365 Days of Personal Correspondence - 6 Months Update

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As the end of the first half the year arrives, it's time to share an update on how well my goal of writing 365 pieces of personal correspondence in 2011 is going! After getting ahead of schedule in January and February, my pace slowed in March (29 cards and letters sent), April (11), and May (21) then rebounded in June (39 so far). Altogether I'm only a couple short of my one-a-day goal (178 of 181 complete!).

As the photo suggests, I've had fun sending cards for lesser holidays like St. Patrick's Day and Easter. I've found it helps to have cards, stamps and a pen with me, either in the car, when running errands, or in my bag when traveling. I'm looking forward to the second half of the year!

Metropolis (OBX) Review

A week ago Wednesday we had a great meal with great company on adults night out at the beach. Mom and her grandsons had a date too with pizza (thanks Jessica for the Pizzazz recommendation) and then a walk down the beach to Dairy Queen for dessert.

We chose the restaurant because it was close, and because with the word martini in the title we figured it would not be filled with children! Metropolis Martini and Tapas turned out to be a great decision.

After being seated and told the drink specials, the chef came to our table to tell us about the food specials. They all sounded so great that we put ourselves in his hands and let him craft our dinner. Great decision #2. Here is a recap of most but not all of our meal:

We started with an Artisanal Cheese (Mano from Wisconsin and Maytag Blue) Plate with Fresh Fruit (apples, strawberries and blueberries) & Dried Fruit (brandy-soaked golden raisins), Nuts (curried pecans) & Crackers and Charcuterie

yum, bleu cheese!

Next we had bowls of the soup of the day, Cream of Asparagus, which had super sweet lump crab in the center of the bowl, sprinkled with garlic bread crumbs and finished with truffle oil: 

Amazing

Next up, fresh porcini mushroom with goat cheese pizza.

Black and white sesame seated tuna with sushi set up (soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger). The wasabi was Extra Hot!

Tartar of Columbia River King Salmon. So delish!!

Duckleg Confit w/ House BBQ Sauce, Toasted Corn Pudding & Local Peach Chutney.

Seared Wild Alaskan Halibut with Fennel Salad and North Carolina Blueberry Gastrique

"Carolina Creole", Shrimp, VA Country Ham and Mussel on Carolina Rice w/ Zucchini, Tomato & Onion in a Broth of White Wine, Butter & Cajun Spices. Christian's favorite. 

Seared Columbia River King Salmon with Cucumber Salad and Yogurt. Gayle and I loved this, so much in fact that we practically ate the whole thing before we remembered to take its picture!

A testament to how good everything was - tons of empty plates! 

Great decision #3 was to have dessert! 

 Vanilla panna cotta with fresh fruit. Creamier than I expected. Yum!

 Chocolate. Need I say more? 

Local peach bread pudding (that was so light it was more like a souffle) with a fried peach (with funnel cake batter) and bourbon vanilla cream. Chocoholic Gayle said this was better than chocolate. High praise! (The peaches were perfect, fresh, sweet, juicy; I had a peach martini with fresh local fruit that was stellar.) 

Altogether it was a great evening!

Metropolis

520 Old Stoney Road

Corolla, NC 27927

metropolisobx.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/METROPOLIS/20014204998

Siam Sushi Review

Siam Sushi opened last year when Hopkins moved to their new location in the Lake Ella Publix plaza here in Tallahassee. As their name suggests, they serve both Thai and Japanese specialties. My first visit, in January, was with my co-workers for our monthly lab lunch. I had Pad Thai, which was delicious. The portion was really big (maybe three times what I could eat) and came with a choice of Miso soup or salad. I had the soup, but wish I had ordered salad - it looked really good, especially the ginger dressing. For entrees, you have your choice of mild, medium, hot, or Thai hot. I ordered my Pad Thai mild and it was truly mild - no spiciness at all. Some of my co-workers ordered medium and hot and thought the spice levels were right on target for what they expected.  We all enjoyed our lunches (everyone ordered Thai - all twelve of us!) and the service was fast and friendly. It is definitely a place you can go for lunch and not worry about being late back to the office.

For date night with hubs on February 22nd I made my second trip to Siam Sushi. Hubs loves Thai, the spicier the better, so it was no surprise when he ordered the Red Curry Thai hot (pictured below). It had him sweating!! I ordered Pad Woon Sen in medium. It was delicious (a new favorite for me?) and just about as spicy as I could handle. Again the portions were large and we each had plenty to take home with us. We also enjoyed an appetizer of mussels that were tasty and unique - lots of good fresh Thai flavors in the broth. I have heard the sushi is also really good - sometime I'll have to break out of my Thai habit and try it. I hope you'll give Siam Sushi a try too!

Red Curry (with chicken)

Red curry paste, coconut milk, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, carrots, and fresh basil served with your choice of beef, chicken, or tofu.

Pad Woon Sen (with chicken)

(choice of chicken $10 or shrimp $12)

Stir fried glass noodles, eggs, shitake mushroom and mixed vegetables.

Celebrating the Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary with Jenn

On March 1, 1961 President Kennedy signed the legislation that created the Peace Corps. The first week of March 2011, our local Returned Peace Corps Volunteers celebrated the 50th anniversary with a whole series of events including a gallery showing of art the volunteers have brought home from countries they've served in. I went to the Opening Reception to support Jenn and see the great art.

Jenn and Tiona both served in Botswana.

They had such a nice variety of objects on display in the gallery.

Tara (right) also came to the Opening. I brought Jenn carnations to say Bravo for all her hard work, which really made her day. We are standing in front of a tapestry she purchased in Botswana. It reminds me of a batik I brought home from Uganda for Mom - about the same size and colors and both have goats. Jenn's depicts a typical village scene. It was woven in Oodi village which is near the capitol city, Gaborone. Oodi is famous for its weavers.

I'm so glad we were able to get out and support Jenn and the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers! Happy Anniversary, Peace Corps!

Mockingbird Cafe Review

February 14th my co-workers and I went to Mocking Bird Cafe for our monthly lab lunch. I had not been since the restaurant changed hands last year, so this counts as a "new" place to me. [Trying 10 new restaurants is on my 101 in 1001 list.] For Tallahassee friends who haven't visited, Mocking Bird used to be called Fusion. It's on Monroe Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. If the parking lot is full, try the lot across the street behind Fedex/Kinkos.

In addition to lunch, we also wanted dessert (for Valentines Day) and the restaurant was nice enough to serve their full dinner dessert menu for us at lunch time (usually they just serve cupcakes at lunch). They definitely get points for that. Here are some photos and then a few more thoughts.

Crabcake Salad: 

Hard Cooked Eggs, Shaved Red Onion, Tomato, Cucumber, Spring Mix, Spicy Remoulade

Lamb Burger

Ground Lamb Pattie, Minted Feta, Cucumber-Red Onion Slaw, Tzatziki Sauce

(sweet potato fries on the side)

Pesto Turkey Panini

Roasted Turkey Breast, Mozzarella, Caramelized Onions, Pesto Mayonnaise,

on Toasted Ciabatta

Falafel Sandwich 

with hummus, Tzatziki sauce, lettuce, tomato

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Fresh Raspberry Studded, topped with Macerated Berries and

White Chocolate Chunk Biscotti

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

With a Pretzel Crust, topped with Ganache, Caramel Popcorn and Toasted Peanuts

All the food was as good as it looked! One minor criticism: the biscotti that came with the creme brulee was a little salty. The service was friendly and helpful. If you have a big group, though, make sure you have plenty of time. 

Tweetup Recap and Little Italy Review

Last Friday I attended to my second local Tweetup. A Tweetup is a gathering of people who enjoy Twitter. As you know, I am a big fan of Twitter (for example: see here ) and love how it introduces me to new ideas and new people. I was a little nervous when I went to my first Tallahassee Tweetup last fall but we had a really nice time together chatting so I had no anxiety about attending another one. Plus it's great to put faces to names! (And I added "meeting Twitter friends in real life" to my 101 in 1001 list so that I would make time to attend events like these.)

This Tweetup was graciously organized by the Tallahassee Society of Association Executives.

TallySAE

@TallySAE Tallahassee, FL, USA

TLH Society of Assoc Execs is a phenom group of association execs & industry suppliers. We offer gr8 opps 2 network, learn abt leadership & build relationships.

http://www.tallysae.org

It was great to hear about the other attendees' jobs and tweeting (one woman tweets for 3 or 4 entities!). We had really great discussions and laughed a lot too. Altogether there were about ten of us there - some novices and others long-time tweeters. I'll list everyone at the end in case you want to follow them.

We held the Tweetup at Little Italy restaurant, which I hadn't visited before but really liked. They serve pizza, calzones and pasta at lunchtime. The service was great - friendly and quick. I am sure it can be hard to manage a large group when everyone is talking (instead of ordering) but the staff kept us on schedule and well-fed. We missed seeing Karen (aka @KTChavez and @BrknHrtsBigBend) who organized the event but was home with her son who wasn't feeling well.

 Alicia (aka @aliciawellman and @TallyMall) had the soup of the day and it looked delicious. I love that in this photo you can tell she is talking with her hands!

I had the baked ziti which was delicious - very hot (temperature-wise) and twice what I could eat. I really liked the sauce, and there was lots of it to dip bread in.

Nicole (aka @npeverett and @TallyLC) had a calzone that looked amazing. 

Little Italy has a nice courtyard too that is protected from the street too so it'd definitely be a nice place to stop by for a casual lunch. http://littleitalytally.com/default.aspx 

Here are the attendees - give them a follow!

@amy_z	@Ann__Rogers	@barineau
@biggreenpen	@BrknHrtsBigBend	@EMACK1
@gptally	@KTChavez	@Little_Athens
@Rachel_Lawley	@SuperSudsTally	@TallyMall
@TallySAE