Edenton Final Food Blast

So...we had dinner Thursday at the B&B. 6:30. We were eagerly awaiting this meal since we knew it was gonna be great and because we had not had anything to eat since the breakfast they served that morning (does beer count?)

We arrived in the dining room right at 6:30. We were a bit surprised to see, in addition to our table, a table set for four. As far as we could tell, no one else was at the B&B!

Don came out with our first wine; a Chardonnay from Australia called "Mad Fish". This was a light Chardonnay; from stainless, not oak (frankly I prefer buttery oaked Chardonnay but this one was nice and refreshing).

And, it went well with the first two courses. The first was unbelievably good. A fresh flounder fillet (from the area bought that morning) marinated in turmeric, wrapped in rice paper and lightly sauteed. It was served in shallow bowl in a garlic-ginger broth alongside some wilted spinach.

As one of the ladies at the next table exclaimed, "This is enough for a main course!"

BTW, the two couples were actually local; they did not stay at the B&B but were familiar with the restaurant and liked to stop by for dinner from time to time. This night was a special occasion as they were celebrating the women's b-days. They were friendly and gregarious; probably in their 60s, and somewhat loud. But, hey, they were obviously having a grand time.

Next up was a Caesar salad with (obviously) homemade dressing and croutons. This also paired nicely with the Chardonnay.

The main entree was to die for. Several slices of medium rare garlic pork loin with lentils and winter vegetables; brussel sprouts (the first for me), sweet potatoes and butternut squash.

Don paired this with the Marietta Old Vine Red from Geyserville CA (that I wrote about before). EXCELLENT. So much food (somewhere along the road they brought out a very dense fresh slice of whole grain bread).

To top off the evening was a dark chocolate torte with raspberry sauce served with a Tootsie Roll sorbet (it did taste like Tootsie Rolls, too!) We finished up the red wine with this and were delightfully full and content.

Seriously, this food was very nicely presented, matched, paired wonderfully with the wines, and tasted like a dream.

We stumbled up to bed (rolled) and had a very quiet evening!

The next morning, although we were still full from dinner, brought more coffee and breads at 7:30 and a full breakfast at 9:00. We partook of homemade sausage and whole wheat pancakes topped with blueberry compote.

After this feast, we had nothing else to do but load up the car and drive home to our regular lives.

We would highly recommend this B&B; in fact, we hope to return another time, maybe in better weather, so we can enjoy the large wrap around porch while sipping a glass or two of wine!

Mrs. B

Edenton Part Two

Last I wrote, we were just on our way to Sean's for dinner...

For a Wednesday night in January, this restaurant was quite busy. A few large parties of people were already seated plus another one was on the way (according to Sean, a genial bald man who greeted and sat us).

I wasn't terribly hungry so I ordered a glass of Rodney Strong chardonnay (something I used to drink a lot of but don't see around here that much) and a Caesar salad with grilled shrimp. Mr. B ordered a french dip and a beer (they were having a lot of trouble with their beers on draft; the only thing they had was Bud Light...yuck). Mr. B opted for Sam Adams Winter Lager.

The service was friendly and the food was quite good. I was surprised by how tasty the Caesar dressing was...although not AS good as Mr. B's, it was pretty close. And the shrimp, wow; three JUMBO ones nicely grilled. Mr. B's sandwich was served open-faced along with a side of red skin potato salad. He said it was pretty good.

After Sean's, we walked back (or, rather, were blown back) to the B&B, smoking a cigar along the way. We stayed out on the porch to finish them up (since it only took 5 minutes to get there) and attempted to stay out of the gusty wind. Don came out to put up chairs on the porch as they were in danger of blowing away.

Since we paid extra for the jacuzzi tub, we took advantage of it after our cigars (sure helped to warm us up, too; BRRR).

The next morning our coffee arrived on time at 7:30. We were in no huge hurry to get going so we sipped on the coffee and ate the yummy breakfast bread that was left with it. Breakfast was at 9:00 so we went down (looking sort of tussled and unshowered but oh well) and wow, was it something else! They started us off with a nice plate of fresh fruit, OJ and more coffee. The entree was a spinach and white cheddar omelet served with what Don called "Yankee Grits" but what would really be better named "Grit Sticks". Mr. B surmised that Chef Diane had done a grit casserole, cooled it slightly, cut the casserole into the sticks and then sauteed them a bit to brown them up. In any event, they, and the rest of the breakfast, was well worth the 9:00 call!

After getting cleaned up, we set out to explore the town of Edenton. We wandered down towards the Albmarle Sound where we nearly got blown away by the wind and it was quite chilly, as evidenced by the below picture of Mr. B.

Next, we went back over to the waterfront area (where Sean's was) and looked into the windows of the stores and took a picture of a Confederate monument (complete with the prison dudes mowing the lawn underneath it).

We went into the local coffee shop to get a warm drink to take off the chill. Warm; more like scalding hot!

We walked down to the Visitor's Center and looked at the exhibits and the gift shop. We thought about taking one of the walking tours and/or trolley tour but thought it might be too cold.

Mr. B on the B&B steps (before we went back out again in the car)

We headed back to the B&B (via the not so nice part of town) where we ran into Don who asked us what we'd been up to. He jokingly chastised us for not, at least, watching the movie at the VC about Edenton's history. So, back we went (in the BMW this time) to watch the movie (Edenton pretty much had a glorious history...up until right after the Revolutionary War where it pretty much fell off the map). It IS an extremely pretty city, though; at least the "good" part (the "bad" part was fairly seedy).

Next, we drove around taking some more pictures. We were trying to find a teapot, which is a monument to the Edenton Tea Party (a group of women right before the Revolution had their own little "Boston" Tea Party as a protest against the British taxing tea and other imports). We couldn't find it before when we were out and had asked at the VC. We finally found it, stuck on a fence post near the Court House. Sort of an odd place for it, we thought!

We ultimately ended up back at Sean's for a beer (we were still STUFFED from our huge breakfast). Sean was there again and he said, "Well, I've seen you walking all over town, you must be considering moving here!" Uh, no, but, we did discuss amongst ourselves that a town like Edenton would be a great place to live if a) you did not have to work or your work could be done completely out of your house and/or b) you wanted to live somewhere in the boonies and/or c) you didn't want to be bothered.

Despite the rundown area we walked through, it also appears to be a fairly safe town. Don said the door to the B&B doesn't even lock (meaning the door to the rooms; each of the rooms have locks). Frankly, I thought this was a bit too trusting given while we were there, only one other room was occupied (the second night). All of the other rooms were open (I know because I wandered into each of them to check them out!) Someone could easily walk up from the street, open up the door, go up the stairs (8 rooms upstairs, two rooms downstairs near their quarters) and go into the open rooms and steal whatever; T.V.s, furnishings, towels, etc. So, I have to surmise that they've never had this happen and the town is, in general, very safe.

On our way back to the B&B for our daily nap (one of the best things about being on vacation, IMO, is taking long naps), we picked up the Edenton paper, The Chowan Herald, which was so small it appears it is only published once per week!

Next and final installment...our yummy four course dinner!

Mrs. B

Edenton Part One

We returned home from our brief (too brief) mini-vacation to Edenton, NC this afternoon. I'm delighted to report that the B&B we stayed at, The Captain's Quarters Inn, was every bit as wonderful as we'd hoped it would be. Frankly, though, if we'd have stayed much longer, we might have had to add "ton" to our last name (which folks around here seem to want to do, anyway...if you don't get it, don't worry, y'all...I'm not posting our real last name here!) The food was excellent. One of the owners, Diane, is a chef par excellence. She and her husband Don (the "wine guy" at the B&B) used to own a restaurant in Napa called Trilogy. We discovered this during our wine tasting Wednesday night. As it turns out, Mr. B  ate at their restaurant in 1996. Small world, no?

We arrived in Edenton around 3:00 on Wednesday. Earlier, Mr. B had dropped The Goose off at Uncle Chuck's (which made her happy, as usual; she loves that place and they love her). We left around 11:15 and drove to Rocky Mount where we had lunch at an Applebee's. Not gourmet cuisine by a long shot but I prefer their food over, say, Chili's or TGI Friday's. I'll digress here for a second and recount a minor drama that was going on in the booth behind me.

Our waiter wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box. But, he was friendly enough. Anyway, the lady sitting behind me ordered sliders (three small hamburgers). After she was served, she bit into one and discovered the meat was still pretty pink (BTW, Mr. B was happy that his burger was still pink; typically, they over-do the food anymore for fear of e Coli). Another waitress wandered by and the lady told her that she thought the burgers were not done enough. The waitress said, "Would you like me to take them back and have them cooked a bit longer?" to which the lady with the sliders said, "No, I think they will be ok".

About 15 minutes or so later, the waiter came by with the bill. The lady pitched a fit, saying she didn't think she should have to pay for undercooked meat. Listening to this, I was a bit perplexed why she was so mad since she had been asked if she wanted them cooked more. The manager then came over and said, "I took the sliders off the bill, you shouldn't have to pay for something that you were not satisfied with". Grumble, grumble; the two ladies got up and left.

I turned around and looked at their table to see the offensive sliders. Would you believe she'd eaten about 2/3 of them? Seriously! I turned back to Mr. B and we went off on a side-bar conversation about how loathsome people like that are. Loathsome and cheap.

Ok, back on track here!

We found the B&B in Edenton with no problem since Edenton is not a huge place. We checked in and agreed to do our wine tasting that evening at 5:30. BTW, we were the only people there that night.

We stayed in the "Captain of Her Heart" room. All of the rooms (8) have a nautical theme. This room has a huge jacuzzi tub (which is why we wanted it).

After unpacking (such as it was for only one full day there), we settled in for a nice cozy nap. The bed was truly comfortable and we conked out for almost two hours. Luckily we did not have far to go for our wine tasting; just downstairs in the parlor.

As I mentioned, Don seems to be the one of the pair that picks out the wines, does the tasting, serves the meals, checks people in and out; in general, anything that requires any degree of social interaction. He's a very gregarious fellow originally from MA (as is his wife (from MA; she was not overly gregarious but she cooked like a blue streak so who cares)).

We sampled four wines; two whites, two reds. Of the bunch, we really enjoyed one of the reds, a meritage from Geyserville; "2005 Marietta Old Vine Red". I have no idea how much it goes for, but, I am going to try and find it.

Don said that he'd leave coffee by our door in the morning at 7:30 and a full breakfast would be served in the dining room at 9:00.

With that, we ventured outside (where it was incredibly windy) to find a restaurant called Sean's. I'd read some reviews of it on Trip Advisor; both it and the other one we were considering, Waterman's Grill, got more than decent reviews. Turns out they are about the only shows in town, too. Alas, Waterman's Grill was closed for a few weeks (vacation) so that left Sean's. I say "alas" as our friend Michael had recommended it. Oh well! Don said we'd probably like Sean's well enough so off we went.

The waterfront area of Edenton was no more than a five minute walk from the B&B. Not too far from the B&B, we realized we'd forgotten to ask Don where, exactly, the restaurant was! We'd just passed a gas station so so walked back to it and approached an employee getting out of a truck. Mr. B said, "Excuse me, where is Sean's located?" the man appeared puzzled. I said, "The restaurant, Sean's?" he brightened and replied, "Oh, you mean She-ons!" and then told us where it was. Local culture!

Oops...I've run out of time for this entry now. Mr. B's on his way home from the office...gotta run. I'll finish it up later.

Mrs. B

Book Discussion Group

After at least two years of trying to talk me into joining her book discussion group, my SIL Shannon finally convinced me to do so. Last night was the first meeting; its intent to select the books that will be read throughout the year.

Let me step back and explain why I'd resisted. First off, there was, what I thought to be, a practical reason and that was that the group meets the first Monday evening of the month. Generally, The Kid is here on Monday nights. So, since we barely see her as it is, I thought I should be around for her visits. 2nd, and, in all honesty, the biggest influence; I thought I would not want to be "told" what to read. Yeah, yeah, I knew I'd have a say in it, but, I really enjoying reading and, well, want to read what I want to read. Finally, and maybe THIS really was the reason, I've tended in my advancing years to become a bit of a recluse. Going out and getting to know new folks just didn't trip my trigger (cocktail parties and folks you may meet on vacation not-with-standing).

Anyway, Shannon asked me again a few days ago. It was at the tip of my fingers to type "Gee, thanks, but, no thanks" for all the same excuses..er...reasons.

But then I thought about it some more. Frankly, I found myself stepping out a bit more in 2008 and getting involved with other activities outside the home and my general family and friend comfort zone. I joined the Board of Director's for the Durham Symphony Orchestra in July and I started a small consulting business in August. Sitting around once a month with a group of nice ladies discussing books now sounded pretty interesting and fun. Not to mention, fairly soon, I will once again become a CPA Widow as Mr. B gears up for and jumps full steam ahead into tax season. I also thought that it could be a growth experience (never stay still too long or you'll get run over) and culturally enriching to read books that otherwise I might not have read.

So, last night I drove over to get Shannon and we went on to the host's house.

We were a smallish group of 7 (although I believe one or two more ladies come on occasion). Each one of us came prepared with some suggestions for the list. We had WAY MORE than 10 slots available, which is a good thing! Who knows, I might read some of the ones not selected on my own (BTW, I read/listened to 35 books in 2008, so, I'll still have plenty of free slots for my own personal picks).

The group typically keeps the book size to less than 350 pages, not a new release (so it's readily available at the library or in paperback) and does not meet in July. This means that the book for August can be a bit longer since there are two months to read it. The group likes to pick at least one classic, one children's and one holiday/seasonal. The remainder should be a close split between fiction and non-fiction.

It took us over two hours to go around the room, toss out our recommendations, discuss them, go back and forth, add in a few new ones that popped into someone's mind, and then, finally, to get down to brass tacks and select the "winners".

After the meeting, Shannon and commented to one another that we thought we had a very diverse slate of books to read this year.

Here is what we'll be reading!

February: The Zoo Keeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. Non-Fiction. True story about Polish zoo keepers who hide Jews in the animal cages after Germany invades Poland.

March: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frantweiler and View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. Children's Fiction. We're reading two because they are not very long. The author won the Newbury Award for the first book in 1968. The 2nd was written 30 years later and is getting great reviews.

April: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. Non-Fiction. Kingsolver's memoir about her family moving from Arizona to rural Appalachia and eating nothing but organic/homegrown foods (frankly, this falls into the category of I seriously doubt I would have EVER read this one; we'll see how it goes!)

May: Digging to America by Anne Tyler. Fiction. This is one I recommended. I listened to it on CD in 2007 and was absolutely enthralled. It's the story of two families who each adopt a baby girl from Korea and how they strike up an improbable, lasting friendship.

June: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson. Non-Fiction. Can you tell this group is into nature? This is a funny guide to walking the Appalachian Trail. This is another book I never would have picked up on my own.

August: The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Classic Fiction. The "ultimate" revenge novel. We decided us gals could read a boys, book, too! Seriously, I liked the movie, so, hopefully I'll be able to get into this one since it is 600 pages (hence why it is August's selection).

September, October, November (TBA):

Something for the Pain by Paul Austin. Non-Fiction. Allen, a local author, reveals how his high-stress career of helping others led to a struggle to save himself. This selection will correspond with the Durham Library's "Durham Reads" selection so the group might be able to go somewhere to hear the author speak on top of discussing his book.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Fiction. The journey of a rare illuminated prayer book through centuries of war, destruction, theft, loss, and love. Brooks is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of "March" (an account of the father of "Little Women").

Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. Fiction. We decided we would be looking for something "light"by this time! Shannon recommended this tale known as "The Steel Magnolias of Manhattan".

December: The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford. Non-Fiction. This also will serve as our holiday selection as we'll probably read "A Christmas Carol" as well.

So, there you have it! I'm excited! Oh, and each month one member is the location host and another leads the discussion. The location can be at your home or a local coffee shop/wine bar, etc.

I am hosting April's meeting and leading May's!

I'd best get on the stick and get my 2008 book review blog series written...and then...get reading!

Mrs. B

"I Realized I Have a Muffin Top...Even with My Sweats On!"

No, I don't, it's not that bad (no muffin top in sweats for met...yet) this quote came from something I just saw on-line (from Kellogg's Special K Cereal, of all things, about getting into shape).

But, I actually WAS going to blog about how, every January, without fail, all of the exercise equipment, gear, clothes, gym memberships, et al go on sale. Obviously, there is a direct correlation between this and people feeling like big fat slobs after all of the holiday indulgment.

Frankly, I think it is part of an annual ritual. Right around Thanksgiving, most people fall off the exercise wagon (assuming they were even exercising in the first place). Also around this time, eating habits start to decline (or improve, depending on your perspective; Egg Beater omelets or Mom's famous peanut butter cookies? Hmmm...)

By mid-December, there is a full feeding frenzy going on. For us, this includes egg nog and brandy (something we never drink any other time during the year), cookies (see above), extensive dinners with far too many carbs, wine, wine, wine, champagne, scotch, mead, etc. People spotted jogging or exercising are deemed "Damned fools! Don't they know it is Christmas?"

I don't know about y'all, but, the last few days of December (or the first few days of January depending on when the first Monday of January falls) are a full-bore pig fest with the gloomy knowledge that, sooner or late, there will be hell to pay.

I'm no exception to the back-to-the workout routine-in-early-January crowd. I've been thinking for a few weeks about how to vary my routine so I don't get bored. I had Mr. B drag out my old Jane Fonda VHS tape (from 1992) that, without fail, does the trick of whipping my butt into shape. I figure I can alternate between the evil elliptical machine (while watching I Love Lucy on DVD or listening to pump me up music on my iPod) with the sadistic Jane Fonda (from the 1990s; I doubt she'd be able to keep up with her own tape now). Out came the step aerobic bench and away I'll go. Tomorrow.

Ha! Seriously, it is the elliptical machine today.

In all honesty, I'm not 100% committed to this exercise and diet routine until NEXT Monday since Mr. B and I were planning to go to Alabama for a long weekend this coming weekend. Unfortunately, that fell through so now we're going to Edenton NC for two nights. Since our RSVP includes wine tasting and appetizers the first night and a four course dinner paired with appropriate wines the second, it doesn't seem wise to get too far gone on this healthy kick or else I'll just feel guilty.

But, like millions of other people, I do feel the need to shed a few pounds and tone up a bit.

NEXT Monday.

Mrs. B

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Today is our Goose's birthday! We are not exactly sure how old she is, maybe 3 1/2. BTW, we did feed her after this picture was taken (video on YouTube) and she has had lots of good treats today (many from her "Grammy"!)

Mrs. B

Our California Adventure The End (Until the Next Time We Go!)

We started our wine tasting day out with lunch at Thornton Winery (also known as "The Champagne Place"). There was a great group of us at a huge table sharing food, wine and conversation. It was so wonderful to see a few folks that I have not seen in over five years; namely, Sue and Dan M. (Sue was my first secretary as an HRD; her husband still works as a (retired) contractor for NOC) and Alberto (friend Patrick's S.O.) Gill, my former boss (from the Plessey Microwave Materials days) also joined us. Rounding out the group was Kathleen (Don had to work), Patrick, Peri, Michael and us. Unfortunately, a few folks that said they'd be there were not able to come. But, as it turned out, that was probably just as well as the size of our group was large enough!

Me and Sue and lunch (I look like a dope!)

After lunch we said good-bye to Sue and Dan (not wine drinkers) and the rest of us went to four wineries off the beaten track that Michael had picked out for us. I'd been to one of them before but not the others.

First off was Keyways (this was the one we'd been to before). Thankfully, this place and the three we went to after were not very crowded at all. We were able to all pretty much stand around the counter and chit chat while tasting. As we'd already purchased a case of wine when we were at Ponte the previous week with Don and Kathleen, this excursion was definitely more about visiting while sipping wine as opposed to sipping wine for the purpose of buying (with one exception, the second winery we visited, more on that in a second).

Alberto and Patrick at Keyways

Add in Michael and Peri!

Me and former boss Gill at Keyways

After Keyways, we went to our favorite of the day, Robert Renzoni. They make wines in the Italian style and there were several of their wines that we truly loved. Unfortunately, they don't yet ship to NC but hopefully they will soon (note to self: CHECK and SEE if they do NOW!) Gill had to leave for another engagement so our group was down to the motley crew you see below!

The wine tasting gang at Renzoni's

The next two wineries were only so-so BUT they were not very crowded and that is what we wanted! At Frangipani, we had fun visiting with the cat, Barrel and Mr. B got a nice picture of the SDSU alumni!

Barrel (who sleeps a lot like our Pete)
The San Diego State Gang!

At the final winery for the day, Cougar, we decided to sit down and have a snack and watched with amusement while some of the other tasters fed the winery dogs spaghetti (I'm sure the winery owners were none too pleased about this later on!)

With Patrick and Alberto at Cougar

Happy Mr. and Mrs. B!

Alas, parting was inevitable. After tasting at Cougar, we said our good-byes and headed back to the resort for our final night of vacation. Being able to spend so much time with my dear friends, both on this day and others, truly warmed my heart and made me miss my former home.

After returning to the resort, Mark packed us up (on our way out, the big suitcase had weighed in several pounds over the limit on our way to California and we had to repack stuff (at the airport) into the smaller one and our carry on bags in order to get to the 50 pound limit). He was determined NOT to have this happen again! Believe it or not, when we got to the airport the following day, it weighed in at 61 pounds and we had to pay a $90 fee. We couldn't figure out how this happened since we did not buy anything to take home. I think it was just another airline scam. Thanks, Delta.

All in all and minor mishaps aside (all airline related, I might add), we had a great time. We'll most definitely return to the resort; maybe in a few years!

:-)

-Seeing all of our friends

-The resort

-The weather

-Excellent food and drink

-Jack in the Box tacos and me and my girlfriend K kicking the guys butts at Euchre!

-Our day at Ponte with Don and Kathleen

-Discovering a new winery

-Cigars on the balcony

-Grocery stores nearby the resort

-Grandpa's Mexican restaurant

-Wild Animal Park

-Stone Brewery with Peri and Michael

:-(

-Delayed flights going out

-Lost bags

-Hard pillows at the resort

-$90 for "fat" bag

Mrs. B