DeVotchKa

Last night, Harrison and I were at the Orange Peel in Asheville to see one of our favorite bands, DEVOTCHKA. The opener, Kopecky Family Band was also really good. Here’s a photo from the concert and a link to their music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb-i3a_TMxg I can’t say enough good things about DeVotchKa. The description of DeVotchKa, per Wikipedia, reads “a four-piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble that fuses Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero, Mariachi music with American punk and folk roots.” They’re gypsy punk/indie folk. The lead singer, Nick Urata, plays theremin, guitar, bouzouki, piano, and trumpet; Tom Hagerman, plays violin, accordion, and piano; Jeanie Schroder, sings and plays sousaphone and double bass; and Shawn King, plays percussion and trumpet. They played almost all of our favorites and really got the crowd going. They infused the performace with two lovely aerialists that hung from cloth ropes in the ceiling and did all sorts of skillful acrobatics. I can’t wait to see them in concert again!
Here’s a link to some music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfi1UQ_PKQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3bfhqQKq-s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knsDmfmOnas

Kiss me, I'm IRISH!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! This day makes me reflect on my Irish heritage and my trip to Ireland several years ago. My dad is quite the genealogist, and he’s followed our family history, tracing back our ancestors for decades. When I was about 15, he traced our Irish ancestors and contacted ones that are still living in Ireland! In 1890, my great-great grandfather came to America and none of his American-born descendants (3-4 generations) had ever traveled back to meet up with the Irish relatives. They (a few separate families) invited us over and we took them up on their offer in June of 1999! Just my dad and I went, and we had a great father/daughter overseas experience!

We landed in the Dublin airport and stayed a couple of nights in Swords. We visited the bustling city of Dublin, checked out the lovely eastern coastline, and ate a lot of beef and potatoes!
Over the next few days, we headed northward up the coast. We stopped off at beautiful castles and landmarks while checking out the counties/cities of Drogheda, Killcurry, Dundalk, Newry, and Armagh. We had to travel in a little rental car. Of course, in Ireland, your driving on the opposite side of the road, opposite side of the car, and if you have a manual drive, you're switching gears with your left hand! I think dad hit every curb on the round-abouts! The picture below is not of us, I just found it on the web so that you get the idea:
This is an ancient burial mound near Drogheda: Newgrange Passage Tomb (photo found on web)
http://www.knowth.com/newgrange.htm It is thought to be one of the oldest man-made constructions on Earth!

Near Newry, in County Armagh (town: Cladybeg), we met up with several extended cousins over a couple of days (The Cunningham’s: Eileen Cunningham Renaghan, Mary Hearty, Julia Cunningham Lennon, Mary Cunningham McArdle & her husband, Tommy, son, Sean, and grandchildren). We went to our great grandfather’s birthplace and had afternoon tea and scones with the family! They were delightful. My cousin, Sean, a rally car driver, took me for a ride in his rally car. Rally car racing is like Nascar for the Irish, except the racing takes place on either private or public roads! He sped around all of the curvy roads in the Irish country side and I thought I was going to die! I was so happy to make it back to their home.

We also met up with our family, the Mara’s, south of Dublin (County Wicklow, town of Rathnew). We shared a wonderful meal with them and enjoyed sharing our lives. My family still keeps in touch with our Irish family. I wish them and all of you a very Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Also, Happy Anniversary to my mother/father-in-law, Esther and Perry!

Temporary pescetarians

We're only two days into Lent, yet Harrison and I are happy so far with our decision to give up meat for these next forty days. While first and foremost keeping in mind that we're making a small sacrifice in appreciation of Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross, we also have some other benefits we hope to achieve from our temporary pescetarian lifestyle. It will be nice to save some money. Sirloin roasts, pork tenderloin, etc. don't come very cheap. We're also looking forward to opening our eyes to unfamiliar vegetables, spices, seafood, and meat substitutes. Finally, we hope to lose a few pounds! It seems like the holiday weight never said 'goodbye.' For lunch yesterday, I had cheese tortellini and for dinner I made a scrambled egg and cheese burrito. Harrison made a combo of brown rice, corn, black beans, and salsa. He added some cheese and made a very yummy burrito. Today I made some vegetarian chili with Morning Star crumbles (meat substitute), and I think it turned out ok. I really liked the dinner that I cooked up tonight: Italian Portabella and Roasted Edamame (for recipe, see the tab: For the love of food). In the next few days, I'll probably be making Smoky Cheese Black Bean and Rice Casserole. Please leave a comment if you have some good vegetarian or fish recipes for us to try out!

Mini getaway to Charleston, SC

Harrison and I were in Charleston this past Thursday through Sunday. He was on Spring Break and I was going to attend a medical conference. We had such a nice, little weekend getaway.

Thursday night we had dinner at Hyman’s Seafood. They claim to have the best seafood in the southeast, but we weren’t very impressed. It seemed like a tourist trap with average food. Harrison had the stuffed grouper and I had the shrimp scampi. On Friday I headed over to the conference that was put on by MUSC at the Doubletree. I walked into the large ballroom with 150 MDs, NPs, and PAs. I sat at a table and started chatting with the people nearby. It turned out that the woman next to me was an NP that used to teach clinical skills at Auburn. She taught me my very first nursing 'skill': how to make a patient’s bed! After more talking, I found out that she had moved to Gadsden (my hometown) 18 months ago and now is in the same social circle as all of my parent’s friends! We had such a fun time reminiscing and talking about all of our commonalities.

At lunch, I met up with Harrison and we had lunch at Jestine’s Kitchen. It was a cute little diner downtown. Our entrees were just okay, but the Coconut Cream Pie dessert was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I had to go back to the conference after lunch, which was followed by a nice wine and cheese reception. Harrison and I met back up and headed out to the Rooftop Bar at the Vendue Inn to watch the sunset. It was a lovely view of the city!

Afterward, we headed to McCrady’s. It is a very nice restaurant/bar that has a neat place in history. You have to reach the entrance from a cute little alleyway. The bar was too full, so we actually didn’t stick around. We had dinner at Sermet’s Corner and Harrison had pork tenderloin that was to die for! To top the night off, we ended up at Club Habana. This was such a cool cigar bar with really great atmosphere and drinks. We were a bit smelly when we left.
On Saturday, I was in the conference until noon, then Harrison and I met up for lunch. We drove out to Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms and ate at Coconut Joe’s which overlooked the beach. The food and drink was pretty standard. We took our chairs onto the beach afterward, but we had to stay bundled up.
We had drinks at the Boathouse which was really exciting for us. Harrison and I had our rehearsal dinner at the Boathouse in Asheville. Our guests were the last ever to eat at the restaurant before it closed for business due to the economy in 2008. Harrison and I also sampled the clam appetizer, which was fabulous. Neither of us have ever had clams apart from chowder.

Next we headed to Vickery’s, and had a drink on their outdoor porch. It was a cute place with a tiki bar feel to it.

Afterward we went back into downtown Charleston and had one last drink at the original Citadel (now an Embassy Suites).
When Sunday rolled around (and so did we with all of the food that we'd eaten), I had one last half-day of conferences. I really learned a lot and I highly recommend primary care conferences by MUSC. It was very organized, they fed us well and kept an endless supply of coffee available, and the presenters were fantastic. It was a great way to earn 15 hours of continuing education. Eventually, Harrison and I headed home, sad to end our mini getaway.

- A special thanks to Elizabeth, Harrison’s sister and former Charleston resident, who recommended almost every place I mentioned above.