school days & holidays

It's the time of year when the kids are back in school and soon we will be as well.  And because we are in the school mentality we are also doing Holidays! We celebrated Thanksgiving with a visit from brother Larry (who came up from Miami) and our new neighbor and Phil's long time friend Jean who moved here in September.... Then we had a weekend of dining with Larry at favorites of his and ours... and we went to the beach and just relaxed. 

so here are some catch up photos since the last post-

We met up with CBGB at Mis En Place to celebrate Georgia's birthday! We had some really good wines and food but better conversation as we caught up with them after our summers up north (theirs in Michigan and ours in Chicago) two apps from that evening- pork belly and a tuna carpaccio with an empanada

the week of Thanksgiving had us at old favorite Columbia for tapas and cava sangria-

we also had some good food at Mediterraneo -

then on the night before Thanksgiving we stopped in at Kasa - our favorite sushi place -

and after Thanksgiving we did Star Fish and the beach and Blue Marlin on Friday and indigenous on Saturday  (below-  a view from our table followed by three beach scenes)

Larry's Thanksgiving flowers

our wines from indigenous-

The winter term catalogue has been delivered from our lifelong learning academy and we are looking at lecture dates and course description and if you have kids recently in college this sounds familiar we're sure...

And because we live in a community with many options for continuing education - especially in the arts - we also have classes at the Sarasota Arts Center (for what I would call "hands on production") and classes for all kinds of fine arts skills in media and film and animation etc. at the Ringling College of the Arts.

I have decided on two classes - one at the lifelong learning academy on Asian Art taught by the teacher I had last year for the Asian mysteries course and a second one at the Ringling College on architecture...

The Skyscraper from America to Asia
M/12:30-3:15 PM, 11 sessions  Christopher Wilson                                                                                         
This course surveys American architecture from the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871 (which is credited with giving birth to the skyscraper) to today.  The skyscraper, seen as a uniquely American architectural product even though it now appears throughout the world, will serve as the main point of reference.  Opposite views such as the "City Beautiful Movement," suburbanization, and recent "New Urbanism" will also be discussed.

and here is the description of the LLA course I will be taking

this upcoming week is a busy one with NTLive and the Asolo performance of Evita and the second ballet of the season (at the Opera House) plus we have the added delight (not) of buying a new toilet for one of our bathrooms - we have been having trouble since last summer and its innards finally failed over the holiday weekend...

so never a dull moment... I thought when I got our screening for the cage repaired last week we were done with home repairs for a while  but apparently I was wrong! More to follow- of course...

an eating odyssey

so it was Thanksgiving weekend-  weekend of eating - yes- we joined in the tradition and kept on eating after the actual holiday and the leftovers the following lunch... LOL-

We also got to go to the beach - it was 77* and sunny on Saturday - the first pic was made by google out of my photo... I think it is a nice emphasis of what I saw- if not 100% true to life...

but to back track to the eating part- LOL here is our meal at indigenous from Friday night- oh by the way we ate outside all weekend long-

both wines showed really well!

the mushroom bisque a MUST try!

the sturgeon tartine - terrific new addition to the menu!

Larry's amberjack with Thai green curry-

Phil's lamb meatball dish

my burger! with duck fat fried potatoes....

Then on Saturday we thought we would swing by Star Fish in Cortez Village and see if there was any space in the lot to park - if so we would go eat dockside--- which we did-

then we went to the beach (photos above) and then came home in time for sunset and then went out to dinner at Harry's on LBK-

the starters- Phil's scallops - Larry's chowder and my onion soup-

Larry's hog fish and Phil's duck and my scallop Rockefeller-

again outside! with some good wines-

By the end of Saturday we were all beyond the stuffed point and so, after Larry headed home to Miami this morning, we had two simple meals at home. And I might have mentioned LOL - we are still in al fresco dining mode... so lunch was outside and dinner too!

This week - final prep for Colombia trip and dinner with CBGB and the Symphony - this time with a favorite - Copland... among other works... keep you posted....

holiday time

well it's the time of year when everyone gets into holiday mode- first Thanksgiving and then Hanukkah and Christmas and New Year's etc.... and like everyone else we have our traditions and it's a busy time for all.

We began our holiday eating with a meal at Michael's on East -

then the following night we joined John, Barb, Barbara, and Beth at Captain Brian's (lots of Bs in there LOL!) before the theater to see Guys and Dolls- which gets a very tepid review from me- tired- very tired- it should stay a High School Musical as far as I am concerned.  Who has an iota of belief that a missionary for the Salvation Army would hook up with a high rolling gambler and "convert" him to her work due to instantaneous love... ahem... seriously?

Then brother Larry came up from Miami the morning of Thanksgiving and we had something other than turkey LOL- which Phil doesn't like... this year it was a QUADUCANT (pheasant stuffed with quail and duck and pork sausage), We had cajun meat pies (which were excellent) and corn and crawfish chowder and then some of the usual - mashed potatoes and haricot vert and then PIES!

this was our afternoon snack/lunch-

 then we had a real starter of corn and crawfish chowder-

 Larry sent flowers for our table but Lucy was more interested in eating ferns LOL-

This was our main this year- a QuaDucAnt- then we had the usual sides- the "bird" was really good so we will order that again!

It wouldn't be a Friedman Thanksgiving without the PIES - many PIES! LOL so while we only had two last night - we have four desserts to choose from for the weekend... french silk, apple crumble, turtle pie and bread pudding with dulce de leche topping YUM!

tonight we are off to Indigenous and tomorrow to Harry's - first time on the welcome back tour for each of those favorites- then we have to get serious about getting ready for our Colombia trip- but first we will catch up with CBGB... no rest for the wicked as my Dad used to say- LOL.... stay tuned!