Savannah In Five Words

Charm. Culture. History. Arts. Food.

As Aimee and I sit here finishing “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”, and thinking about our amazing weekend getaway, those are the first five that come to mind.  Though I’m sure there are many more.  Savannah was very lovely at this time of year – All those Azaleas!  They were everywhere and they were absolutely beautiful!  Between the blooms, the mysterious Spanish moss and the many squares throughout the Historic District, we were hooked!  As always, check out our Picasa Album for the full complement of photos.

Our trip started out by going straight to Tybee Island to have brunch at The Breakfast Club.  We asked to meet the owner of this small-family operated spot because the restaurant was full of Chicago references and memorabilia.  Turns out she was born and raised in Chicago so we got to have a quick chat about our city.

After a walk through the numerous squares and along the river front, we were already comfortable with the with the lay of the land.  It’s a very walkable city – just don’t walk too fast!

   

We participated in liturgy for the 4th Sunday of Lent at the Cathedral of John the Baptist whose interior was eerily reminiscent of the Basilica on Notre Dame’s campus. 

We got a coveted reservation at the Olde Pink House for dinner on Saturday… at 9:30pm!  We spent some time in the basement bar where we enjoyed a mint julep (with Woodford Reserve of course) and champagne while we listened to the stylings of the bar’s “piano-man”.  We were seated at 10:10pm, and dinner was well worth the wait, we had a delicious dinner consisting of she crab soup, fried green tomatoes, flounder and soft shell crab.  It was a delicious and very satisfying Southern meal – unfortunately, we were barely awake by the time dinner came!

On Sunday we took breakfast at the Hamilton-Turner Inn, our Bed and Breakfast for the weekend.  I was very impressed with the historic inn, their property and of course the breakfast, which was much grander than I’ve experienced in other B&Bs. 

After breakfast and a quick jog through Forsyth Park, we hopped on the Old Savannah Tour bus for a guided tour of the Historic and Victorian Districts of Savannah.

This is Lady and Sons, Paula Deen’s restaurant, where we originally intended to dine on Saturday but after more careful research decided that Olde Pink House would be both less commercialized and likely better.  I can’t imagine we were wrong but this was neat to see nonetheless.

The famous Savannah Candy Kitchen, located in the City Market area (also, turns out, Terminal B of the Atlanta airport), is a staple of any Savannah visit.  We bought a few treats for us and friends.  Most notably some “thank you” victuals for Atlanta Megan who, last minute, offered to watch Crowley while we were away.

 

 

Life returns today to its slightly faster pace, measurably healthier eating, and just a touch less Southern. We’ll be back to Savannah but in the meantime, we’ll remember the wise words of Joe Odom in “Midnight”:

“If you leave a party early, you got to take a traveler” i.e. a drink to go, a legal and and oft-utilized custom in Savannah.

A Rainy Atlanta Weekend

We were the recipients of some lovely weather this weekend so we made it a mental health weekend and did some relaxing and cleaning.  Aside the rain and hail storm on Saturday, there were a few key highlights:

The iPad 2 arrived. Hardly has it left Aimee’s side.  I have to say though, I’m really impressed by this thing.  It’s zippy and is a good addition to our technology arsenal (which admittedly isn’t that imposing).  Here’s a picture of a happy Aimee unboxing it:

As we progress through Lent, we celebrated Liturgy for the 3rd Sunday of Lent at IHM tonight.  We have introduced Crowley to the season of Lent as well.  Since a) we cannot presume to understand how dogs might perceive the concept of “prayer” and b) Crowley has no alms to give, it was determined that she will be fasting until Easter.  As such we have changed her food from Orijen Regional Red (all red meat) to their 6 fish variety.  Strangely, I don’t think she appreciates the sacrifice much.

Most notable this weekend was the “We Will Follow the Cross” concert at IHM.  This was an evening of Lenten music featuring the music of Michael Mullink and Michael Vrazel.  Together they have written numerous inspired pieces of music which draw on their experiences in work, daily life, and major church events.  They graciously asked Aimee and I to be an important part of the evening.  Aimee participated in the schola group and sang a solo (“My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts”); I accompanied the group on piano and also played a piece I wrote for the occasion based on “What Wondrous Love” and “Were You There”.  I’ll post a recording when I get my hands on it.  Until then, here are some pictures:

Trip to Chicago, Part III

More of a third installment I suppose.  Aimee and I took the St. Patrick’s Day weekend as an opportunity to visit our home away from Atlanta to see some friends, family, and participate in a few things that remind us of living in Chicago.

The annual Siamsa nGael concert was on Wednesday at Symphony Center.  I sat proudly in the Gallery with other young adults (see vantage point shot below). The music selection was a refreshing blend of new and familiar and showcased immensely talented soloists from Old St. Pat’s.  Martin Sheen was the guest narrator, guiding us, his captive audience, through the stories and beautiful imagery of inciting music, brash courage, and proud history of the Irish people.  Many media outlets were not welcome at the event because of an expressed desire to ask Martin about his son.  NBC was present on condition that they respect the man and his purpose.  They published some pictures on their site:  pictures link 

With a shortage of Irish pubs here in Atlanta, I was on the hunt for a good corned beef and cabbage.  Unfortunately I had completely forgotten this quest when picking Red Light for dinner.  Their zesty Chinese offerings and refreshing drinks did not disappoint though!  Neither did my stay at Hotel Neary.  Thank you to them for opening their doors to me!

On Friday I had the opportunity to visit with Kristen most of the day at the United Center as we cheered the Notre Dame basketball team to victory against Akron.  Mental note though, to stay away from the United Center on Friday’s in Lent.  I can only hope that their undesirable Connie’s Pizza does not become the Chicago-style pizza archetype for visitors. 

We met at Mark’s place that night for Brinner, featuring eggs, waffles, and donuts.  Special thanks to Mark for his hospitality and willingness to cook for us while we visited with Sara, Adam, Kristen, and Scott – and especially for letting us stay with him over the weekend. 

Webster’s Wine Bar was up next. They state they are Chicago’s “Oldest and Finest Wine Bar”, yet established in 1994.  Did we really not have wine bars before then? Anyway, Aimee was hoping to connect with her soon-to-be colleagues and this place was perfect:  a large couch and wine list that reads like a book.  She counts herself more than fortunate to work with such smart practitioners.

Megan generously came in early (air quotes?) to give us massages on Saturday morning which was followed by lunch with Fr. Tom, my parents, and Frank and Darlene at Ina’s in the West Loop.  I’m saddened to find out that there was a delicious breakfast place in the West Loop that I did not know about.  We got to meet Ina herself (a.k.a. Breakfast Queen, evidently a title that has been taken away from Aimee). 

David and Maryjoy had a couple hours to visit with us that afternoon so we finally got to meet little Theo and catch up with them.  We miss our trips to the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and anticipate those resuming soon.

We really enjoyed the chance to visit with my parents who drove in from Michigan to be with us.  Dinner on Saturday took us to Little Italy to Francesca’s on Taylor Street.  We were joined by Megan, Jim, Ginny, the Mullooly’s, along with my parents and Frank and Darlene.

Sunday started, as so frequently it does, with brunch among friends.  Leaning on the early brunch mandate from MB, we decided it was a good time to experience a smaller crowd at Meli.  It was delicious.  Hopefully Irena liked it because she’s now blacklisted from this location.  We joined the choir for mass at OSP (which also included a welcomed and surprise guest appearance from Mark).  I felt good and comfortable behind the keys of the Steinway Model D – but who wouldn’t.

Perhaps it was an omen, or perhaps just yet another sign of constrained labor operations in the airlines, but our United crew did not show up for the flight and once we had some semblance of one, the pilots had timed out and couldn’t fly.  What followed was some frustrated, yet ambitious playing of the doctor card by Aimee, a short night in a hotel, and a newly issued ticket on Delta that got us home the next morning. 

Oh, and did you guess a white 32 GB Wi-fi iPad 2?  And did it arrive on Monday?  You bet.

Lent in Atlanta

Well it’s Lent here in Catholicland (actually in much of Christendom).  I enjoyed the perspective offered at mass tonight that “40 days and 40 nights” need not be interpreted literally.  Rather, that we think of it as a collective, indicative of a period of time marked by longing, sacrifice, atonement, and preparation – not unlike the time period associated with Noah’s Ark and Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Also not unlike the trials of Josh Hartnett in his 2002 movie of the same name.  Anyway, are we really to believe that some of the most impactful, transformational, and transcendental events in our Christian history were constrained to 2.857 fortnights? Or for that matter, that “Sundays don’t count in Lent” (i.e. a literal count of days) is sound awareness of Lent’s purpose?  Perhaps we are.  To be sure though, it’s purpose is not to excitedly judge other’s understanding or realization of the season.  To that end, we’ll focus on prayer (for our Church, our relationships, the people of Japan), fasting (from baked goods, red meat, and sleep), and almsgiving, as we prepare for Easter Sunday.

With Lent comes a few things of note:

1.  Ash Wednesday – we celebrated at IHM in a packed bilingual service that was beautifully done.  I was shocked at the number of parishioners that showed up.  It was honor to be part of such a vibrant and meaningful liturgy.

2. St. Patrick’s Day – Seeing video footage of the river turning green, the parade, and pictures from the OSP celebrations sure made us miss St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago.  We’ll be there this weekend, just in time for us both feeling a bit homesick.  This past weekend however, Aimee tried her hand at an Irish Soda Bread recipe giving raison d'être to our new cast iron skillet (next will be cornbread).  We combined it with a few Guinness for a nice little celebration.

3.  Brunch – this one is appropriate for all church seasons.  We went to Murphy’s with our friends Katherine and Beto from IHM this morning.   They are such delightful people and we’re glad we got to spend some time hanging out with them.  I was also reminded of how much I enjoy the biscuits at Murphy’s.  Actually, so far, I find them the best in Atlanta.  There’s more to come on this topic.  Just a little something for y’all to get excited about, but we plan on documenting some of our “Best Of…” food items in Atlanta. 

3.  Purple – this one’s a bit of a stretch but it does give me an excuse to post this video we took of Crowley today. It’s not that exciting but I thought it was cute.  We took her to the pet store today for their Adoption Day (um.. to look, not to provide additional “inventory” – however, we did find that Crowley had nibbled on Aimee’s new Ecco dress shoes so, she better watch out!). 

Crowley video

Another thing we did this weekend that was decidedly not Lent-like involved a trip to the Best Buy.  We bought a $100 gift card.  And they wrote Aimee’s name and phone number on a long list of people.  I’ll give you 3 guesses for what we’re hoping to have our hands on in a few days!

To those in Chicago we are looking forward to see you soon.  Happy Lent!

I’ll take you to the donut shop

Lots to catch up on!  As Aimee and I become more and more enamored of spring’s arrival here in Atlanta, we decided it was time to book another trip to Chicago.  And what better time to be in Chicago than around St. Patrick’s Day!  I will be there for the annual Siamsa na nGael concert:  song, dance, and stories in celebration of Celtics arts.  Held at the Symphony Center, it features the Metropolis Symphony Orchestra, the Old St. Patrick’s choir, guest soloists, and Martin Sheen narrating the evening. Aimee will join me for the weekend to catch up with our dear friends in Chicago.  My parents and Frank and Darlene will also be with us for part of the weekend.  We are very excited to visit with everyone and be part of 5pm mass.

Surely you’re wondering if any more progress has been made against “the list”.  On Saturday we went to the High Museum of Art. Overall, it was a fairly impressive experience.  It was different from the Art Institute -- In some respects it was a little more accessible and had more educational components to it.  One of the best things is that we were able to take advantage of Free Fulton County Days so admission was completely free.  Their permanent collections were good but we especially enjoyed the Henri Cartier-Bresson photography exhibit (we even bought a print!).

  

La Taverna Scozzafava was in full effect that night as Aimee made homemade spanakopita and avogolemono soup.  It was like a visit to Greektown – and she did a phenomenal job with it, especially the “finicky” fillo dough.

 

After dinner we went to [finally] see The King’s Speech and it was just fantastic.  It’s great to be in a theatre for a movie that, scene for scene, it very well done and appreciated by the audience. 

Time for the donuts!  We got a new shipment of coffee for our Keurig Coffee machine.  It includes some Chai Green Tea for me and Donut Shop coffee for Aimee – her favorite.

And today being the week of Ash Wednesday, we set out to find Pączki options in Atlanta.  Turns out, the Polish population here is not quite what it is in Chicago.  There was no taking anyone to the donut shop as we had to settle for the Publix Bakery.  Actually, there were pretty good!

Some pictures from the High Museum are below:

   

More List Updates: Our Trip to the Falls

Good weekend.  Aimee and I took advantage of a beautiful spring day to head up into Northern Georgia to the Chattahoochee National Forest – home to the Amicalola Falls and the start of the Appalachian Trail.  It’s plainly beautiful up there and a good place to do some hiking.  We did the Appalachian Approach trail which takes you up to the top of the falls through a strenuous incline and then up 600 steps (the first picture below was just for the first part).  In addition to the pictures below, check out our Picasa Album for Atlanta.

 

After taking the pictures above, we took the East Ridge Trail back down which was a lovely wooded descent back to the lodge.  The photo above is a portion of the falls during the ascent.  The photo below is on our way back down.  You can’t quite see it in the picture but the Atlanta skyline was barely visible from the top, way off in the distance.

Taking advantage of being in the suburbs, we decided to have a dinner of Italian comfort food at the Olive Garden in Roswell, GA.  We had soup, salad, and breadsticks (obviously) and split the cappellini di mare which was pretty decent.  Only at Olive Garden though, can you order Lasagna Fritta (we did not):

For Sunday brunch we found ourselves at Wahoo!  a Decatur Grill.  I was thoroughly impressed.  It’s a little out of the way in Decatur but the setting was lovely: quaint but not old-fashioned, sophisticated just enough without feeling like the trendiness would overshadow the food.  Aimee had French Toast brioche with vanilla-lemon cream cheese and seasonal fresh fruit and I had the goat cheese-chive polenta topped with black beans, two fried eggs, and pico de gallo.

For Our List of things to do in Atlanta before we depart, we’ve added Braves Game and also checked off the Fox and the Falls.  Updated list below:

1. Aquarium
2. CNN Studio Tour – check.
3. High Museum of Art
4. Something at the Fox Theatre – check.
5. Spend the day at Stone Mountain
6. Spend a weekend in Savannah at a B&B
7. Visit Amicalola  Falls / Appalachian Trail, bring camera – check!
8. Take in a concert at the ASO (planned for May)
9. Continue to meet more friends
10. NEW - Attend a Braves game in the spring

Finally, on the music front… piano lessons have been going well.  My repertoire so far this year is:

• Nocturne in F minor, op. 55, no. 1 – Chopin
• Excursions No. 1 – Samuel Barber
• Prelude No. 2, “Voiles” – Debussy
• Piano Sonata in F major, op. 10, no. 6, I, II, and III – Beethoven
• Prelude in G-sharp minor, op. 32, no. 12 – Rachmaninoff
• Etude in A-flat, op. 25, no. 1 – Chopin
• Intermezzo, op. 116, no. 4 – Brahms

I also wrote new psalm this week for Psalm 62.  I’ve utilized the new translation of the Grail Psalter to make sure it is compatible with future edition of the English Lectionary for Mass.  Also many of you know that I’ve been working on a mass setting to be used with the upcoming Third Edition of the Roman Missal, due to “Go Live” Advent 2011.   I hope to send these both in to GIA or OCP or World Library in the next couple weeks!

Off to Austin in a few hours…

Just a couple of love birds

We tend to do something different each year about this time in February, and what better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than by staying in and cooking up a couple of Cornish Hens?  I marinated them in a tasty white wine-soy sauce-herb mixture with chopped garlic cloves. 

Aimee aptly prepared for our dinner by taking a picture and promptly posting it on Facebook.  Can’t blame her though, the meat was perfect and, served alongside some broccoli and homemade biscuits, it was a fun way to spend Valentine’s Day. 

And did I make some baby chicken stock with the carcasses?  You bet.  The night after Valentine’s Day we went to a Wells Fargo-sponsored evening at the Fox Theatre (checking another item off our list!!).  It was an evening for clients of their financial advisory group, of which we are not.  The evening featured a presentation of “Second Half Champions”, for folks who made a dramatic shift in their life after 50.  So on many fronts, we felt like a good pair of imposters, but we got the tickets from someone not using them so figured we’d enjoy some food and a show by Mike Rayburn:  “the world’s funniest guitar virtuoso”.  In some respects he was simply a motivational speaker, though he didn’t ascribe that term to himself.  He was however, a bona fide musician, classically training and well performed.  The following video is a compilation of his show.

Mike Rayburn

I love his finger tapping technique and ability to adapt and mesh different styles of playing and genres of music.  In all, something for everyone.  Except tenderloin sandwiches.  They ran out before we got there.

A couple updates…

February 12th was President Lincoln’s birthday.  Had it not been for his untimely death, he would have turned 202 on Saturday.  Aimee and I thought it would be a good day to visit the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead. Here’s a quick snippet from their website:

In 1926, fourteen civic-minded Atlantans chartered the Atlanta Historical Society to help preserve the city’s history.  These founding members met at each other’s homes, collected early manuscripts and photographs, and published research bulletins – all “to arouse in the citizens and friends of Atlanta an interest in its history.”  Over the past 82 years, the organization has grown substantially  in both scope and size, and in 1990, the Atlanta Historical Society and all of its holdings officially became the Atlanta History Center.  Now located on 33 acres in historic Buckhead, the Atlanta History Center strives to connect people, history, and culture through one of the country’s premier History Centers.

So we got to cross this one off our list of things to do in Atlanta and enjoy a beautiful day, marking the early warm up of spring in Georgia.

The Swan House Mansion

U.S Army Medicine Kit

A pretty fascinating artillery display

An antique piano, pre-dating the modern instrument

The museum stepped us through the various turning points and pivotal battles in the Civil War.  They did a phenomenal job showcasing this glorified and romanticized event in our history while candidly presenting the horror and destruction it brought about. Naturally there was a section devoted to Sherman’s March.  The quote below was good reminder of how Atlanta was utterly destroyed by the Union army and has made, by all accounts, a fine reconstruction of its own.

February 5th through 10th was the annual North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS) Conference.  This year Aimee traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia for the meeting and stayed in the lovely Fairmont Hotel downtown on Georgia.  Vancouver is such a beautiful city, I’m so glad Aimee finally got a chance to visit!  She went with her current and future colleagues and had the opportunity to present her research (along with enjoying some good restaurants). Below is a picture of her poster on Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) followed by the group of past and current Emory neuro-ophthalmologists, and he co-fellow Daniela:

 

Let’s see, what else…

Crowley’s doing well and making a few more friends around here, including “Piper”, her best friend (in Atlanta).  We’re also finally expanding her freedom in the apartment when we’re gone and she’s doing great.  In fact, the other day I came home and she was watching a DVD – Christmas Vacation.  The strange thing is that she managed to turn the DVD player on by herself!  Evidently she had nosed the player (which automatically turns on the TV).  This means two things: 1)  Crowley seems to enjoy Chevy Chase and, 2) we haven’t watched an actual DVD since before Christmas.

We ate at Antico Pizza on Friday night which is just amazing for Neapolitan pizza, and then at Perla Taqueria which was slightly less amazing.

Five months to go, let’s get our act together

It’s February 1st, which means we have 5 months, more or less, in Atlanta.  As the weather starts to warm up, it’s occurred to us both that we have a lot planned for the spring, between visitors, trips, and just activities around Atlanta.  So we made a list of goals.  For those who know Atlanta or the southeast, I’d love to hear more.

1. Aquarium
2. CNN Studio Tour – check.
3. High Museum of Art
4. Something at the Fox Theatre
5. Spend the day at Stone Mountain
6. Spend a weekend in Savannah at a B&B
7. Visit Amicalola  Falls / Appalachian Trail, bring camera
8. Take in a concert at the ASO (planned for May)
9. Continue to meet more friends

Meeting friends here has been a good experience and while we want to keep it up, it’s been great to have the impromptu dinners and evenings with friends we’ve already made.  On Saturday our friend Tommy hosted us and 20 others for a pot luck Mexican Fiesta.   Aimee made chicken enchiladas (that turned out a bit spicier than anticipated) but incredibly flavorful:

And I made my guacamole which, despite some avocados that were a touch too “young”, turned out nicely.  It’s not secret recipe but the ingredients I like to use are below:

Avocados, lots of chopped fresh cilantro, coarse salt, diced jalapenos, lightly roasted garlic, plenty of lime juice, coarsely diced tomato, freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, ground cumin, and diced onion.    It was a great time, we enjoyed hanging out, eating some good food and finishing the evening with a fine sipping tequila.

Lest we forget the old friends…  Wes is in town for work and stopped by last night for visit.  He flew in late, checked in at the hotel, and still made time to come see us before having to prep for an 8am client meeting this morning.  It was a quick trip for him but I have a sneaking suspicion it may be made longer by the impending apocalyptic precipitation up there.

Lastly, for the second time in only 18 months, Squeaker has undergone surgery at the hands of Dr. Aimee.  This particularly nasty item came home from the breeder with Crowley and it’s been her far and away favorite toy so we do what we can to persist the obsession.  Crowley watched intently as the operation was underway to becoming a great success.

 

Off to Austin tonight for me and Aimee is off to Vancouver on Saturday for the Neuro-ophthalmology conference.  I’m only a little bitter that I’m not going, but I’ll enjoy the time at home for sure.