a bearded, skinny jeaned city

Yesterday I saw more skinny jeans than at a Jonas Bros' concert, more beards and flannel than at a lumber jack's bbq...that's right folks, I was in happening Asheville, NC; met up with my friend Gary the Snail and his friend Ellen, who were kind enough to play tour guides and make sure I saw and tasted lots of the city.The day went something like this:

After breakfast with Mummy Dearest and family we headed to an apple orchard, but man were we under-dressed. The wind whipping through the orchard was too cold for North Carolina! We were all freezing, so we quickly gobbled hot cider and doughnuts and lunch we'd brought along and then left. Fastest orchard visit ever!

I headed to Asheville alone, getting to see remnants of fall colors in the south, and met up with Gary the Snail, Ellen, and some of their friends at Tod's Tasties, where I had the most amazing croissant and coffee ever. The place was packed and the food looked grood...I mean great and good, and I regretted not being hungrier.

The amazing Battery Park Book Exchange--
curse you, Blogger, I can't upright this gorgeous pic!
We meandered around Asheville, stopping in stores to avoid the rain which began and persisted through most the day. My favorite stop was at the BEAUTIFUL Battery Park Book Exchange, where you can peruse over 22,000 used books, or sip an espresso, or sample one of their many wines and a cheese plate! This place combines some of my loves: books, booze, and coffee...and, you can bring your dog in too, apparently Asheville is a very dog friendly place --we saw dogs nearly everywhere! I could have easily stayed in this store for hours, and I have decided once I retire I am moving to Asheville so I can visit OR work here EVERYDAY!! Battery Park's best feature is its maze-like trail through the books where you wander through everything: art, architecture, children's classics to cooking, biographies, the 50 states' history, North Carolina history then Western North Carolina history, the American Presidents, fiction, poetry, plays...and on and on; you walk through twice and realize it's just as wonderful, if not better, the second time around! I lost my friends, then Gary the Snail found me and made me laugh when he said, "I kept just missing you, catching a glimpse of your heel going around a corner."

The menu board, French Broad Chocolate Lounge
Next up was French Broad Chocolate Lounge, where we waited in line forever--it was totally worth it!--for truffles...can you hear me mumbling, "nom nom nom," as I fantasize about eating these again? If you check out their website and click on the about link you can read the story of how this all came to be, it's interesting. Things I loved about this place:
Terrible picture of my AMAZING truffles: L-Vanilla Bourbon,
R-Strawberry Balsamic. BOTH AMAZING!
1. THE CHOCOLATE!
2. The husband and wife team were not culinarily trained, they self taught and learned from others! WOOT!
3. They keep it local as much as possible.
4. They are Green Restaurant certified.

From here Gary the Snail and I headed out in search of local beer, per my request, agreeing to meet up with Ellen later. Gary took us to the Greenman Brewery for some damn delicious beer and pretzels served with locally made Lusty Monk Mustard, which is freaking amazing! Our bartender told us that the woman who created it used to work at Greenman Brewery until she became too busy with the mustard business, now LMM is sold all over Asheville. And yeah, I have a jar in my suitcase and can't wait to get it home--so many delicious concoctions involving that mustard are storming my brain! I first had a Greenman ESB which was super tasty, then Gary the Snail and I followed up our first beers by splitting a sampler which included their IPA, a Sierra Nevada Headliner, an oatmeal porter and a stout. I love beer, but I really love the darker, thicker stuff, so my favorites were definitely the porter and the stout, but all 4 beers were really good. Would I go back? Heck yeah! Hey Greenman, can you open a branch in Ohio?!

The sampler line up.
Beer led to dinner at the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company, where we tucked into pizza--I stuck solely to the pizza, since I did have to get myself back to Mummy Dearests later. The pizza was great and warming after being out in the chilly fall rain...didn't I leave Ohio to enjoy some southern sun this week?! The Pizza & Brew Company, also called the Brew & View, shows movies too. I loved the pop culture-y-ness of the place, with it's movie themed menus and decor, and forced Gary the Snail and Ellen to answer questions like, "Favorite 80s movies?" "Favorite 90s movies?" They were good sports. And in no time I was back on the expressway, heading east toward Mummy's and away from that bearded, skinny jeaned city that made me fall in love with it in less than a day. Asheville, I will be back. Promise.
Greenman Brewery

Comments

The Journey of the Zealous Woman Farmer said…
And I shall be moving to Asheville with you. Done and Done.
October 30, 2012 at 8:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"howl the eternal yes"

Image
Just read a CNN article this morning about the Aurora Borealis making an appearance. It reminded me of Northern Exposure and Chris the DJ. So, thought I would share a quote as I reminisce about the Aurora Borealis, a.k.a. The Northern Lights, which I saw my first year at the Farm in Massachusetts, which I actually saw on my 23rd birthday!--the best birthday present I ever got!! "There's a dark side to each and every human soul. We wish we were Obi-Wan Kenobi, and for the most part we are, but there's a little Darth Vader in all of us. Thing is, this ain't no either-or proposition. We're talking about dialectics, the good and the bad merging into us. You can run but you can't hide. My experience? Face the darkness. Stare it down. Own it. As brother Nietzsche said, being human is a complicated gig. So give that ol' dark night of the soul a hug. Howl the eternal yes!" ~ Chris, Northern Exposure, "Aurora Borealis (A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups).” It feel...
Read more

sample retirement acceptance letter

Image
The hardest part of being the Director in a small library is that we don't have an HR person, so on top of everything else we do we also get to do the paperwork for the new hires, and retires. Thank God for the internet or these processes would take a lot longer!  One of my board members pointed out that though I'd been informed of staff retirements, I had to officially accept them with a letter...I am finding that a paper trail is an important thing. So, I found a short and simple letter on one university's HR website (sorry forgot which!?) and honed it to work for us. Attached is my sample of a retirement letter.  Is anyone else out there going through this process too?
Read more

eggnog with lighter fluid and other cherished Christmas memories

Image
I started digging to find my favorite Christmas-esque scenes/lines from movies and I was pleased with what I found. In spirit of my 14's lists, here goes: 1. Charles De Mar: "Ah, come on! It's Christmas Eve! I could be home right now, drinking this *monster* eggnog my brother makes with lighter fluid." ~ Better Off Dead I also love the present opening scene on Christmas day, where his mother is dressed like a reindeer, his father gets an ardvark jacket and the kids get freezer dinners. Pan out to the neighbors Christmas when the French foreign exchange student gets a framed picture of Ricky. I LOVE THIS MOVIE! 2. When Zuzu says to George Bailey, "Look, daddy! Teacher says, every time a bell rings, an Angel gets his wings." George quietly agrees, "Attaboy, Clarence," as "Auld Lang Syne" rings out. That scene makes me cry everytime. (I also love that if George had never been around, Mary became a spinster librarian--see pic) ~ It's a W...
Read more