June 16

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A visit to a very nice restaurant down by the harbor.







Pea soup with mint oil.



I seem to be having more and more trouble maintaining my body's equilibrium when I travel. Some combination of the unfamiliar (food? water? pollen?) and stress, combined with my usual air-pressure-change headaches (and Excedrin taken for same?) push me into light-headedness and nausea.

I ate a few bites of my soup (which was nice, but not spectacular), and was not feeling that I could continue eating.

The staff was concerned, and when I told them I'd been feeling strange since I got up, I was offered club soda with bitters.

I am a person who dislikes anything fizzy, so I declined.

But the more I thought about it, the more it sounded ... soothing.

So I changed my mind, and tried that combination of two things I never, ever, consume.

And I felt enough better to enjoy my lunch. (reminder to self -- experts are everywhere. TALK about what is wrong; someone may have a solution!)



The other appetizer at our table -- I was told it was very nice.





This was sauteed mushrooms in and on top of a round of puff pastry, with a tiny salad on top. It was delicious.





This is salmon, with grilled baby summer squash and a "squash flower beignet" (a squash flower with batter inside, which had been fried -- interesting, and, I think, the first time I've tasted a squash flower). The salmon was fine, but not extraordinary.





Pork confit, on a slice of green tomato, on rice. The pork was delicious.





Rhubarb "consomme" with um, can't remember what the frozen blob was called.... The consomme part was nice, but a bit too sweet. The frozen blob (which was vanilla on the menu, not the banana it was described as being when it was delivered...) didn't do anything for me. Sugar decoration cute, but not adding much, imh.





Key lime cheesecake, with white-chocolate ice cream, and basil oil.

I am not a fan of adulterations in/on my cheesecake (though I make an exception for pumpkin cheesecake).

This was lovely. The tartness of the lime added to the tartness of cheesecake (instead of trying, oddly, imh, to sugar it over with raspberries or something).

The basil oil was nice with the cheesecake.

Overall -- Yum.





The remaining dessert. The ice cream was COFFEE. Amazing. Speaking of pale and reserved (as I was, yesterday, about northern magnolias) -- this ice cream made every other coffee ice cream I've had taste like decaf. It was wonderful, and I loved it. (See the little pile of dark crumbs under the ice cream? We decided it was likely that was coffee grounds. Mmmmmmm. Just call me Caffeine Ennyday....)

The chocolate, in comparison, was pale and reserved. Alas.

Don't you love the light coming through the lacy thing?





To finish, they gave us these tiny macarons. Which, unfortunately, were more about cute than about flavor.





They certainly succeeded in the cute department. They were about the size of the end of my thumb.





One last image before we venture out -- you saw my chubby glass in the first pic.

I liked what the light did on the table when I lifted it......





It was raining when we arrived, but the rain stopped as we dined.

Just here there are nice restaurants (and new condo apartments) on one side of the street, and boats on the other.





Back up the hill, approaching the apartment building.

We won't have goldenrod in Michigan for weeks and weeks.





We have daylilies now, though, just like Baltimore.





This is the full-of-character apartment building my daughter lived in for the last year.

Hey. Look! That tree on the left is a magnolia.







The windows on the top level belonged to my daughter's apartment.

It was a very nice old building, with high ceilings, picture moldings, windows everywhere, hardwood floors, mahogany doors, and no-longer-usable fireplaces. The building is a bit down on its luck -- the elevator hadn't worked since January ("can't get the part!"), and the shower tiles were in serious need of regrouting. (Air conditioning only when provided in the windows by tenants.....)

But no new buildings have windows in the kitchen, let alone the bathroom!





The rest of the day was spent in packing and moving things toward the front door.

Popping Tums. Chewing Doublemint.

My family went foraging and returned with tonic water (no club soda nearby) and bitters for me, and I managed to ... remain mostly functional......

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