think!)

we had an empty flight back to Florida (36 passengers) so we left early and arrived home early pulling into the drive way before 10PM -

great (if short) trip and we had so much fun visiting with the kids- next time we hope to see our future "in law counterparts" Brad and Susan when we visit...

and the big news is the wedding date has been set! so stay tuned for more fun and games because this week is on a tear already- tomorrow is "date night" with John & Barb, and I have my last class of this winter term... then Wednesday Barb, Beth and I are doing a foodie tour in St. Armand's Circle and Phil & I meet Al & Carol for dinner - then Thursday the whole "family" (Barb, Beth, Barbara and John, Phil & me) is going to the circus (the show must go on despite the Wallenda accident of last week) and Friday it is National Theater Live!

so from here on out it gets busy- next week the opera and theater (Born Yesterday) and the Orchestra is performing Mozart's Requiem... to be followed that weekend by the Ballet hosting Paul Taylor Dance Company- seriously season is in full swing down here!