It’s been a while. The past couple of weeks have flown by, a blur of taxes, Tennessee/N.C. wanderings, with a soupçon of acute flower-dust poisoning. Yes, I am a member of Pollen Nation. Never had any kind of allergy until I moved to Atlanta, but apparently my love of spring (“Again we have survived!”) is unrequited by those beautiful, but spiteful azaleas, dogwoods and jasmine now bursting into bloom. I came back home in a buoyant good mood, deeply breathing in the glorious open-window season. And then…. powie. You know those X-rays of people with stuff like screwdrivers and unexploded ammo in their brains, who are inexplicably still breathing? Felt a little like that.
Basil martini and bloody mary at Laughing Seed Cafe, Asheville.
Bill and I had a great time roaming around eastern Tennessee, with a quick jaunt into one of our favorite towns, Asheville. Bill got to meet an old friend of mine who’s now back in Knoxville, and we made a couple of good restaurant discoveries in this neck of the woods: The Foothills Milling Co., in old downtown Maryville, and the Crown & Goose, a pleasant little gastropub in Knoxville’s Old City. Asheville remains one of our favorite dining destinations in the country, and I’ll be adding reviews from there as well. (We’re also glad to hear that President Obama and his family like Asheville too — but Michelle needs to pry herself loose from the Grove Park Inn spa and come downtown and check out TOPS for Shoes! Plenty of cute stuff for Sasha and Malia too.)