further back

from the present to the first part of February due to my being too busy to post while we were moving.... these are what would have been posts in chronological order and now they are reverse chron order- LOL

so working back another week in the missing posting-

We went to a spring training baseball game at Ed Smith stadium in Sarasota to see the Orioles and Cardinals in a slug fest that ended with a 9-10 score in favor of the Cards!

We had dinner at Blue Marlin to drink a 1971 bottle of Corton Renardes from Alexis Lichine that Neil had sent down to drink with Max (his birth year)

below is a nice photo from their fB page - of the bar and communal table - such a great place!

And- I went to see the Ballet Hispanico with Barb W. - beautiful dances and lots of energy and fun...

 It was hard to pick a favorite among these three... each was unique and the movement followed the theme and music so well that they were truly three completely different works.

after the ballet we went to John & Barb's to play a few games and then out to dinner at Bridge Street Bistro where we had a lovely meal and saw the last of the sunset-

and just to round out our week - on the prior Saturday we had the Salzburgers' 1970 Reunion - four plus decades later they still try to keep in touch- this time we did a Sarasota Bay boat tour and dinner at Captain Brian's followed by a concert at Fogartyville of half of Aztec Two Step (Aztec one Step I guess LOL) The concert was so bad we left at intermission but the boar ride and dinner were lots of fun!

  

and one more event - the night before closing on our old place we went to the symphony for a program we had mixed reviews for- not crazy about the Bernstein piece but liked the remaining music - an overture from Rossini from the Barber of Seville and then Beethoven's Sixth Symphony so more good than bad overall... and a nice evening getaway from the craziness of moving!

So we are now back to the day after closing on our old place - and three days after moving into the new one- so cast your minds even further back into the month of February - cold one that ti was all over the nation- because the catching up is near- and will be done in the very next post... with our trip to Chicago right on the heels of the closing on the new place...

A few days closer

so we are a few days closer to the start of 2018 and I for one will be happy to see the end of 2017 - so meanwhile- LOL we have to eat.... and we went to visit Dan and Max at Blue Marlin this week.... and we also ran out for a quick meal at AMOB (Anna Maria Oyster Bar) for a dinner and stopped by Kasa Sushi - so we could wish all our Asian pals there Happy Holidays!

two great wines including the very young tasting 2005 St Aubin Chateniere from Lamy- and a light but completely correct 1996 Pommard...

Phil had the cioppino and I had the pecan crusted grouper

We tried the new dessert Andrea's Chocolate Mousse Cake- which was excellent and share sized-

and Phil also ordered the bourbon pecan pie...

then we took this Charbaut Certificate from 1985 (Neil found it in the back of the cellar) to Kasa.  It was sadly in my opinion undrinkable - Maderized and nearly flat- but we had a backup Agripart to carry us through the evening! Lots of sashimi (wild salmon and escolar and maguro and ikura and unagi etc...) and then four rolls

• the Fantasy - four raw fish in a seaweed wrapped that is almost translucent- 
• the Fire in the House with the crab and conch surrounded by the roll and alongside a boat afire!
• the Spicy Shrimp Tempura roll and 
• the Alaskan roll 

and since we will have all our meals out over the holidays while visiting Larry we are having dinner at home tonight... we have plans to return to many of our favorites and try a few new things on our trip south... so stay tuned...

who knows?

who knows where the time goes? LOL - something Phil and I say to each other all the time... on so many levels- this week was interesting because we went to a lecture by a futurist named David Houle.  We had heard him speak last spring and enjoyed hearing his perspective. So when we saw he was speaking on the media and public trust we signed up to hear him again.

later that evening we went to one of our favorite places for dinner - the Blue Marlin on AMI - it's about 15 minutes from us and especially when we go (8 PM dinners aren't the most popular time here LOL) we generally have no traffic - of course parking in Bradenton Beach is always a challenge but this time of year it is less so. 

the menu of the day

the regular menu

the white and red we settled on- after one not so great older white which I thought was flawed but Phil thought was just not so good---- is there really a difference? LOL

then last night we made our first trip to AMOB and on Sunday night we had made our first trip to Cafe Baci and last week we hit both Captain Brian's and Starfish and Bella Mia - LOL so we are well into the "welcome back" tour of Florida faves.....  next week is reasonably quiet - some guys coming to give us estimates for repairs of screening in our cage over the courtyard (Hurricane Irma damage) and shopping for an preparing for Thanksgiving.  Brother Larry is coming from Miami and Jean has made us one of her two stops that day. Larry will spend the weekend which will be great since we really haven't spent any time with him since last Christmas... the Hurricane disrupted plans he had to come to Chicago in September.... so stay tuned for more fun and games...