what's going on...

so I haven't posted in a while- and here is what is going on-  the election results have been traumatic in our household-  you think you participate and live in a country where most everyone is open and peaceful and has the best of intentions for ALL people - not just white people and straight people, but everyone.  I guess I have spent the last six decades in some kind of "nice and kind"cocoon... I just really couldn't and still cannot fathom the amount of hate out there and the apparently overwhelming desire to deny people the right to live as full citizens and marry whomever they want to marry and raise their kids in the religion of their choice and all those things my parents taught as values when I was growing up- so I have been in shock- and withdrawal and finally recovering a bit from the shock of finding that I now live in a country that is a different country than I knew for the last six decades. My open, freedom loving, diversity accepting country is gone (clearly it didn't exist - only the facade of it did) and now Donald Trump is president with all the consequences that will bring for my gay friends and my Latino friends and my black friends and my non-Christian friends and family members. It was a tough week- ten days.

but of course, as with everything- as our president so ably pointed out on the night before the election- the sun rises in the morning - so I am back to semifreelife having spent the last week in my own hideout.

After the election night - we spent the next four days at home and on Sunday finally ventured out to start back into the social swing again... we went to Cafe Baci and to Columbia and to Louie's Modern for dinner (having made a visit to Blue Marlin on the night before the election). I signed up for a winter class and started to read the assigned books before the January/February class sessions begin at Temple Beth Shalom (a new venue for the Lifelong Learning Academy here in Sarasota) oh and I took a lot of pictures of my cat- LOL- it is a positive thing to do in dealing with all the negativity of the election results.... oh and distracting myself with the terrific PBS series called Soundbreaking about recorded music---

so a few photos - our entrees at Columbia-

some photos of Blue Marlin-

The 2005 St Aubin showed so well we took a second bottle to Louie's Modern-

 below the pizzetta and the charcuterie plate

then the lobster risotto thermidor and the short rib

not shown the chocolate beignets- which were very nice-

this weekend Barb and I have the ballet and we will meet up with John and Phil for dinner after our matinee- then we will catch up with Al & Carol & Lily at their place and later in the week we have Asolo tickets and then it's Thanksgiving and brother Larry will be up for the holiday- soon it will be time for our trip to Cartagena in Colombia... time flies -

and now the Lucy photos- LOL-

 LOL - after a while, even she got aggravated being the subject of so much attention LOL

and the weather has been lovely so we spent some time reading outdoors-

so on we go - despite finding out that roughly half the country think it is alright to vote for a guy who professes racist views and thinks we shouldn't have immigrants coming to this country despite being married to a couple of them along the way... three wives and numerous bankruptcies and half the country thinks this is just fine.... oh and his vice president thinks it's OK not to serve gay people in pizza parlors run by "Christians" - where I grew up Christians were much more forgiving and loving as Jesus was- obviously a different country than these folks grew up in....

but I promise the blog will not turn into a political diatribe for the next however many months or years and will continue along in the same spirit it always has-  so stay tuned....

travel, food, theater, and an occasional rant.... 

a concert, a meal

Anything to distract at least me from the news cycle and the election! Anything!

Off we went to Fogartyville to hear a Celtic music group called Brock McGuire.  Three old guys and a lively skinny youth who danced and sang.  We love the intimate venue and the warm welcome from the local volunteers.  Arlene, the young woman who runs the Peace Center, and Francis, the Goodwill Ambassador who must be 85 if he's a day and is all of about 5 foot 5... he is so upbeat just seeing him makes you smile.

The group was good- all excellent musicians and as charming as only Irish men can be,  The tunes got repetitive to me but all were very listenable.  The songs were classic mournful songs of wanting to return home- with one exception- a lovely song about the fifteen year old Irish girl who was the first person who came through on Ellis Island when it opened in 1892.  The singer was Dave Curley and the band was made up of three guys- one being Brock (last name) and the other last name McGuire and the third guy on keyboards was a music teacher as well as a musician. I kept saying to Phil "I know that guy from somewhere" and he agreed that the young man looked very familiar.  So when I googled him I found out we had seen him on January 31st at the same venue- with the group RUNA.... post address below to copy into your browser- I had really liked his work that previous evening although not the female singer's rushed delivery of the lyrics- again I will look to find his recording of Black River...

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2016/02/runa.html

We wanted to get dinner after the concert since we had a  big lunch later in the day so we headed over to the Starlite Room where we knew the bar was open and serving food after 10 PM. This is not a late night town....LOL We had a nice meal there and arrived home around 11:30 now one more day of the election torn from our calendars like the old movies---- it can't come soon enough for probably 99% of Americans- but for sure for me....

for apps - Phil had the tuna and I had deviled eggs

we split a salad

then I had mussels and he had the grouper sandwich

we whiled away the evening and are headed out tonight to see our buddy Dan at Blue Marlin for a late dinner.... it is really now the first week back in the regular routine for Phil - off to see his trainer (no I haven't sent him to obedience school LOL) and his usual forays to the grocery/drug/banks/costco etc....  School registration starts this week and I think I will take one class and see how it goes. Our school has undergone some traumatic changes this summer as USF ditched us (we took up too much room in their facility) and we had to find a new home which we did - with the Ringling College but the new facility isn't ready yet so classes are scheduled all over the place... the "main campus" has moved to Temple Beth Sholom.... so we will see how this works out- it is about twice as far as we are used to going for classes and that could be an impediment.  So as always- stay tuned....

in the swim

so I have been "home" a week and Phil has been home three days- and yes we are already in the swim of our time here... discussing classes to take or not take; going to theater, symphony and opera; where to dine first second and third..LOL; and of course no "winter" would be complete without a couple of wine dinners at Michael's Wine Cellar.

So despite it being Phil's night number two we headed downtown to Michael's for a Robert Kacher wine dinner.

 the passed hors d'oeuvres were all excellent- sorry no photos- with my favorite being the duck pate

both the course above and below were outstanding- I gave a slight edge to the scallop and lobster course but Phil favored the duck and pork belly combo which did totally rock... so I couldn't argue the point LOL

Chef Jamil always works at top level when preparing these menus to pair with the wines- he gets a chance to be creative in a way he may not be able to at the restaurant Michael's on East where the menu has to be served day in and day out and appeal to a much broader group of patrons.

So a fine evening for our first Saturday in warmer climes.... and we are celebrating the win of the Cubs in the World Series and the award of Two Michelin Stars to our friends Noah, Cara, Genie, Aaron and Tory at Oriole! - in their first year of operation! This was a real big week for a lot of reasons.... but while we celebrate for a number of them the whole City of Chicago gets to celebrate the ending of the 108 year drought in baseball with the World Series win by the Cubs!  I don't think I have ever seen such an outpouring of pure joy as when they won the nail biter of game seven in extra innings... some of my FB friends' posts really hit the nail on the head when the game was tied at 6-6 in the ninth... one posted "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, NOW WHAT?" LOL- so go Cubs and Yea! Oriole (posts of our four meals there this past summer are given below to cut and paste into your browser- sorry for some reason they don't hyperlink)

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2016/07/oh-oriole.html

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2016/09/starry-eyed.html

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2016/10/birthday-bash.html

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2016/10/this-is-how-it-should-be.html

So I will end this one with the photo I took off FB - Wow ! FIVE million people came out for the parade/rally on Friday to celebrate (which is more than half the population of the 9 million metro area) Go CUBS!

a musical interlude or introduction

So I picked Phil up at the airport on Thursday night and Friday night we started our "winter" life with a trip to hear the symphony orchestra.

this year our tickets are for Van Wezel due to specific music selections and timing of concerts rather than Neel Auditorium.

so off we went for the Rite Music- 

 It began with a favorite piece- the Egmont Overture from Beethoven- which we did not knwo was related to a Goethe work-

 That was followed by a masterful performance of a difficult piece - the Mendelssohn violin concerto.  the violinist played on anantique violin from Guarneri crafted in 1695!

Then it was on to the Stravinsky - which I found intellectually interesting but Phil was not keen on at all...LOL (can't love everything) I did find the following quite edifying though- from the program notes- LOL - heavily edited LOL

And tomorrow a wine dinner and the next night a concert- so we are back in the swing of things right off--- so stay tuned for more... "travel, food, theater, and an occasional rant" just as we bill it above LOL

20 hours to lunch

OK so on Friday night we had a superb dinner at goosefoot with my travel bud TB (of DART trips for many years) and then at 8 AM on Saturday I began my journey south- with Lucy and wine LOL- oh and a laptops - but that was pretty much it- 20 hours of driving later (12 and 8 on a day by day basis) I arrived!

why am I telling you this - because I went from eating at Michelin starred restaurant in a city of over 8 million people (SMSA) to a dockside restaurant in a real fishing village of Cortez... less than 5,000 people live in Cortez.  It is home to our favorite fish place- Star Fish Company (market and dockside picnic tables for food in cardboard boxes- fresh fresh fresh seafood)

Cortez, a census-designated place in Manatee County, Florida, United States, is a small Gulf coast commercial fishing village that was founded by settlers from North Carolina in the 1880s. The population was 4,491 at the 2000 census.

so here I was less 72 hours later - enjoying sunshine and 88* under blue skies - with my blackened grouper and some hush puppies...YUM YUM YUM....

#goodfoodatalllevels

crowded as always- even before season officially begins - a wait for made to order food-  but always worth it!

and I have to contrast it with the terrific and amazingly beautiful and artistic meal we had Friday night at goosefoot... courses presented in order!

inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night- the first small bites to begin-

an outstanding soup- surpassed all prior outstanding soups- this one was Thanksgiving in a bowl- squash and cranberries - #Illhaveanotherplease

we had a 2004 St Aubin En Remilly white from Lamy and a 1996 Gevrey Chambertin red from Jadot

salmon prep - new and really good!

pasta course with black truffles-

then a new staging for the later courses- centered around the Central Park visit Chris and Nina had to the Strawberry Fields memorial for John Lennon- accompanied by a full set of Beatles music ---

the "cheese course" with lots of fall fruits including very flavorful conord grapes

palate cleanser of juice in a sculpture of Chris' creation!

the double dessert course of "Central Park in the Fall"

the dessert course had a fully spooky effect with the ghostly fog coming from the centerpiece! It was Halloween weekend after all!

presentation of the take home chocolate lab confection of amazing chocolate bars-

another lovey meal with lots of flavors and inspirations from Chris and Nina Nugent at goosefoot... and even with my early morning wake up to get out of town and on the road- I enjoyed the evening to the last goodbye-

now - lots of things to do here - we start with Symphony  on Friday and then a Saturday wine dinner (Bobby Kacher) and then a concert on Sunday at our favorite little club - so stay tuned - we will be fully in the swing of things before the week ends!

#gonow!!!