Memorial Day Vacation

(Sorry for the great delay in posting this, summer here has been a little crazy.  More details on that as soon as I am at liberty to post said details.)

Aaron and I celebrated the completion of his dissertation and official start in life as a (not a real) doctor with a trip to the mountains and the lake.  First stop was Asheville to return to where we spent a bit of our honeymoon. We chose this time to see more of the city and had a great time casually meandering around this unique and odd town. Austin may ask for people to keep it weird, but Asheville more or less abides in weirdness.  

Day 1:
After church we hit the road and happily drove away from the beaches and up to the mountains for Memorial Day. After some food suggestions from the hotel concierge, we settled on going to Mayfel's, a Louisiana-inspired restaurant that did not come up in my pre-trip research. Situated next door to the better known Tupelo Honey Cafe (more on that later), Mayfel's both suffers and benefits from Tupelo's higher profile. Hungry diners unwilling to wait at Tupelo often find their way to Mayfel's. Not a bad runner-up, I would have to say. 
After handily winning in the food ordering category last time we were in Asheville, I was looking to retain my crown while Aaron sought redemption. I quickly chose my dish - Fried Catfish Po'boy - thus taking Aaron's first choice away, leaving him to settle with the jambalaya. It was clear who the winner was the moment they arrived - me!  While Aaron's dish suffered from rice issues, my catfish was piping hot, with the perfect amount of remoulade and coleslaw on bread that was soft but stood up to the juices. So comfortingly good.  I want it again just thinking about it, mmm...

However, to his credit, Aaron won the dessert category. We visited French Broad Chocolates to pick up some truffles to bring home (we had some on the honeymoon, and I bought some for Aaron's Christmas stocking) and Aaron laid his little eyes upon a chocolate creme brulee.  He was nice enough to split it with me, though I have no idea how someone could finish it on their own.  It is not the amount that will get you; it is the deep, velvet richness of the chocolate that would have made me throw in the spoon halfway through if I were eating it alone. We have not partaken of any of the truffles yet, but we have not had one we did not like before and am pretty sure the record will stay the same.

Side note on French Broad Chocolates: When we were there on our honeymoon, there was a lady sketching people in the store unobserved (at least by the people she was sketching). When we came this time, she was there again, sketching another patron of the chocolate company. Aaron quipped that next time we come (and there will be a next time), if she is there we should ask her to sketch us. So, I am putting it out there - lady at French Broad Chocolates who sketches with charcoal, we would like you to draw us, please!

Day 2:
Free breakfast at the hotel to save our taste buds for the plans we have today.

Our goal on our one full day in Asheville was to take a walking tour of downtown. However, it being Memorial Day, the place to get the walking tour maps was closed.  Wop-wop.  Undeterred, we spent some time at Mast General Store where we bought some clothes and candy. We then ventured to one of the more unique coffee shops you will encounter - Double Decker Coffee Company situated in a British double decker bus (pictured). Not only was the novelty amusing, our Creme Brulee Latte and Peppermint Bark Mocha were quite good. Aaron's latte tasted like toasted marshmallows and warm goodness. 

We meandered around downtown a little more, checking out a couple of art stores/galleries, making our way to Grove Arcade, an older building that has been converted to commercial and residential space. The highlight for us was Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar. A beautiful multi-story used bookstore melds elegantly with a wine bar. While I enjoyed a chair and air conditioning, Aaron found a couple books to add to the bookcase at home. I think we could have spent a day or two looking at all the books. However, linner was calling...

We staved off hunger as long as possible in hopes our beloved Tupelo Honey Cafe would not be busy around 3 pm, a perfect time for linner (lunch+dinner). We were wrong; they were busy, but the wait was only 25 minutes or so. For drinks, Aaron ordered a beer flight with (memory, don't fail me now!) Carolina Brewery Firecracker, Pisgah Brewing Blueberry Wheat...and two others that, as you can surmise, paled in comparison.  I opted for the Ginger Muddled Mojito, which is a great summer drink, if a teensy bit heavy on the ginger for my taste.

There was some debate regarding what to order.  Should one of us order the Fried Chicken Saltimbocca that I enjoyed so much on the honeymoon and recreating at home? Go for a more recently created at home pork tenderloin to compare? In the end, Aaron went for the Mountain Trout with Spinach Beurre Blanc and I chose Not Your Mama's Meatloaf (pictured). Aaron's was like three meals in one with the trout, goat cheese grits, and roasted red peppers - all of which was fantastic.  I am not a big fan of meatloaf, with many I have tried being dry and garnished with ketchup, something I have not understood.  Meatloaf is not a hamburger, thus ketchup should not be present. Tupelo's meatloaf not only has bacon in it, but is topped with a rosemary tomato shallot gravy.  The smoke from the bacon melds with the gravy to make an almost barbecue sauce taste. Although, I think my version of macaroni and cheese is better than what was on my plate here. 

The only question left was what we should eat next time. Maybe dabble in the sandwich and burger portion of the menu, or eat breakfast there?  Hmm...

Days 3-5:
Before we traveled to our next destination, a friend's lake house, we of course had to eat breakfast. Aaron picked Early Girl Eatery, and we are both happy we went there. Like much of Asheville, Early Girl is focused on local, sustainable food, and breakfast is a great place to get a little of all that.  I went for one of their daily specials, a Quiche with green tomatoes, local cheese curd, and prosciutto.  The crust was sturdy enough to hold the egg mixture without flopping over, but still flaky and light.  The green tomato was a little bland and one note, but the salty prosciutto was incredible and the cheese melded seamlessly with the eggs. 

Aaron ordered what I coined Thanksgiving for Breakfast, better known at Early Girl as Sausage and Sweet Potato Scramble. It has mushrooms, bacon, green onion, pork and sweet potatoes with a biscuit on the side. After tasting one another's breakfasts, we decided we liked what we ordered best, which seemed in theme with our food orders throughout the trip. Yum, yum, yum!

We then hit the road and headed to the lake, which was the "do little to nothing" part of the trip.  Over the two days we were there, we floated in the lake, watched movies, I beat Aaron twice at Trivial Pursuit (this is HUGE, people, huge!), shot some basketball, and watched a lot of geese and goslings waddle about. For food, we went with our old standby Mini Man Burgers, some brats, and brownies ala mode (with Salted Caramel Sauce from Trader Joe's - I wanted to bathe in it!). 

After returning home, we both agreed this was one of our best vacations ever, together or apart. A perfect balance of doing and not doing anything. Asheville is our city to escape to, build a mountain home near, visit as much as possible, retire in...you get the idea. We love it. And the lake house, oh the lake house. We asked our friends after returning if we could be unofficially adopted into their family so we can go there every weekend without feeling (as) guilty. Overall, it was the perfect re-balance to life that we needed, and a time we will remember well, and one we will seek to recreate throughout our life together.