Eclectic Glob of Tangential Verbosity

I Only Play A Socialite On Social Media

2009-11-26T20:28:00.006-05:00

I don't normally flit about from one social gathering to the next, stopping for cheese at one place on to wine at another. I did last Friday, though, when I went to two different artists' receptions on the same night. First I went to Bull City Art and Frame Company, in Brightleaf Square, and saw the work of Charles Lallier, a Durham pediatrician, who demonstrated his versatility by exhibiting a series of beautiful landscapes as well as more abstract works. His skill is tremendous and I would be happy to hang any number of his pieces in my home, if I hadn't planned out all spare wall surfaces for my own work.

Here you can see Lallier on the left with the co-owner of Bull City Art and Frame Company, Lewis Bowles. on the right. The exhibit, "ECLECTIC - Landscapes and other random acts of art," will be on display through December 31st.

Next I went to Peter Armenia's Reception at Through This Lens, in downtown Durham. Peter's photography exhibit, "Sacred Light - Asia," depicts sacred places and the people that consider them so. Peter has an amazing eye and I marveled at his compositions. His exhibit will also continue through December 31st.

Peter's other profession is technical writing and he is the only person who has worked with me at both of the two jobs I've held since I graduated from college. Poor guy.

I can't ignore the fact that it's Thanksgiving! In addition to the traditional feeling of thanks for family, friends and food, I'm also thankful that we live in an area that has such talented artists and a community that appreciates them.

Spectator Zombie Lurching

2009-10-30T21:49:00.014-04:00

Taverna Nikos was highly decorated tonight, on Halloween eve. I had great crab cakes and my favorite bougotsa dessert, puffed pastry filled with banana, caramel and cheese, was awesome.

Just as we were finishing dessert, the zombies started lurching by!

This was the view from the top of the ramp outside Nikos. The zombies started at Piedmont earlier in the evening and staggered all the way to the Federal. It was quite a crowd and they didn't seem to mind standing in the middle of the street once they got there, since they were already dead. It was around this time that I heard one man say to his family as they were walking by, "I don't know what this is...but get a picture!"

This zombie spotted me and headed toward me saying, "Brains....BRAAAIINZZ!" What was my reaction? "Hold still, so this will be in focus." Then, in a brief moment of lucidity, the zombie thanked me for helping out with a conference a few weeks ago.

We went back into Nikos to pay our bill, but more zombies followed.

This upstanding young gentleman looked well prepared for anything.

I had dinner with this woman on Tuesday night, but she seemed to have...changed.

I wasn't up for lurching the distance, so it was great to be able to see so many zombies up close and personal.

Taverna Nikos has free drink specials! Of course, you might not want to actually drink them.

Dos Perros

2009-10-10T16:44:00.003-04:00

I've been very eager to try out Dos Perros, in downtown Durham. Dos Perros is owned by Charlie Deal, who also owns Jujube, in Chapel Hill. While I've only been to Jujube once, it was certainly a memorable meal and I wasn't even using a decent camera yet.

Wednesday night, I tried out Dos Perros with a bunch of friends. I started out by getting Platanos Rellenos as an appetizer. While I had some help with these, I was already planning on taking part of my entree home, in order to try more dishes. The plantain fritters were, by far, my favorite of everything I tried. They were stuffed with cheese and jalapenos and served with excellent salsas and cream. The subtle sweetness of the plantains was perfect with the jalapenos, but they still weren't very hot, by my standards. I have a much higher tolerance for Asian spiciness than Mexican, too.

One of my friends tried the spinach salad, which was quite good. The dressing was good without being overpowering. They also have a salad with cactus paddles, which I want to try sometime.

She also had this beautiful tomato, kale and meatball soup, a.k.a. Sopa de Albondigas.

For my entree, I had the Mole Poblano, which was effectively a chicken stew with chiles and Mexican chocolate. I liked it, but the flavor wasn't as an unusual as I had expected. Yes, I am definitely drawn to weird food or unusual combinations, but obviously this is not weird to the Mexican or South American palate. This was no bacon ice cream, but it was good. In fact, I probably even enjoyed it more as leftovers. The beans were extraordinarily good and there were probably a higher proportion left after my first attempt.

For dessert we concluded the meal with a couple of orders of churros, which I thought were very good. They were less spongy than ones I had recently eaten at Mez and that's probably a good thing, although I enjoyed both.

Overall I enjoyed the experience. The restaurant is beautiful and the food was definitely good. The general complaint that I heard from my friends dining with me was that nothing was spicy at all, but for me spiciness is not a requirement. If you need to feel feverish during your meal, you may want to consider putting on a bulky wool sweater on your way in.

Be sure to check out reviews of Dos Perros at Carpe Durham as well as Leandra's brief review.

The First Long Table Dinner

2009-09-21T22:30:00.002-04:00

This past Sunday, I attended the first "Long Table" dinner, hosted by Anton and Erin Zuiker. I am not quick to refer to individuals as experts, but I would say that Anton is an expert at building communities and getting people, even strangers, to communicate. Sunday night, he brought approximately 35 people together, some of whom he knew and some he didn't, to dine together and share stories. It worked. All of the tables were alive with conversation and periodically someone would use a utensil and their glass as a bell to announce that they would tell a story to the whole group. Some of the stories included one man's recounting the adventurous day leading to his marriage proposal and another's opportunity to cook for Julia Child.

The dinner was held at 3Cups, in Chapel Hill. I'd never been there before, but I was told that they have an excellent selection of wine and coffee. I didn't explore much, but I'd definitely like to go back and check it out more thoroughly. They also chose the wines for the evening.

We had a Moroccan meal catered by Sandwhich. The main course consisted of stewed chicken, with onions, raisins and saffron. We also had Zaalouka (eggplant) with tomatoes and peppers and beet salad with onions, parsley, cilantro and a light vinaigrette. Additionally, there was a carrot salad with lemon, garlic, cilantro and cayenne. We also enjoyed a vegetable stew with potatoes, butternut squash, green beans and tomatoes. I was pretty stuffed after all that.

For dessert we had cardamom sugar cookies with a lemon cardamom glaze. There were also "Baghrir" pancakes with butter and honey, served with Moroccan mint tea.

Overall, it was a delightful evening and, as it drew to a close, it seemed as if everyone there were already looking forward to the gathering at the second Long Table.

Meeting @Coopermays

2009-09-10T20:43:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I went to Papa Mojo's Roadhouse, not just to eat wonderful beignets and fresh fruit, but to meet someone from Twitter. As some of you know, when I make the effort to meet new people on Twitter, even if it's just on-line, I tend to focus on people who live in the general vicinity of the Triangle. That's mostly because I think there is a better chance of actually meeting them in person and I just can't follow everyone.

Back in June, it was, therefore, pretty wild that I started conversing via Twitter and then via e-mail, with a woman who was living in Costa Rica, @coopermays. The conversation got started by my complimenting some photos of sunsets and then I quickly learned that she was a potter, originally from the Pittsboro area, here in North Carolina. For some reason, I still never expected to meet her in person.

Fortunately, I am often wrong. I had the pleasure of meeting her at a "meet and greet" party last Sunday at Papa Mojo's. Due to a miscommunication, Martha was unfortunately a couple of hours late and missed several of her greeters. but I stayed and it was a treat to talk to her in person and see several pieces of her pottery. I wish I'd taken photos that day, but you can see the beautiful plate that I had to take home with me.

I know several of you also follow Martha on Twitter or if you missed her at Papa Mojo's, you can still meet her this weekend, September 11-13, Friday and Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday from 12pm-5pm at Lyn Morrow Pottery, in Pittsboro.

You also can check out Cooper Mays Pottery and check out Martha's blog. Brian Shrader, at WRAL, interviewed Martha on Tuesday.

Blu Blogging: Sushi Night

2009-08-30T21:47:00.007-04:00

Last Wednesday, I went to Sushi Night at Blu Seafood and Bar. It was four courses for $40, per person, and we each had an excellent dinner. They kicked it off with ahi tuna, with a green papaya salad. That course also had abalone with pineapple and scallions. It all tasted great, but the abalone shell was also gorgeous.

Next we had a North Carolina yellowfin tuna and lump crab roll with avocado, cucumbers, wakame and spicy aioli.

This hebi tataki was my favorite. It was marlin, spice-encrusted on the outside and completely tender on the inside, served with braised fennel. It was a great combination of flavors and textures.

The meal finished with a large serving of wasabi pea encrusted North Carolina dayboat wahoo with sweet soy, wasabi cucumbers and sticky rice. It was all delicious. Separate from the cost of the meal, each course had a sake or plum wine pairing, arranged by the Hope Valley Bottle Shop. We actually ordered the cold-unfiltered sake, Tozai Snow Maiden, because my Most Faithful readers had not tried it before. It's different from the brand that I'd previously tasted, but I though it was good.

Close Encounter of the Feline Kind

2009-08-23T21:39:00.005-04:00

I'm sure most people prefer to leave work than arrive there. For me, it's also a matter of going down a steep ramp, rather than going up it. The other day, going down proved to be even more interesting than it usually is. I was turning the corner when I saw a beautiful cat on the other side of the railing. As I've blogged before, feral cats are very common on Duke's campus. When I was a student, they were almost always scrawny, but now almost every one I see is plump and has a gorgeous coat. This one was no exception.

Without the railing, he, she, but probably not it, would have quickly run away, but I was able to get a little closer and I zoomed in for this photo. I'd love to have a tabby like this someday. A few seconds later, he decided that I was getting too close for comfort and then we were both on our way.

Blu Blogging : Lobster Roll

2009-08-17T22:14:00.002-04:00

I don't make it to Blu Seafood and Bar for lunch very often, but I've been eager to go have one of their new lobster rolls, since it's been added as one of their new lunch menu items. Fortunately, when I was there for dinner one evening last week, they still had a few left over from lunch. It was really very good. As you can see, it was packed with lobster and, perhaps more importantly, it didn't have too much mayonnaise. Overall, I would rate it higher than Nantucket Cafe and Grill's lobster roll and I hope I'll escape work one of these days and head back to get another one soon.

Next Wednesday, Blu is going to be having a special sushi dinner! You can check their events page for more information.

Dragon in Colored Pencils

2009-08-02T21:06:00.004-04:00

I drew and painted a tremendous amount when I was in high school. While I nominally took correspondance courses for most of my schooling, I went to the high school and stayed for three periods of art, two days a week. The last two years, I took independent studies for which I had to come up with five major projects per semester. I drew a lot of dragons and this was one of my favorites. Chrome is amazingly fun to draw.

Why am I showing you this now? I'm having it framed! I'm very excited that Bull City Art & Frame Company, at Brightleaf Square, in Durham, is taking care of this for me. I'm looking forward to having it hanging in my home and hopefully seeing it on a regular basis will inspire me to start painting and drawing again. Of course, I've been hopeful that a lot of things would do that, but we'll just have to see.

Thai Cafe Blogging : Sushi

2009-07-23T21:37:00.005-04:00

Thai Cafe has opened a sushi bar! It's in the back, in the expanded seating area that they opened last year.

The prices are comparatively low, and an order of nigiri is a single piece, so you can order a wider variety of things, even if you aren't sharing. I got snow crab, mackerel, eel, scallops, squid, octopus, yellowtail, salmon, tuna, snow crab and salmon roe. The fish was really quite good. The mackerel was more pickled than I like, but that means I can just eat more of the other things.

My Most Faithful Reader got a spider roll and a vegetable tempura roll. What I'm most interested in is combining this with the Thai food. I can imagine getting some Thai Cafe baskets, soup or fresh basil rolls and with 3 or 4 pieces of nigiri.

Blu Blogging : Blu Turns Two!

2009-07-11T20:45:00.007-04:00

Tonight Blu Seafood and Bar celebrated its second birthday by bringing out complimentary appetizers to each table. The smoked salmon crostinis, quiches and crab rolls were a real treat.

I ordered a crab spring roll, which was looking and tasting particularly lovely tonight.

We got to enjoy birthday cake, too! The chocolate cake was great and the blackberries were incredibly delicious and sweet.

I had lunch with @mistersugar on Wednesday and I know he's been anticipating seeing his lunch on my blog. It was a mahi mahi special with a mango-pecan brown butter sauce and green beans. I love taking lunch photos, because the lighting is so much better and the results are more zoomable. In fact, that day Chef Tim Lyons and Mark were photographing selections from their new lunch menu, which will be unveiled in the next couple of weeks. Tim told me that it will even include a lobster roll!

I'm really looking forward to another one of their shellfish bakes, on July 22nd. You can read about the first and second Blu shellfish bakes and be sure to make reservations if you plan to go.

Local Yogurt

2009-07-07T16:27:00.004-04:00

Last night, I finally made it over to Local Yogurt at Rockwood Shopping Center, in Durham. When I last visited Six Plates, Matthew Beason, mentioned that he and the head chef, Ted Domville, were two of the owners. I knew then that I had to bump up my first visit on my priority list.

They offered four flavors of yogurt with a huge array of toppings from which to choose. Someday, I really want to try the potato chips as a topping, as reviewed by Carpe Durham, but I decided to start out with something a little more traditional.

I picked the mango yogurt with local Dolly Mama chocolate, blackberries and blueberries. The chocolate was extremely good, but it was very hard and risky for my teeth. I'm going to have to go with the dark chocolate curls next time. The blackberries and blueberries were amazing combined with the yogurt. My 2nd Most Faithful Reader got plain mango yogurt and he said it was very good by itself, but he was also happy to take the chocolate off my hands.

The shop is so clean, bright and cheery. The counter and cabinets are even painted in a color of orange that I find appealing. No small feat!

Definitely go as soon as you can get over there. It's a fantastic and comparatively healthy way to wrap up the evening after dining at one of the many excellent restaurants within walking distance.

Close Encounters of the Squirrel Kind

2009-06-23T20:55:00.010-04:00

When I've been going out to feed the squirrels in the morning, they've been unusually happy to see me. If I talk to them, one of them will often bounce up and down and then head for the deck rail, where I put the seeds out.

They've been comfortable with getting very close to me. In fact, I'd say they are more comfortable than I am with the idea. I wish I could tell them apart so I could tell if I'm visiting with the same ones every morning.

I've been able to get some really sharp photos of them. Zoom in if you like fur and whiskers.

Look at those toes! Recently I sat out there for a few minutes and suddenly there were seven squirrels running around me. Somehow it's even more entertaining if they are just a few feet away than when I'm looking out the window. I just never know when they are going to decide to use me as a springboard during one of their acrobatic maneuvers.

Of course, I had to take some video, too. I'll be sure to take more if they start sitting in my lap.

Papa Mojo's Roadhouse

2009-06-15T21:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my MFRs and I went to Papa Mojo's Roadhouse for the first time. Papa Mojo's is a cajun creole restaurant in Greenwood Commons, fairly near the intersection of 55 and 54. We started out with the beignets, which were excellent. I'm not sure they are quite as good as Rue Cler's, but on the other hand, I'm not positive that here was a limit to how many I could have eaten.

My Most Faithful Reader had shrimp and grits, which were apparently great. It looked good, despite all those mushrooms.

Despite my looking at the menu online beforehand, I had a hard time deciding what to order. There were just so many things I wanted to try. I ended up geting poached eggs with andouille-sweet potato hash, hollandaise sauce and fresh fruit. I chose well. Growing up, I didn't like sweet potatoes, but I've decided that they can be just fantastic in savory dishes. These were no exception. They were so tasty with the very nicely spicey andouille sausage and eggs were cooked perfectly. The fruit was excellent. All around, this was a superb meal. I took roughly half of it home and had it for lunch this morning, around 10:45am. I was eager to get back to it and it didn't need to be reheated at all.

My 2nd Most Faithful Reader had a shrimp and crab omelet. He didn't notice much of the crab, but he's much more fond of shrimp anyway, so I can't believe he minded. He seemed to be very happy with his meal.

For dessert, we had the blueberry pan dowdie, with ice cream. If you don't get the impression from the photo that it was enormous, then you need to zoom in. It was roughly the size of a large sofa. The blueberries were extremely hot, so the ice cream kept trying to get away. 20 minutes after we started eating, they were still hot. This is one amazing and delicious dessert. It's also their entry into the 2009 Best Dish in NC competition.

The service was great. Chef and Owner, Mel Melton, stopped by our table to say hello. The portions were huge and I didn't eat dinner last night at all, because it just wasn't necessary. That could be why I ate the leftovers so early this morning, but I think it's mostly because I knew they'd be good.

Blu Blogging : Catfish Dinner

2009-06-08T20:33:00.005-04:00

I don't really like catfish. I'm a trout person. That's the very reason I went to the Catfish Dinner at Blu Seafood and Bar last week. I knew that if anyone knew how to cook catfish in such a way that I'd like it, it would be Chef Tim Lyons. Fortunately, I was right. It was tasty and not greasy, which is my normal catfish complaint.

I don't like grits, but if they are cheesy and creamy enough, I think they can be pretty good. These weren't as fantastic as what is served with their shrimp and grits, but that's really tough to beat.

I don't like cheesecake, but the no-bake chocolate bourbon cheesecake was fantastic. It was like eating a large piece of candy. Actually, this was the best part of the meal and I'm hoping it will be on their next dessert menu, so I can have more.

Once again, you can see that I am rarely hampered by prejudice, especially when it comes to food.

Hillsborough Yarn Shop

2009-05-29T13:29:00.000-04:00

Some of you may be aware that in the last six months I have, at times, been crocheting quite a bit. Since January, I've made a very long alpaca scarf, three baby hats (one of which only fit a stuffed rabbit) and half of a pretty purple sock that I have since decided should be an iPod holder or something.

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I decided to venture off into the wilds of Cary to Shuttles, Hooks and Needles, which is a yarn store that was highly recommended by my dental hygienist. Unfortunately, it was by no means wheelchair accessible, so we had to abort the mission. I'm still extremely glad she recommended it, because it was the excuse I had for going to Udupi!

I'm also kind of glad that it was inaccessible, because that meant that we headed off to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop sooner rather than later. The Hillsborough Yarn Shop is quite wonderful, indeed.

The owner, Anne, explains to all customers as they come in the door that it operates similarly to a shoe store. There are individual skeins of yarn in the front and you can request that she bring out the number of skeins that you would like (need) from the back. This enables her to offer a huge selection of yarns, all from natural fibers, in a relatively small space. There is one more room, in addition to the one that I've depicted in the photographs above. You can easily spend hours looking at and feeling of all of the gorgeous yarns. I did.

Of course I just looked. I have amazing willpower. I've never seen the green leather ottoman that the yarn is sitting on before in my life. I do have to say that if you fill up a frequent buyer's card on your first visit to a store, it definitely makes you feel welcome.

Hillsborough continues to be the hip-happening place to go to spend an afternoon. You can go to any number of places to eat, go to Matthew's Chocolates for dessert and then shop to your heart's content. Now, more than any other time in the almost 20 years that I've lived here, it's not just a place to stop for just one thing. Downtown Hillsborough, as a whole, is a destination.

Thai Cafe Blogging : Ice Cream!

2009-05-24T18:36:00.005-04:00

Thai Cafe has recently added housemade ice cream to their dessert offerings. Before they just had creme brulee and coconut cake, which is an unusually short list. Now they have housemade coffee, red bean, green tea, vanilla and strawberry ice cream. I had the red bean, which my 2nd Most Faithful Reader and I enjoyed. My Most Faithful Reader had the coffee, which was great. I would have ordered it or the green tea, which had both been recommended by our waiter, but I avoid consuming caffeiene in the evening. I rarely ever get dessert at Thai Cafe, because I'm usually too full after my meal to tackle their large serving of creme brulee, but one can always fit in some ice cream!

In contrast, Rockwood Filling Station, right across the street, has quit serving their housemade ice cream, which was very disappointing the last time I went there. They still have root beer floats and milkshakes, though. Dear readers, were you not ordering their ice cream enough for them to keep it around? Shame on you. Actually, Scott Howell has a tradition of taking away my favorite desserts. I'm still dreaming of the fried pies that he used to serve at the Q-Shack. Fortunately, I love the Anchovy pizza at the Filling Station so much that I'll forgive him.

35th Annual DurHamFest

2009-05-21T21:53:00.005-04:00

Once again, it's time for DurHamFest, the annual amateur radio swap fest run by the Durham FM Association. This year, it's the 35th annual hamfest, which is pretty amazing.

It's this Saturday, May 23rd, from 8am to 2pm, at the Little River Community Center. It's a great event for ham radio operators to get together and socialize and for everyone to look at or purchase new and used radio and computer equipment. There will be food available, of course, or I wouldn't even think of attending. Well, I might bring my own, I suppose.

If you're a ham, I hope to see you there. If you're not, it's an opportunity to learn a little more about amateur radio and gawk at geekiness. That's another way of saying that I anticipate that fun will be had by all.

Udupi Cafe

2009-05-16T20:45:00.007-04:00

I've mentioned before that I thought you had to go to Cary in order to get really good Indian food in this area. Don't get me wrong. In this case, I am not a snob, because I am more than happy to gobble down any Indian food that you put in front of me. I just hoped to be impressed by what I found in "Little India", in Cary. I was. I know you're wondering, but I assure you that I did not get lost while I was in Cary, no thanks to the road that was closed in Google's chosen path. My iPhone's GPS quickly showed me an alternate route.

The food at Udupi Cafe, which had been recommended to me by at least a dozen people, was beyond fantastic. Udupi has southern Indian food and is completely vegetarian. It was almost packed at close to 1pm on a Saturday afternoon. We chose the buffet, but we could have ordered from the menu. Absolutely everything was delicious. I particularly liked a carrot dish, which is the orange substance depicted in the photo above. I, of course, don't like cooked carrots, but my tastes are consistently inconsistent, as my readers are well aware.

From left to right, they had a coconut chutney, lemon pickle and raita. The lemon pickle didn't seem outrageously hot to me, but I think I'm just getting used to these things. Everything was good.

Go there. I don't care if you have an aversion to Cary. You must go. I want to go back as soon as possible.

You can read another review of Udupi Cafe on The Archer Pelican.

Tyler's Taproom Blogging : Now With Cod

2009-05-07T20:24:00.012-04:00

Shortly before the Triangle Tweetup last Thursday night, I had a spontaneous dinner at Tyler's Taproom with @boraZ. Eating was rushed, because I was tweeting, talking and we were both looking for other people we knew or who just looked as if they might be going to the Tweetup. Bora ordered the blackened salmon salad.

As you can see, he was very eager to eat it. He finished it too! It must have been good.

I had the fish and chips. They've replaced the catfish with cod, which they announced in a separate page inserted in the menu. They said this was due to popular demand and I'm not terribly fond of catfish, so I naturally think this was a good move. I actually thought their fish and chips was quite good before, in spite of the type of fish, but this was even better. It was nice and crispy and they give you three big pieces accompanied by their garlic fries, which are great. Two of the pieces made a nice lunch on Saturday and no reheating was required.

I also do love drinking at Tyler's. Their lemonade is still fantastic. It's so sour. It's perfect. It's really what keeps me going back again and again. I admit that I am powerless over good lemonade. That's the first step.

Green Leaf

2009-05-03T22:15:00.002-04:00

I recently went to Green Leaf, which is on University Drive, between Eastern Lights and AutoZone, and where Taste of India was briefly. I thought it was good and the food was pleasantly spicy, much more so than any of the other Indian restaurants in Durham. As you can see, I started out by feeding my comparatively recent mango lassi addiciton. Green Leaf features southern Indian cooking, but they also have northern Indian food.

They started out by giving us some cauliflower pakoras, which were very good.

We ordered some Punugulu, which are made from rice and lentils, with onions, chillies and ginger. They're kind of like savory hushpuppies with a kick. They came with a coconut sauce, which was quite good.

I wanted to try their dosa, which are characteristic of classic southern Indian cuisine, so we ordered the Vegetable Kal Dosa. The Kal is what the pancakes are cooked on. They were served with a delicious concoction of vegetables and the same coconut sauce as the Punugulu. The owner noticed that I was picking out the mushrooms, because I'm still not fond of most of them and rushed over to offer to make a version without them. I explained that it was ok, because my friend liked them and I think they add a nice flavor. Many years ago, I tried dosa at the Dosa Inn, in Cary, and these were so much better. This dish was really fantastic.

We also shared the Kerala Fish Curry, which had tilapia and coconut curry, with southern Indian spices. It was also very good.

The curry came with a large serving of rice and I thought the few peas on top made it look sort of elegant. After all this and saving some for leftovers, we were too stuffed to try dessert. They have a buffet every night, which features the cuisine of specific regions on different days of the week.

I am really looking forward to going back soon! Be sure to check out Carpe Durham's review of Green Leaf, too.

Grand Opening - Eronel Designs

2009-04-25T17:33:00.001-04:00

Back in the dark ages, when I was a teenager, I used to make jewelry. In the past few years, I've still made jewelry, but I used to sell it, along with my paintings, at Womancraft, an artists' cooperative in Chapel Hill, and at Horizon Gallery, which used to be in Brightleaf Square, in Durham. Working at Womancraft was great, because every weekend, I got to spend 4 hours meeting new people that came in the store, catching up with the regulars and talking to my fellow artists and artisans. As you can guess, many of our conversations went something like this:

"After I leave here, I'm going to the Persian Carpet."
"Is that a restaurant?"
"No, it's a rug store."

I don't think I need to provide attribution for the individual quotes, unless this is the first post of mine that you've discovered. I'm afraid that I didn't have to make up that example either.

In any case, once I started college, particularly when I was a sophomore, my classes interfered with how I had chosen to spend my spare time for the previous four years. I had to quit. I not only quit working at Womancraft, but I pretty much quit making jewelry and I quit painting. I concentrated even more heavily on my studies and then leapt right into my career, which did not involve my artistic abilities.

Recently, I've started making jewelry again with wild abandon. I still have all of my supplies from the old days, my sterling silver and gold-filled wire, my semiprecious gemstone beads and my tools. Now I have an art studio, so I can spread out all of my work without having to put it all away before preparing for exams or writing a paper.

I decided to set up an Etsy store to sell my work. For those of you who haven't checked out Etsy, it's a way for artists to sell their handmade crafts on-line, within a nice framework. When I was younger, I sold my jewelry and my paintings under "Lenore's Creations", but I decided to be a little backward and my wares are now called "Eronel Designs". Like most things, I have no idea how successful my new business venture will be, but if I come anywhere close to selling as many earrings and necklaces as I did long ago, my fingers will be pretty busy on the weekends.

In reality, I only did this so I would have an excuse to create a third Twitter account, @eroneldesigns, to communicate information about the store and spout random bits of enthusiasm.

Saigon Grill

2009-04-08T21:41:00.012-04:00

Last Tuesday, I went to Saigon Grill with several friends and we had a lovely feast. Carpe Durham also just reviewed the restaurant, so I encourage you to read about their experiences. We started with two kinds of spring rolls, one with grilled pork and the other with shrimp and pork, both of which I liked.

They have a nice selection of interesting non-alcoholic drinks, which I find pretty exciting. As of Tuesday, they did not yet have their liquor license, but hopefully they will soon, if they don't already. I tried the Young Coconut Drink and definitely enjoyed it.

The owner waited on us and he recommended that we try the egg rolls, which contained ground pork and shrimp with beanthread noodles. These were delicious. There were four and I photographed the last one while I could.

One of my friends got the eel sauteed with curry and coconut sauce. This was probably my favorite of everything I tried. I'm a big fan of eel, but the entire dish was so interesting and good. This was the first time I'd tried eel with bones in it and it certainly had a different texture from typical sushi barbecued eel. We marveled at some of the unidentified vegetation in the dish.

Another friend had the pork chop and he seemed to really like it.

Two of us ordered the duck soup with egg vermicelli. I thought it was very good and thought that the only thing wrong with it was that eating it was a little awkward. It had huge chunks of duck that were still on the bone, large pieces of bok choy, large pieces of mushroom (one of which I intentionally ate), and a large mass of noodles. I ate half of it for lunch a few days later and thought it was miraculous that I didn't get any on my blouse. If you like duck in all its fatty glory, then you will like this. If you aren't sure, then order something else. It's just ducky.

Overall, I enjoyed it and hope I can con someone into going back with me soon.

ShangHai House

2009-04-04T15:42:00.012-04:00

Friday night, I was fortunate to go to a new Chinese restaurant with friends of mine who had lived in China for a year and who could order in Chinese. It was amazing watching them alternate between giddiness and being close to tears at being able to order some of the dishes that were extremely close to what they routinely ate while they were there. The location is where the No. 1Panda House used to be, across Guess Rd. from where the old Willowdale theatre used to be. The sign still remains, so, for now, that's what you'll need to look for. The take-out menu and their website state that the name of the restaurant is actually ShangHai House.

The sweet corn and minced chicken soup was the least exciting offering that I sampled. It was good and it would be nice on a cold winter day, though.

These green beans were the Pleasant Steamed Bean - Jam Bun Silk. The beans were excellent. They had a thin sauce that reminded me of fermented beans, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was and I was too busy chewing to ask.

This was Fried Tofu, Home Style and was my favorite of everything we tried. The tofu was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, with a delectable brown, ever so slightly sweet, sauce.

The Yu-Shiang Shredded pork was also wonderful and was served with a much sweeter sauce.

We each received a compimentary orange at the end, which was delicious.

The service was very friendly, but the restaurant, which was almost empty when we arrived at 6pm, was almost full when we left and it was challenging getting a bill, to say the least. We ended up having to just go up to the cash register with our money in hand.

I carefully photographed their entire menu and was thrilled with the results, but it turns out that their entire menu is online. Be sure to check it out, because it's at the least entertaining and at best exciting for the adventurous. They appear to serve dim sum all the time, so I'm craving pork buns and scallion pancakes, which I haven't had in years. They also have dishes listed like "Sizzling Cowboy Bone" and "Spoiled Chaotic Pork." There are just so many dishes I would like to try, but I'm not quite sure braised pigs' knuckles are on that list yet.

Definitely check this place out at your earliest convenience.

Help Find GEE's Bike!

2009-04-02T20:26:00.003-04:00

Google Earth Evangelist's bicycle was recently stolen. Please help her find it! Check out http://findmybicycle.blogspot.com for more information. Thanks!