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Published: September 6th 2020
This will again be a short entry, not much to blog about when your looking at apartments most of the day. It will be so short, I am actually typing this directly into the blog. My normal pattern is to type the entry in Word, so I can spell check and get my formatting the way I want it. This is the first time since I started blogging in Thailand that I have done it in this free hand way.
The day began the same as yesterday, breakfast at the hotel, (eggs didn't need salt and the potatoes were not overly salty). From there it was off to the first of our two apartments for the day. All I really need to say, is that we have found the place we want to live. A great complex just on the edge of downtown, but walkable to Brown University Area, Downtown, and Atwells (the little Italy section). We can get a very large 3 bedroom, utilities included for a third of what we would pay in Manhattan. Outdoor pool, lots of common areas, tons of green space, even a tenis court and theatre.
In between apartment complexes, we had lunch
Water Place Park
Superman building in the background.at an Irish Pub a few blocks form our future home. Very classic Irish pub, food was decent (not pictures) Jerry had a classic BLT and fries and I had a Turkey Club with tator tots. My only comment is that of my grandmothers' "why do they need that third slice of bread?"
After lunch it was the second apartment and then a different way back to the hotel. We ended early, so just relaxed with some Sancere and I even took a nap.
Dinner last night was at Camille's right on the edge of federal hill in the Italian section. The street was closed for 15 blocks so the restaurants, had more space for outdoor dinning. This was a very old school Italian eatery, serving all of the traditional dishes. It was in an old federal style house. We were in the second floor dinning area, which is normally where they accommodate larger groups, but doing this time of Covid, they need all the space they can get. We had a great table, well for me it was, because the AC was perfectly placed to blow on me when it kicked on, and I run hot, so
it was perfect for me. I am sure most would complain about it
The ambience was nice, the food was decent, the server, Asher, was friendly and attentive. We started with a are standard two glasses of prosecco, and toasted to finding what is hopefully our new home. We split a carpaccio for our starter, this was much better than what Jerry had the other night, but it was more arugula than beef. It was still a good start. The next course was a Cesar Salad for me (typical restaurant style, white dressing not the dark style which is the original recipe. It was fine, and dressed well and had plenty of parmesan. .Jerry had a Burrata Caprese, the Burrata was house made and pretty good, not Palo in little Italy good, (yes I actually compared something to a place in NYC). The tomatoes on the other hand were not very good.
The entrées is where some issues began. I should have gone with a classic veal dish, but instead had a pistachio encrusted rack of lamb, normally I would be in heaven. It was served over a, for lack of a better word, trough of sweet potatoes (with
vanilla), and some grilled asparagus. It was well cooked so it should have just melted in your mouth, unfortunately, it did not. First problem, was it just was not well seasoned, and I am not just talking lack of sale (but that was an issue) is just lacked any seasoning of any flavor. Second, the rack it self, was just too tough. I have never had a rack of lamb that was chewy, and it was not over cooked. It was very lean, and that could have been the issue. Finally, and by far the biggest problem was that has you went down the rack, the flavor changed, ending with a piece that tasted, as Jerry would say, a barnyard. It simply was not edible. That taste is the reason Jerry does not like lamb. It was a bit of a disappointment, but luckily for me Jerry's dish was not only classic it was huge.
Jerry had a classic Pollo all Parmigiano. It was the size of a dinner plate and came with a side of penne in the house sauce (or as they say gravy). At first the sauce was not anything special, but as you had
Chicken Parm
Not doing dish of the day on this trip, but if I were, this was it. it with the entire dish, it worked very well. It was a very basic tomato sauce, very little garlic or herbs added. The chicken was perfectly cook moist and every bite was the perfect combination of cheese chicken and sauce. I got about a 4th of it to make up for my lamb.
The best part of the meal was the 2016 Sokol Blosser Oregon Pinot. This is one of the oldest wineries in Orgon, located in the Dundee Hills, were the Oregon Pinot industry really started decades ago.
Over all, it was a pleasant experience and somewhere we will come back to after we move. It is about 6 blocks from where we hope to live. Dinner over, we strolled back to the hotel for a bit of Zweigelt, an Austrian red wine we discovered when we were in Salzburg several years ago. It is very hard to find, but it was at the wine store over in the University area that we checked out last night. We were sound asleep by 11:30.
Tomorrow is a Zipcar and discovering the rest of the area, i.e. grocery stores, etc.
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Shari
non-member comment
Exciting News
I’m excited to hear about the new place and come for a visit (once travel bans and quarantines are lifted). And, the “barnyard” taste is why I have never even tried lamb. I’m afraid to go hungry after I hate it! But chicken Parmesan is one of my favorite Italian dishes when it’s done well. No tiramisu for dessert?