Harbor Front Trio- December 2015

Date night! Twice in one month! Craziness! First we went for coffee at Tiger Lily Cafe because I had been wanting to check it out, and also because I was so tired after my night out in NYC celebrating Mike and Havi's love.

Tiger Lily Cafe date-night-selfie

Then we went to get my library card at Port Jeff Library so I can take the kids to events and get digital books and audiobooks. But it's super frustrating to get a library card there. This was my second try and I still thought they were going to say no. What are the rules? You have to have a piece of mail with your name AND date on it. It doesn't matter if all your bills are addressed to your husband, that's a personal problem. It doesn't matter that your husband and kids already have their library cards. It's also a personal problem that a lot of your bills have personal information on them. But alas, I got my card.

Book Tree at library- Merry Christmas and Hallelujah!

Then we were off to the main event. The Harbor Front Trio was playing (for free!) at the Port Jefferson Village Center in the Sail Loft Room with a view of the harbor. The trio played Mozart (well Mozart's dad actually) & Haydn.

Port Jefferson Village Center decorated for Christmas!

There was a tree decorating competition happening.

Harbor Front Trio: Natalie Kress (a little hidden), Phuc Phan, and Ofir Tomer

View out the window

Intermission

Port Jefferson Christmas lights

Andrew's 30th Birthday in Key West 2013

Sorry everybody's 30th birthdays. Andrew's won by virtue of being in Key West while temperatures in the Northeast dropped below the 30s. We stayed in these cute cabins called "Courtney's Place" with a pool and a breakfast that stayed open late. We were a two-block walk from Duval Street. We got in Friday afternoon and after some relaxing by the pool we had dinner and partied at Irish Kevin's, The Green Parrot, Smallest Bar, The Hog's Breath Saloon, and Sloppy Joe's. That was our warm-up.

Me, Kevin, Katie, Andrew, and Mike at Irish Kevin's on Friday night

Andrew, Stephanie, Corey, Ken, and Tatiana outside Irish Kevin's

 

Andrew, Doug, Marisa, and Tana dancing at The Green Parrot

Everyone had a lot of beers and jello shots, and I sipped water like a champ. We easily walked 4 miles going up and down Duval Street. Who says we're old? Mike S. may or may not have danced on a table at Hog's Breath, and Kevin may or may not have unbuttoned all the buttons on his shirt at Sloppy Joe's. Suffice to say, I have pictures I am not blogging here. Kevin's mom got some fun drunk texts from various phones. Thanks for babysitting Ma!

Ken plus the cousins at Hog's Breath Saloon on Friday night

It took a while for everyone to recover on Saturday, even me, even though I only drank water. So we started the day with some Cuban coffee at Cuban Coffee Queen, a walk along the waterfront, and some light window-shopping on Duval. A good number of people made it over to the Hemingway House, and everyone regrouped at the pool at Courtney's Place by the afternoon.

The Clou men at Cuban Coffee Queen for coffee and Cuban sandwiches

Some mad posing at the waterfront: Corinne, Matt, Andrew, Mike M, and Kourtney

Contrary to appearances here, most of us went in the pool. 

We did a little walk to Southernmost Point, but the sunlight was bad for a picture. So after the boys stopped for cigars at the Dominican Republic Cigar Shop,  we all headed over to Mallory Square for the sunset. Some of us just missed the actual sunset but we were mostly there for the party. A few people were psyched for The Cat Man at the Sunset Pier so we checked that out too. Finally we gathered for a 22-person dinner at Finnegan's Wake! Andrew gave a really nice toast where he said he felt like he'd become rich by 30-- with friendship.

Me and Kevin at Mallory Square

Andrew giving a thank you toast to everyone who came out for his birthday

Everyone who went to Key West (except Dave who graciously took this picture)

After dinner, we would have liked to see some turtles race at Turtle Kraals, but they only do that on Mondays (!) so we settled for playing some really intense bocce. Kourtney impressed us with her kinetic super powers. If you'd seen it, you'd be a believer. There was much mischief at Captain Tony's Saloon, and thanks to Kevin, Katie met a man named "Bottom." Probably that's not going anywhere. We rejoined a bigger group at The Green Parrot and enjoyed some tunes from the band Xperimento. Google Maps tells me that means we walked at least 5.5 very fun miles on Saturday.

Kourtney, Mike M, Andrew, Stephanie, and Ken at Captain Tony's Saloon

Matt, Corinne, Tana, and Mike M at The Green Parrot

The weekend was epic, and will be hashed and rehashed for many years to come. Happy birthday, Andrew! Oh, and we had a little spa time before we came home from Florida, by which I mean:

I got Kourtney to walk on Kevin's back because I am the best wife ever. ;)

• Check out the last time we visited Andrew in Florida in December of 2012 or
• Kevin's 30th birthday in New York in February of 2010

Driving through Upstate NY 2013

We enjoyed our drive up to Vermont, even though it was quite long. Upstate New York is beautiful we kept oohing and ahhing as we passed the mountain ranges. I hadn't been past Lewis, NY where my dad's ashes are since Father's Day 2011, and it felt like an entire lifetime ago. We can't visit the actual site, so I think in future years we might visit Split Rock where my dad was known to take the occasional high dive off a cliff and into the water.

Near Lewis, NY

The drive back was a little better because we went from Vermont to Wendy and Clark's house upstate so the drive was a little shorter. We stopped for lunch along the way and we discovered the very upscale town of Manchester, Vermont. It looked like the Hamptons of Vermont, and we found this amazing book store with a really good sandwich shop inside. The Northshire Bookstore is huge, with a whole floor for children, and regular readings and events. It's rare to find an independent bookstore that's this impressive. We were also very satisfied by the sandwiches and coffee we bought at the attached Spiral Press Cafe.

Northshire Bookstore and Spiral Press Cafe in Manchester,VT

Even though we didn't need anything, I couldn't resist making Kevin pull over when I saw the Big Moose Deli in Hoosick, NY. I live for this foolishness. The reviews for the food are really good too, so maybe next time we'll actually get something to eat.

James and Kevin are slightly less excited to stop here than I am.


I'm a moose!


I love these cute moose- look at James's face!

Haha, I love it.

Things My Wife Complains About #21: Seeking Her Best Interests

James is on a pretty regular schedule now. He wakes up between 5 and 6 am and goes to bed at 6:30 pm. During those thirteen hours or so, he takes one nap, and all of this is normal for a kid his age. My wife wakes up with James most days, and she's understandably tired and solicitous of a wake-me-up like coffee or amphetamines or high-grade cocaine. I prepare the coffeemaker for her before bed, and when I hear the whirr of the beans grinding, I know she's making coffee and James is dancing, as he thinks the whirr is a particularly good song. He has very bad taste in music.

When I don't hear the beans grinding, I know she's going to be mood challenged and I'm going to be accused of not showing sufficient sympathy or breathing too loudly or impregnating her in the first place or not impregnating her again or nothing at all, followed by a loud accusation that I'm ignoring her. Usually, I've already started grinding the beans or cutting the cocaine by this point, but recently my wife pointed out that I'd suggested she have coffee AFTER her nap. She naps with James. From her tone, you might have guessed that I'd suggested she join the Taliban. We had the following conversation:

Me: I thought you might sleep better.
Her: You made me this way.
Me: I wanted you to be rested for the day.
Her: Do you understand that this is your fault?
Me: Maybe we should make you some coffee.
Her (bending her arms in the matter of a tyrannosaurs rex): RARRR
James (getting his head stuck between the chair and the wall): RARRRRRR

Possible solutions!

1) Brew decaf coffee and hope for the placebo effect
2) Follow a morning stimulant with a morning depressant, like whiskey
3) Get James to nap by himself (hard)

Dinosaurs at rest.

SE Roadtrip: BBQ Rankings 2012

After eating BBQ a total of 7 times on our trip, we came up with the following ranking. All of the BBQ was good. Even our ranking of Mac's isn't totally fair because we're not big fans of North Carolina-style BBQ anyway. It has a vinegar sauce and it's not the same as a BBQ sauce.  The BBQ sandwich we got at Hominey Grill was very good, but it was chicken, so it's tough for chicken to compete with pork BBQ.

Walls and Loveless Cafe were both great by any standard, and even though they tied, they were totally different.  Walls had an authentic BBQ atmosphere, and the BBQ was great but it had a very distinct flavor, almost as if the BBQ sauce were tomato-sauce-based.  Loveless Cafe was a nice restaurant with fantastic pork because they have their own smokehouse on the premises, but they put the BBQ sauce on top instead of mixing it into the sandwich, which drives me a little crazy.

Finally, the food at the more humble Fat Matt's and the sit-down restaurant Rendezvous were both amazing BBQ-of-your-life places.  Rendezvous had dry-rub BBQ, which is a different style, but it was every bit as delicious as the saucy kind.  If we had to pick a winner though, it would be Fat Matt's because along with a BBQ you feel the need to pilgrimage to, everyone there was so nice to us that we left walking on a cloud.  They were especially nice to James. In contrast, Rendezvous's servers had a more of a soup-nazi attitude that we get enough of in New York.

Me and James at Fat Matt's in Atlanta, GA

James and Kevin at Rendezvous

One final note: there is no "A" on our list, so we thought about what place that we know of would be an "A."  Buzz and Ned's in Richmond, Virginia is a good example of an "A," and is probably the standard we were using to judge the other places.

Our Ranking- Restaurant- Location - Grade- Description- Order We Ate It In
(1st ) Fat Matt's, Atlanta, GA: A+ (sweet, BQ flavor, perfect balance and size)
(1/2) Charles Vergos' Rendezvous, Memphis, TN : A+ (7)
(3) Walls, Savannah, GA: A- (tomato sauce and mustard sauce, more meaty) (4)
(3) Loveless Cafe, Nashville, TN: A- (BBQ-flavored sauce on top, big) (6)
(5) Hominey Grill, Charleston, SC: B+ (chicken, big sandwich)(5)
(6) Mojo 41, Jacksonville, FL: B+ (4 seperate sauce choices, Mojo sauce was very good, pork was good) (3)
(7) Mac's Speed Shop, Charlotte, NC: B (vinegar sauce, separate)(1)

Now, we weren't on a grits roadtrip, so I didn't seek out the best grits in each city and town we went to, so this list is pretty random.  I love grits, so I couldn't resist having them when I saw them on the menu, and Hominey Grill is actually known for it's grits so we did go there for the grits instead of the BBQ.  The standard I was judging these by were the two best grits I've had in my life: (1) Gouda grits with shrimp that I had at Taste of the South in 2005 from a restaurant in Florida, and (2) Katy's homemade cheese grits made with salty tap water in 2008.  Loveless Cafe makes a decent runner-up to Katy's grits. Caviar and Bananas was pretty good too, but I was disappointed that Hominey, the place best known for it's grits, got last place on my list.

Grits:
Loveless Cafe, Nashville, TN: A (classic cheese grits, yum)
Caviar & Bananas, Charleston, SC: A- (jalapeno cheese grits, not bad)
Hominey Grill, Charleston, SC: B+ (shrimp and grits, fancy and tasty, but not up to the hype)

The three of us at Loveless Cafe in Nashville

Finally, we drank a lot of coffee on the trip so these are our quick rankings of the best places.  Kevin and I disagree about the Sentient Bean coffee.  It had a strange licorice flavor which I thought was very good and Kevin didn't like at all.  I probably would have ranked it first, and Kevin would have possibly ranked it last, so I split the difference, but it's probably just a love-it-or-hate-it flavor.

Coffee:
Dose, Nashville, TN (very good)
City Lights Coffee, Charleston, SC (very good)
Sentient Bean, Savannah, GA (Licorice-flavor)
Roasted, Macon, GA (fine)
Cool Beans, Columbia, SC (bad)

Yum, now I wish I were eating BBQ and grits and washing it down with coffee. At least I can have coffee tomorrow.  And tomorrow... Kevin's post!

SE Roadtrip Day 10: Columbia, SC 2012

Our next planned stop after Charleston were the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, but that's pretty far away, and we try not to drive long stretches while James is awake, so when he woke up from his afternoon nap we stopped in South Carolina's capital Columbia.  Um, yeah.

The capital building is probably the main attraction, and it's beautiful, but it displays a Confederate flag right in front, and it's all alone.  Possibly the American flag and the flag of South Carolina are in the back somewhere, but you don't see them; you just see the Confederate one.  Still divisive after a 150 years! Good job, guys.  My friend who is from South Carolina says that in her state they have an expression, "South Carolina: We are not making this up."

We still took a photo in front of it, just away from the flag

Also, do most South Carolinians see the irony in having an African American memorial, complete with a slave memorial, just a few feet from a Confederate women's monument and a statue of Senator Strom Thurman? Ugh, forget it.

Anyway, we went to a coffee shop, Cool Beans to cool off and then we walked around the campus of  The University of South Carolina. It's very pretty there and James loved running around "the horseshoe."

Talk softly and carry a big stick

James, after the stick was taken away. Awesome. 

We had a bit more time to kill until it was close enough to the time James might sleep in the car, so based on Wikipedia, I thought it might be nice to see Finlay Park.  It was sketch. How sketch? After James ran around for a few minutes we decided to leave because the crowd there was making me nervous. James must have felt the same because he decided to puke all over me. I took him to the bathroom to clean up both of us, and there was a knife in the stall. True story. When I came out of the stall, puke-covered, looking really nervous, and with a baby under my arm, a possibly-homeless woman asked me if I was okay.

James having fun in Finlay Park

James puking on me

Then we were off to the Smoky Mountains...

SE Roadtrip Day 8: Savannah, GA 2012

Savannah, Georgia is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. She's romantic, clean, polite, and charming at every turn.  It's easy to fall for her, especially if you start in Forsyth Park, with it's lush greenery and Spanish moss. We started there and let James run around the playground for a while before we tortured him with tons of photos in front of the Forsyth fountain.

Clous in front of the Forsyth Fountain

Forsyth Park

Thanks a lot, boys. (In front of the Confederate Memorial.)

Then we took a very long leisurely walk through different squares in the city, which are really more like small parks than European-style squares.  I think there are 21 total in Savannah, and we went through about 6-9 of them.

Another method of travelling around Savannah

We plotted our course to lead us to Walls BBQ, which is basically a BBQ shack in the middle of nowhere that's received high praise from the New York Times.  This was our 4th BBQ of the trip (!) and it did not disappoint at all.  The pork sandwich sauce tasted a bit more like tomato sauce and mustard than a more traditional southern BBQ flavor, but it was juicy, meaty, and delicious. We also got a yummy side of okra and tomatoes, so we could expand our range of BBQ cuisine and get some vegetables into our bodies.

James can be bought for some burger bun and okra

Outside of Walls, happy from all the yummy BBQ

On our way out of Savannah, we hit a vaguely collegy-hipsterish coffee shop, leading us to believe that the hipsters have a serious foothold in the South. The Sentient Bean had a yummy coffee that had some licorice-like flavor to it. Good parks, good BBQ, and good coffee-- we're sold on Savannah.

SE Roadtrip Day 6: Macon, GA 2012

We didn't plan on going to Macon, Georgia, but our next planned stop Jacksonville, Florida is 5.5 hours from Atlanta, so that meant either waiting until James was close to bedtime and getting to Jacksonville really late, or going part of the way during his second nap of the day.  Macon seemed like a logical choice because we'd heard of Macon before and it was clearly on the way.  The next issue was what to do in Macon.  We were in luck. Macon is home to the Ocmulgee National Monument, home of the "earthworks" of Native Americans who lived in the area more than a 1000 years ago.

Me in front of the Ocmulgee burial mound

Believe it or not, this is not my first mound visit. In 2009, my parents and I traveled to Miamisburg, Ohio on a super intense 20-hour roadtrip of our on to try on my wedding dress at the designer's shop with no other stops or sights.  Between fittings we went to the Miamisburg Mound and my dad and I climbed to the top.  I had already been thinking of that trip because we'll be going to Ohio for my second time on this trip, but coming across my second mound was a surprise. 

But this site has a whole series of mounds, and includes an "Earth Lodge" you can enter and listen to a recording explaining what the Native Americans did there.  So we did that, and after letting James run around outside for a few minutes, we were ready to go.

Kevin about to duck into the Ocmulgee Earth Lodge

Ocmulgee Earth Lodge

James favorite part of the day is anytime he gets to run around outside

So we head into Downtown Macon to grab dinner and kill some time. Macon was pretty dead for a Wednesday after work. The town looks nice enough, with cheerful pink flowers spray-painted on the corners and cute little shops, but lots of the stores looked like they had gone out of business a while ago.  We picked a sandwich and coffee shop from Yelp, and it was great.   Roasted Cafe and Lounge turned out to be a hipster coffee shop which was very odd for us to find in Macon, but the people were nice, the coffee was good, and there was free WiFi.  We got delicious vegetarian sandwiches because we were still in a bit of a meat coma from the BBQ we ate in Atlanta for lunch.  All in all, Macon worked out pretty well for us so it earned a blog post.

Downtown Macon

Hipster coffee shop in Macon, Roasted Cafe and Lounge

Bonus cute photo of James in Macon

Things My Wife Complains About: #2 Allowing Her to Nap

While showering before work yesterday, I committed the previously unknown crime of allowing her to take a nap on the couch. When she awoke, she chastened me for allowing this nap to happen, pointing out that had I brought her coffee in the middle of my shower, her nap probably wouldn't have happened. These solutions propose themselves!

Proposed solutions!

1) Interrupt shower to serve wife coffee (hat tip to wife).
2) Shower in middle of night while wife is already sleeping.
3) Hook coffee IV to wife's arm, provided bag is weightless (hard).

Blowing Through Nap Time (2008)

Our First Date 2006

Kevin at Michael's Bistro in Cville (2006)

Happy anniversary! I know we're married now, so the old dating anniversary should no longer count, but I think it should this year, since otherwise there is no anniversary this year.

These pictures show how we looked in summer of 2006 when we met. I got a bit overdressed to get coffee at Mudhouse and Sarah, my unfailingly kind law school friend, drove me there. That's why when Kevin and I got married, I had Sarah give me the ring. Without her, how could it have happened?

Ericka at Busch Gardens (2006)

It was Sunday, so Kevin was sitting outside reading the New York Times. The first thing I noticed about him was his bushy hair and that he was cute. Being overdressed payed off perhaps because Kevin got me a cappuccino while he sipped a green tea. While he tried to impress me with his two-book contract and personal Dave Barry connection (I love Dave Barry), I somehow managed not to frighten him off with my denial of the existence happiness.

Maybe he thought some ice cream would make me happier? After Mudhouse, he suggested we walk over to Chaps for dessert. I was charmed. He drove me home to Ivy Gardens and asked if I'd be interested in another date. I said, "definitely."