The weather was fantastic (mid-70s and sunny) all weekend, so we drove up to north Durham and wandered through the woods at the Eno River State Park. Several wildflowers were in bloom (including these violet wood sorrels and blue-eyed grass), but most were very tiny, so we had to keep our eyes open.

The pump house trail (accessed from the Nancy Rhodes Creek bridge off Rivermont Road in the east side of the park) follows the Eno river for a time and passes by the old pump house (of course).

It hadn’t rained for a few days, so the water was pretty clear.

Amazingly, we had the place almost entirely to ourselves—we only saw two other people the entire time, a father and son pair fishing on the river.

We took pup with us for the 1.5 mile hike and she very much enjoyed the new smells of the forest floor. At one point, while Eric was traipsing through the forest litter to get a better vantage point of the river, pup and I stayed behind. She had some leaves stuck to her, and when I looked closer, I noticed a tick on her paw. Good thing I had given her the monthly dose of Frontline that morning.

This is the first time we’ve had a problem with ticks on her even though we have a wooded backyard and take her to a dog park regularly. I guess it’s that time of year. All told, we removed a total of four by the end of the day.

All along our hike, the leaves were rustling, tell-tale signs various things skittering about. Riesling spotted a few critters, but we prevented her from tasting anything (much to her dismay, I imagine).

This american toad hopped out of our way then stayed perfectly still when pup walked over, but the bess beetle just kept right on walking across the center of the trail!

Overall a good, easy hike, just beware the insects who want to come home with you.

Of course, I managed to find an orange ball! I got a “9″ on this shot, by the way.

First game: Leandra, 124; Eric, 115
Second game: Leandra, 139; Eric, 124

Since Eric consistently beats me in mini-golf, this is payback! :)

It’s too bad they are tearing these lanes down in a few weeks days, $3 for two games of bowling (including shoes) is a rare find these days, even if you have to keep your own score.

(I know it seems like we live there, but we don’t. Honest.)

On Monday evening, during our lovely appetizer/dessert meal with a half-priced bottle of Evolution, Chef Sam stopped by and reminded us about the Chameleon Cellars wine tasting the following night. So, we found ourselves back at Starlu last night to sample some honestly good wines.

The $15 charge allowed us to try six wine varietals: Sauvignon Blanc, Barbera, Syrah, Zinfandel, Charbono, and a Petit Sirah. All were lovely in their own right, but we left with three bottles of the Barbera and one of the Sauvignon Blanc. The Barbera was both smokey and sweet and we both liked it—so we ordered three bottles for our collection. If a glass of red can make Eric happy, you know it’s good.

Besides the delicious food (smoked salmon rolls with caper dressing, black bean wraps, and smokey bbq), we also enjoyed speaking with the winemaker himself, Jeff Popick. Years of viticultural experience has helped this man develop a talent for picking out grapes from various growers in several counties to make some fantastic wine. Plus he’s a nice guy with an easy laugh. I think he was slightly surprised at how much we knew about wine because of how young we looked… we can be deceiving. :)

The good news is that it looks like we’ll be seeing these wines in some local area restaurants as his trip also included a stop at Nana’s in Durham. We haven’t been there yet but the mere fact that Chameleon Cellar’s Barbera is available by the glass now may be that extra push to get us in the door.

chocolate brownie, biscotti, and mousse at Starlu…

This post is to thank WRAL, the CBS affiliate in the RTP area, for our free antenna. I learned about their giveaway promotion in February, and after finding out that it was a legitamate offer, applied.

Why would we need an antenna when we already have a satellite system? For one, our Dish HD system only carries the local ABC and NBC stations in HD. We’ve been using an indoor antenna for CBS and FOX, and while it works most of the time, whenever it gets windy we have problems. And of course it always gets windy when you actually want to watch a certain show. An antenna also provides a backup for times when our satellite reception is interrupted by thunderstorms. Third, HD seems to look better over-the-air (probably due to lower compression) and we can pickup alternate digital channels that cable and satellite generally don’t transmit. For example, during March madness CBS transmits all the games on its over-the-air digital channels. All in all, with digital broadcasts there are a lot of good reasons to have an antenna.

So a few weeks later I came home to a large box on our porch- our new antenna (a Channel Master 4228)! Over Easter my dad helped me install it in our attic. We’re now receiving a near perfect signal for both CBS and FOX, and a more stable backup signal for NBC and ABC too.

The fear of frost has passed, so we picked up some herbs and a tomato plant at the Raleigh farmer’s market on Saturday. We also planted the yellow bell pepper plants, mesclun and basil seeds. Water, repeat, and wait. :)

My mongolian BBQ cooking class was last night and I am happy to say it was much better than the curry class I took at this place a few months ago. We had a friendly, social group and the chef was equal parts entertaining and informative. The sauce recipes are fairly simple, but I learned a few key techniques about stir-frying that I tend to forget when trying to throw together a meal after a long day.

The pan has to be smoking hot. Literally. Add the oil only after the pan is smoking hot. Add the ingredients that will take the longest to cook first (duh). Add the sauce at the very end, swish it around to coat everything, then serve immediately. All the sauces were good, but here are the two I taste-tested with beef and shrimp, respectively, last night.

Fortune-Miso Sauce

3 Tbsps miso paste (we used brown)
1 Tbsp mirin
1Tbsp water
1Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp stock (we used chicken)
1 Tbsp sake

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, whisk well.

Lemongrass Mango-Ginger Sauce

1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 stalk lemongrass, chopped
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp lime juice, plus zest
1 pinch chili flakes

Cook all ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat for 5 minutes. Transfer sauce to food processor and puree until smooth, strain if desired. (Some folks don’t like the stringy texture of the lemongrass and/or mango.)

This post is dedicated to my mom-in-law… :)

I found two of the five shoes on my list of “must-haves” today at DSW, and they just happened to be an additional 30% off of the already discounted price.

Total (including tax), under $55!

BCBGirls logo pumps and Naturalizer ‘Sparkle’ mary-janes.

For the first time in the 2.5 years we’ve lived in Durham, NC, we finally made the easy two hour drive down I-40 to Wilmington on Easter weekend. During our two day stay we saw everything on our list including the New Hanover County Arboretum, Airlie Gardens, the historic riverfront, and Wrightsville Beach.

The arboretum offices were closed for the weekend, so we snuck pup in and made sure she didn’t eat any of the flowering plants. Sculptures in the lake along with the multiple daffodils in bloom made for a tranquil setting… until the large dog that lives in the yard adjacent to the arboretum caught site of Riesling! Numerous japanese maples gleefully reminded us how lucky we were to have procured our own two years ago for the handsome sum of $12.

Our next stop was Airlie Gardens, which has only been regularly open to the public for about 9 years. After a leisurely stroll around the 67-acre garden, we all concluded that the $5 donation was well worth the cost—especially in the spring. Hundreds of tulips were in bloom and the whole grounds was encircled in bright pink azalea bushes. There were many attractive vistas to stop and take in the lake and planted gardens.

Pup had to stay in the car this time around, but due to the cold front, she was probably the warmest of all of us! It was clear that the azaleas and tulips were peaking during our visit but, unfortunately for others, the annual azalea festival was still a week away.

At this point we headed downtown to check-in to the Blue Heaven Bed and Breakfast. The owner, Jay, was very nice, helpful, and chatty. He had a giant stash of menus from many of the downtown restaurants and confirmed that the few places we had researched were good choices. Our review with details about the three good restaurants we tried can be found in an earlier post.

Historic downtown Wilmington is charming, clean, and full of second-hand shops and restaurants with catchy names. And although Wilmington reminds me of other semi-coastal towns, Savannah and Charleston in particular, it manages to maintain a sense of uniqueness all it’s own.

On my brisk Saturday morning walk with pup, the only others out and about were dog owners with their pets and we received many smiles and a few good mornings. After a filling home-cooked breakfast (and three (!) coffees for me), we packed up and headed out.

On the way to Wrightsville Beach, we took a detour drive around Greenfield Lake. Although it was too chilly for the three mile walk, Eric managed to get a few shots of the peaceful scene while shivering joggers shuffled by.

The forty-degree weather didn’t deter us from walking on the beach, however, and in fact, my sandled (soon to be barefoot) feet were warmer in the sand!

As usual, Riesling adjusted perfectly fine to the sand and continued her quest to be the first of us to get wherever it was we were going.

The next time we visit, we will definitely stay close to the riverfront area. It was an easy 5-10 minute walk from our B&B past historic homes with tended gardens to Front Street and lots of restaurants.

We picked a good place to stay and tasty restaurants for this visit, but there are still other things to see—when the weather gets warmer of course! Next time, we will travel further south to visit Carolina Beach State Park and try some restaurants we missed the first time.

Additional photos from our trip can be seen on Flickr.