RDU to MHT

I often find myself looking up to the sky, watching birds fly, and looking up at the clouds. It is nice to look down from above sometimes.

1. New York City fly-by
2. New England clouds
3. Atlantic Ocean inlet 

Growing A Garden

Over the past month I have unintentionally developed a habit. I get home from work, kiss m’lady and step into the back yard. It has been a couple months now since we have dug up and planted our gardens. Three spaces now hold vegetables, herbs and flowers.

There is an odd sense of pleasure that we take in tending to the plants, pulling weeds and assessing growth. Liz does well with gently guiding her tiny sprouts. I, on the other hand, want to poke, push and slap my plants around to see daily development. We have planted accordingly.

I often forget that all of the work we have put into (and enjoyment we have gotten from) developing the gardens will eventually yield delicious results. In the mean time, there is the added benefit of the blooming vegetables. A temporary faux flower garden.

East Campus Tunnel

Ok, it is not necessarily a tunnel. There is an underpass that runs under Main Street in Durham, and links Duke’s East Campus to the West Campus. I know it as “Lollage bridge” from this picture that Liz took prior to me moving to Durham. That is not the name of it of course, and the bridge no longer says “Lollage”. That is the reason that I like the underpass so much. It is ever changing.

The walls are covered with graffiti. The sidewalk is covered with graffiti. The road is covered with graffiti. Even the guardrails and encroaching ivy have traces of spray paint.

Dain's Place: Brunch

I think that my excitement trumped my surprise when I heard that the joint that serves my favorite burger in the area would start serving brunch. That was several months ago now, and since Dain’s has been calling my name on Saturday mornings between 9:00am and 12:00pm.

As far as the ever-changing brunch menu goes, you could throw a dart at it and be pleasantly surprised by ordering whatever you hit. Above is a French toast sandwich with Nutella and bacon, buttered and grilled, served with fresh fruit and maple syrup. The First Class Biscuits and Gravy is one of my favorite offerings so far. It consists of honey biscuits topped with sausage gravy, then topped with fried eggs and drizzled with Siracha. It sounds fairly simple, but the result is wonderful.

How can you say no to brunch at a place that shows Saturday morning cartoons, serves the “Bloodiest Mary” (my favorite in town) and serves milk and Oreos as a dessert? The answer is, you can’t.

The Corner of Wilmington and Martin

I will be the first to admit that there is much more of Raleigh that I need to explore. That being said, I really dig the corner of Wilmington and Martin. It is on that corner that Ashley Christensen has weaved her magic into a trifecta of well designed greatness.

Fox Liquor Bar - It is rare that you can walk in to a bar, tell the bartender what flavors you like and he comes back with the perfect beverage, chilled with hand chiseled ice no less. Fox Liquor bar accomplishes that. My drink of perfection was the American Trilogy - rye whiskey, brandy and orange bitters, garnished with an orange twist.

Chuck’s - Burgers are just burgers until they are more than burgers. Have you ever had a burger with blistered peppers? Tortilla dust? Or have you found a spirit animal between two buns? Chuck’s take burgers to a whole new level.

Beasley’s Honey + Chicken - When you have fried chicken at the oldest bar in Oklahoma, you want to believe that it is the best fried chicken that you have ever had. I wanted to believe that… then I had chicken at Beasley’s.

Ashley was even kind enough to show up on our front doorstep recently (in the pages of Garden & Gun magazine) to reinforce the awesomeness of the area.