a winner! actually two winners!

Yesterday Phil started his winter term class and today I went off to school for my class on the Cold War...

I am so not going to recite all I learned today but I will say that the class seems to be very interesting and we have a lot to cover in just eight classes of 80 minutes length.

And after class I picked up Phil and we headed out to lunch.  We tried a new place today and we had a winner! The Central Cafe in the Old Manatee section of town in a brick building that has a small backyard under a pergola- so when the weather is warmer than it was today you can sit outdoors-

cute place- eclectically decorated-

nice service and amenable chefs (food prepared the way you want it) - we had two soups - tomato blue and cream of mushroom - nice and hot on a chilly day...it is winter here after all- then we each had the bacon and blue burgers which were cooked to the temperature of choice... served with excellent fries and  good pickles and red ripe tomatoes...

I didn't take pictures so I pulled these from the yelp website - credit where due- Yelpers helped me!

burger and in the house made square bun- but our tomatoes were riper!

tomato blue soup- very nice and served hot!

a place to return to for sure!

On Friday we have another new place to try before the Spuyten Duyvil concert at Fogartyville. So I will keep you posted.  And yes I know I promised to get us to Cienfuegos - but it will be tomorrow because I am done for the day - my cat is nudging me to give her some attention!

Frites!!!!

Just a quick post on the Phil Friedman afternoon snack of choice in Amsterdam-

Because of the location between the tram stop and our hotel we managed to pass by here every afternoon during our eight days in Amsterdam... LOL - the excellent fries lured Phil first a few days into the trip and then by the end I had succumbed as well -

He knew it would be a good place because there was always a line out the door- and when he stopped the first day the local in front of him said his personal study of the frites places in Amsterdam led him to put this spot in Number 1!

these were first rate FRITES- the double fried crispy kind where the oil is soaking all the way through... the fries you are always looking for!

so all I can tell you is go to the Spui tram stop for lines 1, 2 and 5 and head toward the Herrengracht canal - it is on the side street just off Spui Square... you will recognize it by the red and white checked cones they use for serving the frites!

highly recommended!