Quiet & Calm

I decided to take a few days off from the U to go play.  My wife and I and our kids all went together for a few days to a city we had not visited before about 5 hours away from home.  It was wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable.  We really didn't do anything dramatic, but the following were the relaxing highlights:

1.  We ate at a great Italian resturaunt and I ate an Ahi Tuna Ceasar Salad.  It was *quite* rare (purposefully) but was wonderful.  All of us also shared a Cuban Pizza.... which had a rich, black bean sause, Asiago cheese and pulled pork.  While I generally am not fond of pork, the pizza was delicious!

2.  We visited a grand historical museum for several hours.

3.  We ate an absolutely tremendous Indian Buffet.  The Chana Marsala they had was tremendously spicy (and utterly delicious).  The Kheer (a rice pudding) was rich, creamy and had a pleasantly strong almond and cardamon flavor.  There were many other wonderful dishes as well, but those two were especially wonderful highlights.

4.  We spent most of a day at the city's Zoological Garden.  It was wonderfully well done, and the Tamarins were an especially big hit with all of us.  They were active and playful and a joy to watch.

5.  We ate at our first "Tapas" resturaunt.  This is a typical style of meal favored by some forms of Spanish and Argentinian cuisine.  We had small tasting samples of a few items and each one was rich and satisfying.  The highlights included a pesto hummus served with corn tortillas, and also  black bean and quinoa  patties that were baked and served with richly seasoned vegetables and herbs. 

6.  We spent a long time at the Art Museum and saw two of the traveling exhibits that were especially inspiring, one a photography exhibit about urban decay, and the second a painting exhibit featuring the period of the early rise of abstraction in the 20th century. 

7.  We also ate at a very satisfying Mediteranian Resturaunt that had perhaps the best traditional hummus I have ever been fortunate enough to eat, a Tabouli salad that had the brightest, crispest, and most flavorful parsley I have had in years, and incredible seasoning. 

Interspersed amongst all these wonderful activities, we swam several times in the hotel pool, walked around through the downtown area observing the sites and scenes, stumbled upon not one, not two, but THREE seperate, different FREE musical events held in the town center (one was 1940s  through the present dance music, one was jazz, and one was world music), we ate wonderful ice cream cones a few times, walked along the beatiful river Boardwalk that seperated the city into East and West sides, and I did my requisite exercise intensity walking every morning at 5am so I was able to watch surise each and every morning in the city and see the hustle and bustle come to life each day. 

It was wonderful.  Since I was away from the U, I was unable to post during my absence.  However, I think I have highlighted most of the most enjoyable parts.

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