a visit

Our cousin Michele came for a visit over Memorial Day weekend - she came from Seattle where the weekend was sunny and warm, 80* or so... to spend time with us in 55-65 and rain... seriously bad weather is what we have had all May and it continues- although we had sun this morning by 1:30 it was pouring rain - bucket style rain...

So she went off to explore the Art Institute and then another day Navy Pier... she has been here numerous times and entertains herself - we meet up for meals and evenings... On Friday we had lunch at Falstrom's and then dragged her to the wine shop next door to buy some samples to try for potential purchases....

Then in the evening we went to Osteria Langhe and had 2 bottles of the 1999 St Innocent Wines - the Shea Vineyard and the Seven Springs Vineyard - side by side tasting - Shea won out of the gate but the Seven Springs got better and better- never quite overtaking the Shea but in the end made it a closer contest than it seemed upon opening...

The next day we grabbed a quick bite at Burrito House LOL- our favorite dive-y place down the street for tacos...and then headed to Andersonville for an exhibit of things made in Chicago from 1900-1970 - some fun stuff in the tiny museum at Ashland and Balmoral... a lot of the items in the museum are related to the Edgewater Beach Hotel and the Edgewater neighborhood...

 

here's a funny one- our friend Barb used to work in this postcard factory when she was in High School LOL- it is really close to us on Irving Park at Ravenswood...

Then after trying several of the wines we bought from Howard's the day before, we were on to Ruyi for sushi later in the evening where we had some old faves (stuffed avocados) and some new things (sashimi and a new kind of roll)

Michele and I got a few brief periods to spend on the deck - which I had rushed to get planted BEFORE she arrived on Thursday evening... I had been to Gethsemane (our local garden store) twice last week in an attempt to get settled in for the summer season... and things did look pretty good but the weather didn't support any extended outside time- sadly...

so tomorrow, a friend is coming over for dinner and then we will be truly in the calendar of summer (post Memorial Day to labor Day weekend) let's hope sometime soon that it warms to summer temperatures as well.... Can't wait to get some really beautiful outdoor time with classic sun and warm days and nights - #canyouhearme? Weather Gods!

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!