This is really late, but. . .
It was Chris' birthday on Saturday. I made plans to go to dinner at Flyte, then to see Yonder Mountain String Band at the War Memorial Auditorium. His parents wanted to come up and have lunch to celebrate, so we worked it out that they could come up the evening before to watch Jonah.
It was such a gorgeous day on Saturday that after we finished out omelettes for breakfast, we decided it would be a nice day for a hike. Chris took a look at the trails in the Warner Parks and decided on the 4.5 mile Mossy Ridge Trail in Percy Warner. The parks were very busy, of course. The trail head was a little misleading since it said "Deep Well Trail Head" instead of Mossy Ridge. So, we wound up driving around through the park looking for what we thought it was, but as it turned out, it was at the main entrance after all. It was a nice drive though and we saw some really neat spots for gatherings.
We got parked and got all set to go. Chris offered to carry Jonah first. But the first tenth of a mile was straight up toward the top of the ridge. We got to the top of that section and even I was working muscles I hadn't been during my runs, but I could keep up my breathing. Chris wanted to hand Jonah off though and I was fine with that. We wound down a little more, then back up to the very top of the ridge line. At this point, we asked Jonah if he'd want to get out and hike. He spent a little time out of the pack, running along the trail, occasionally getting off the trail and generally running out of steam very quickly. It wasn't long before he just stopped and sat down on the trail. I asked him if he wanted to get in the backpack and he affirmed, "backpack" and reached for it. So, I carried him for a little while again and we spent a lot of the hike switching back and forth between me carrying him, Chris carrying him and him walking.
We skipped some parts of the trail, probably shaving off some of the mileage and definitely some of the climbs. We saw several horses on one portion of it. There were some really nice views in places, which probably aren't there in the summer. Overall it was a very nice, though kind of strenuous hike. Especially for people who haven't done any hiking since, what August or something of last year? There was one climb towards the end where I really got in a groove and it felt just like I do when I run. I just focused on the breathing, got in a rhythm with my steps and kept trucking to the top of the hill. But I could definitely feel a burning in the muscles around my hips and gluts. I think Jonah was asleep at that point and I would bump his head with mine sometimes, since he was using the pad right behind my head as a pillow. It was funny how many people we passed who would say, "aw, he's sleeping" or "he's got the right idea." Something funny to note is that I made us a reservation at Flyte from my phone while on the trail. Ah, the benefits of urban parks with lots of natural space. You can feel like you're hiking in the almost wilderness but never lose cell phone signal.
We finished up, tired and ravenous and decided to go check out the new Publix in Belle Meade. It's a Publix like any other Publix, so we headed up to West End to get some lunch at Golden Coast Chinese restaurant. Little did we realize there was a Vandy basketball game letting out as we were trying to get up West End. So, we turned off next to Centennial Park and took back roads to get around the traffic. We got a call as we were going in that Chris' parents were nearly to our house. They have a key, so I told them just to go ahead in and make themselves at home.
As we sat down, we got another call. This time it was an automated service from Ticketmaster informing us that the show had been postponed and a reschedule was to be announced. Chris got on his phone and looked it up and sure enough, one of the guys was having throat problems or was sick or something and another had family illness issues so they postponed the rest of the tour until they can get that stuff worked out. Apparently they had played a really bad show in Atlanta the night before. So, we ate lunch, a little disappointed that our plans were half ruined, and looked up the Belcourt to see what was playing.
Lunch was very good by the way! If you're looking for authentic Chinese food, Golden Coast is really good. Lots of seafood dishes (squid, clams, blue crabs, shrimp, fish) and of course some of the old Americanized favorites (General Tso's chicken and such). I think my favorite was a tofu dish though or maybe the fish in brown sauce. I got one thing that I thought was sesame chicken, but it turned out it was chicken feet in a black bean sauce. I was willing to be brave enough to try it, but I couldn't get any meat off the thing. I got a hold of some of the breading and sauce (which was really good) but I'm not exactly sure how you're supposed to eat that.
We headed home after lunch and sat around chatting with his parents for a bit while I contemplated if I had enough energy left to fit in a run. I decided I did and that my food had settled enough to go before we had to start getting ready for our reservations at 7pm. I'm not sure why I did that to myself, except that maybe I just wanted to prove to myself that I could. My legs were fine the whole run and didn't really feel a thing, but my stomach felt like someone was gripping it in both hands and squeezing. Or like I had done about 100 crunches before running and my abs were too sore and stiff to expand when I'd breathe. But I finished my two miles in a respectable time. As an added bonus, I ran most of the mud off my shoes that had collected on the trail.
We got ready to go and made it just a couple of minutes late for our reservation. It didn't appear we needed a reservation though since there were only about 5 tables or so when we got there. Flyte is really neatly decorated, very open and airy with lots of warm indirect lighting. We kind of stared at the menu very blankly at first thinking it all sounded so good. We bought ourselves some decision time by ordering some antipasto (they have a little menu kind of like a sushi menu for it) and a couple of beers (I got a Delerium Nocturnum and Chris got an Ommegang Abbey Ale). They even served their beers in nice big snifters. Nice touch, certainly. We wound up deciding that the best route was to each get a couple of appetizers and one of us would get a flyte of their three soups while the other would get a flyte of their three salads. In doing that, we tried all but one of the appetizers and the entrees (in other words, over half of their menu). Unfortunately, that was way too much food! We could have gone with just two appetizers, perhaps and skipped the antipasto. We had no room for coffee or dessert unfortunately.
Everything was very good, but I must say, there was only one of the appetizers I was so wowed by that I thought we couldn't reproduce it at home even better. The star was definitely the scallop mousse and it was absolutely perfect. The sauces were all fantastic, but some of the meats were just kind of overcooked (either cooked too hot or too long, or a little of both). We got a bison spare rib that was good, but a little tough, dry and stringy. We also got a crepe that was filled with what they called beef tenderloin, but seemed more like pot roast. There again, just a bit on the dry side and rather stringy. It also had chickpeas and olives and was seasoned with kind of an Indian curry spiced sauce, which gave us some great ideas for our next pot roast. There was some sort of cherry sauce on top of the crepe as well. Then we also got some beer braised mushrooms that were served on a little chunk of beer bread which soaked up the sauce nicely. I'm not sure what beer they used for it, but it was pretty good, if not a touch on the bitter side. The mix of several kinds of mushrooms was nice.
The soups were all good. There was some sort of miso that they poured out of a little French press. There was a roasted butternut squash soup that was a really nice mix of sweet, savory and tart. Then there was a black bean that tasted an awful lot like ours but pureed smooth. Of the salads, there was a roasted yellow beet one that was pretty good with some really interesting spicy greens. There was a butternut squash, dried cranberry, walnut salad with red oak leaf greens and a warm maple vinaigrette. Then, there was my favorite which was a grapefruit and pear salad with a pomegranate honey vinaigrette on a mesclun mix. I think the salads were the best part of the meal. We also split a bomber of New Belgium's 1554.
Dinner took a lot longer than expected. We didn't get out of there until almost 9pm or so. So, we missed the 8:15 showing of Waltz with Bashir. We were so tired from such a busy day, neither of us was sure we could make it through a 10:15 showing. So, we just walked over to Frugal McDougal's and picked up a bottle of mead to have for Valentine's then headed home. We noticed how much busier the restaurant seemed to get around 8pm too. I think in most cases, people go there as the main event for the night or spend a couple of hours eating there, then go to a bar or club for the rest of the night. And as a note, if anyone is considering giving it a try, we had a $50 gift certificate, but that covered a little less than half the bill. We could have gotten out a little cheaper if we just had entrees (they ranged from around $26 to $50). But when you're going out to a place like that, why not make the most of it, right? We felt kind of lame going home at 9:30pm, but oh well. Next time, we know to stick to the 2.5 mile trail that's not as rough and maybe save some energy for later in the evening.
The next day, we got up and Chris' mom had brought a pan of cinnamon rolls for breakfast. After that, she tried to get a hold of his brother to go out for lunch. Chris chose the Pied Piper Eatery, which we tried for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It's like a really good diner. Think about a place where you can get a Monte Cristo sandwich and a salad with mesclun. Their veggie burger is really good and they've got a list of stuff you can top it with. Chris and I both got that and a salad. Jonah got mac and cheese which was certainly not Kraft (of course he was pitching such a fit that he couldn't stay and play with the Thomas train stuff in the corner that he didn't eat any of it). As an added bonus, we sat at the Beatles table. Their tables are all decorated with old records and their jackets with several coats of poly to seal them up nicely. Sgt. Pepper was basically my place mat. I thought of Maggie, Jess, Yvette and Janine. ;) From there, Chris' parents left town and we headed home and vegged out for most of the rest of the afternoon.
It was such a gorgeous day on Saturday that after we finished out omelettes for breakfast, we decided it would be a nice day for a hike. Chris took a look at the trails in the Warner Parks and decided on the 4.5 mile Mossy Ridge Trail in Percy Warner. The parks were very busy, of course. The trail head was a little misleading since it said "Deep Well Trail Head" instead of Mossy Ridge. So, we wound up driving around through the park looking for what we thought it was, but as it turned out, it was at the main entrance after all. It was a nice drive though and we saw some really neat spots for gatherings.
We got parked and got all set to go. Chris offered to carry Jonah first. But the first tenth of a mile was straight up toward the top of the ridge. We got to the top of that section and even I was working muscles I hadn't been during my runs, but I could keep up my breathing. Chris wanted to hand Jonah off though and I was fine with that. We wound down a little more, then back up to the very top of the ridge line. At this point, we asked Jonah if he'd want to get out and hike. He spent a little time out of the pack, running along the trail, occasionally getting off the trail and generally running out of steam very quickly. It wasn't long before he just stopped and sat down on the trail. I asked him if he wanted to get in the backpack and he affirmed, "backpack" and reached for it. So, I carried him for a little while again and we spent a lot of the hike switching back and forth between me carrying him, Chris carrying him and him walking.
We skipped some parts of the trail, probably shaving off some of the mileage and definitely some of the climbs. We saw several horses on one portion of it. There were some really nice views in places, which probably aren't there in the summer. Overall it was a very nice, though kind of strenuous hike. Especially for people who haven't done any hiking since, what August or something of last year? There was one climb towards the end where I really got in a groove and it felt just like I do when I run. I just focused on the breathing, got in a rhythm with my steps and kept trucking to the top of the hill. But I could definitely feel a burning in the muscles around my hips and gluts. I think Jonah was asleep at that point and I would bump his head with mine sometimes, since he was using the pad right behind my head as a pillow. It was funny how many people we passed who would say, "aw, he's sleeping" or "he's got the right idea." Something funny to note is that I made us a reservation at Flyte from my phone while on the trail. Ah, the benefits of urban parks with lots of natural space. You can feel like you're hiking in the almost wilderness but never lose cell phone signal.
We finished up, tired and ravenous and decided to go check out the new Publix in Belle Meade. It's a Publix like any other Publix, so we headed up to West End to get some lunch at Golden Coast Chinese restaurant. Little did we realize there was a Vandy basketball game letting out as we were trying to get up West End. So, we turned off next to Centennial Park and took back roads to get around the traffic. We got a call as we were going in that Chris' parents were nearly to our house. They have a key, so I told them just to go ahead in and make themselves at home.
As we sat down, we got another call. This time it was an automated service from Ticketmaster informing us that the show had been postponed and a reschedule was to be announced. Chris got on his phone and looked it up and sure enough, one of the guys was having throat problems or was sick or something and another had family illness issues so they postponed the rest of the tour until they can get that stuff worked out. Apparently they had played a really bad show in Atlanta the night before. So, we ate lunch, a little disappointed that our plans were half ruined, and looked up the Belcourt to see what was playing.
Lunch was very good by the way! If you're looking for authentic Chinese food, Golden Coast is really good. Lots of seafood dishes (squid, clams, blue crabs, shrimp, fish) and of course some of the old Americanized favorites (General Tso's chicken and such). I think my favorite was a tofu dish though or maybe the fish in brown sauce. I got one thing that I thought was sesame chicken, but it turned out it was chicken feet in a black bean sauce. I was willing to be brave enough to try it, but I couldn't get any meat off the thing. I got a hold of some of the breading and sauce (which was really good) but I'm not exactly sure how you're supposed to eat that.
We headed home after lunch and sat around chatting with his parents for a bit while I contemplated if I had enough energy left to fit in a run. I decided I did and that my food had settled enough to go before we had to start getting ready for our reservations at 7pm. I'm not sure why I did that to myself, except that maybe I just wanted to prove to myself that I could. My legs were fine the whole run and didn't really feel a thing, but my stomach felt like someone was gripping it in both hands and squeezing. Or like I had done about 100 crunches before running and my abs were too sore and stiff to expand when I'd breathe. But I finished my two miles in a respectable time. As an added bonus, I ran most of the mud off my shoes that had collected on the trail.
We got ready to go and made it just a couple of minutes late for our reservation. It didn't appear we needed a reservation though since there were only about 5 tables or so when we got there. Flyte is really neatly decorated, very open and airy with lots of warm indirect lighting. We kind of stared at the menu very blankly at first thinking it all sounded so good. We bought ourselves some decision time by ordering some antipasto (they have a little menu kind of like a sushi menu for it) and a couple of beers (I got a Delerium Nocturnum and Chris got an Ommegang Abbey Ale). They even served their beers in nice big snifters. Nice touch, certainly. We wound up deciding that the best route was to each get a couple of appetizers and one of us would get a flyte of their three soups while the other would get a flyte of their three salads. In doing that, we tried all but one of the appetizers and the entrees (in other words, over half of their menu). Unfortunately, that was way too much food! We could have gone with just two appetizers, perhaps and skipped the antipasto. We had no room for coffee or dessert unfortunately.
Everything was very good, but I must say, there was only one of the appetizers I was so wowed by that I thought we couldn't reproduce it at home even better. The star was definitely the scallop mousse and it was absolutely perfect. The sauces were all fantastic, but some of the meats were just kind of overcooked (either cooked too hot or too long, or a little of both). We got a bison spare rib that was good, but a little tough, dry and stringy. We also got a crepe that was filled with what they called beef tenderloin, but seemed more like pot roast. There again, just a bit on the dry side and rather stringy. It also had chickpeas and olives and was seasoned with kind of an Indian curry spiced sauce, which gave us some great ideas for our next pot roast. There was some sort of cherry sauce on top of the crepe as well. Then we also got some beer braised mushrooms that were served on a little chunk of beer bread which soaked up the sauce nicely. I'm not sure what beer they used for it, but it was pretty good, if not a touch on the bitter side. The mix of several kinds of mushrooms was nice.
The soups were all good. There was some sort of miso that they poured out of a little French press. There was a roasted butternut squash soup that was a really nice mix of sweet, savory and tart. Then there was a black bean that tasted an awful lot like ours but pureed smooth. Of the salads, there was a roasted yellow beet one that was pretty good with some really interesting spicy greens. There was a butternut squash, dried cranberry, walnut salad with red oak leaf greens and a warm maple vinaigrette. Then, there was my favorite which was a grapefruit and pear salad with a pomegranate honey vinaigrette on a mesclun mix. I think the salads were the best part of the meal. We also split a bomber of New Belgium's 1554.
Dinner took a lot longer than expected. We didn't get out of there until almost 9pm or so. So, we missed the 8:15 showing of Waltz with Bashir. We were so tired from such a busy day, neither of us was sure we could make it through a 10:15 showing. So, we just walked over to Frugal McDougal's and picked up a bottle of mead to have for Valentine's then headed home. We noticed how much busier the restaurant seemed to get around 8pm too. I think in most cases, people go there as the main event for the night or spend a couple of hours eating there, then go to a bar or club for the rest of the night. And as a note, if anyone is considering giving it a try, we had a $50 gift certificate, but that covered a little less than half the bill. We could have gotten out a little cheaper if we just had entrees (they ranged from around $26 to $50). But when you're going out to a place like that, why not make the most of it, right? We felt kind of lame going home at 9:30pm, but oh well. Next time, we know to stick to the 2.5 mile trail that's not as rough and maybe save some energy for later in the evening.
The next day, we got up and Chris' mom had brought a pan of cinnamon rolls for breakfast. After that, she tried to get a hold of his brother to go out for lunch. Chris chose the Pied Piper Eatery, which we tried for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It's like a really good diner. Think about a place where you can get a Monte Cristo sandwich and a salad with mesclun. Their veggie burger is really good and they've got a list of stuff you can top it with. Chris and I both got that and a salad. Jonah got mac and cheese which was certainly not Kraft (of course he was pitching such a fit that he couldn't stay and play with the Thomas train stuff in the corner that he didn't eat any of it). As an added bonus, we sat at the Beatles table. Their tables are all decorated with old records and their jackets with several coats of poly to seal them up nicely. Sgt. Pepper was basically my place mat. I thought of Maggie, Jess, Yvette and Janine. ;) From there, Chris' parents left town and we headed home and vegged out for most of the rest of the afternoon.