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Entry tags:
- beauty: fog,
- burgers: krystal,
- cafes: dripolator,
- cuisine: asian fusion,
- cuisine: bbq,
- cuisine: burgers,
- cuisine: fair food,
- cuisine: korean,
- cuisine: pizza,
- cuisine: sichuan,
- cuisine: steakhouse,
- farmers markets: western north carolina,
- friends: bc,
- friends: the singing college,
- games: crystalis,
- holidays: chanukah,
- holidays: thanksgiving,
- museums: biltmore estate,
- museums: knoxville museum of art,
- parks: great smoky mountains,
- pizza: tomato head,
- recipes: buttered corn,
- recipes: cider roasted veggies,
- recipes: cranberry asian pear chutney,
- recipes: dressing: blueberry vinaigrette,
- recipes: pan de sal,
- recipes: pie: strawberry rhubarb,
- recipes: potato: garlic mashed,
- recipes: sesame green beans,
- recipes: sweet potato: candied,
- restaurants: copper cellar,
- restaurants: noodle house,
- travel: knoxville,
- travel: road trips: the smokies
(no subject)
Still alive! The South may be trying to kill me with cholesterol, but I'm still tickin'. ;) It's been a much-needed, relaxing, nearly responsibility-free vacation.
Tuesday: Arrived chez Park. Ate a wide assortment of Korean food. Napped frequently.
Wednesday:
Wandered out of the house around noon to be introduced to Krystal's sliders. Learned that sliders are, apparently, mini-burgers on dinner-roll-sized buns, and not just the New England name for a screen door that runs along a track. Learned that you're supposed to order them by the dozen.
Came back, discovered a still-functioning original Nintendo and SNES; got the former set up, and delved into a replay of Crystalis. I forgot how much I loved this game! I need the soundtrack, at the very least. I need to finish my replay today, though, because we leave tomorrow; I've just arrived in Swan, tricked the guards, and am circling around the dungeon there.
Went shopping to prep for Thanksgiving dinner after that; found:
Steak dinner at the Copper Cellar after that (well, at least for Hyoun; I was still in beef overload after three of those sliders, and ordered a fish dish).
Thursday: Feast! Turkey, natch, with yummy gravy (at which Hyoun's mom kicks ass; must learn from the master) and cranberry-Asian pear chutney; apricot-chestnut stuffing, garlic mashers, candied sweet potatoes, cider-roasted veggies (carrots, parsnips, zucchini, shiitake mushrooms), buttered corn, pan de sal, sesame green beans, spinach salad with goat cheese and candied pecans and blueberry vinaigrette dressing; strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert. And of course, more Crystalis. ;) And Bubble Bobble!
Friday: Fun with GPS en français. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hyounpark so, so needs one of these.)
Free day at the Knoxville Museum of Art, where I made far too many fannish references. Look, when a painting has six red-headed boys, all looking very much alike, of course I'm going to go, "Where's Ginny?" And when there's a photograph of wine corks all lined up on a library bookshelf, each one labeled with the name of the woman with which the protagonist shared that bottle of wine ... and Pam is right next to Karen? (Jim is, however, not that much of a ladies' man. There were several hundred corks.) Also, one particular person's charcoal drawings of clouds looked remarkably like the caverns where Data's head was found after he travelled back in time!
Dinner at the Tomato Head; Hyoun and I split a soft-crust pizza with lamb sausage, sundried tomatoes, olives, capers, roasted garlic, and goat cheese. There was a street fair in Market Square, with an ice rink and fair foods, so natch I got the fried Oreos for dessert ;) oh, so chewy and chocolaty and creamy in the middle; it's exactly what fried dough is *missing* when it's by itself.
Saturday: Started off the morning with a long drive through the mountains; gorgeously ethereal at the bottom due to the smoky fog, almost seeming more real as you glanced up towards the summits; feeling cradled in their depths while driving through them, so tall there was no visible sky through the windshield.
Farmers' market (in farm stalls; more reminiscent of the Big E to me!) breakfast of cinnamon rolls and hot mulled cider; picked up two pounds of salty Amish butter, a jar of sourwood honey, and hot pork skins (if there's ever a Filipino-Southern fusion restaurant, it'll start with cracklins/chicharones).
The Biltmore Estate is just crazycakes, yo. 43 bathrooms. An entire gym in the basement, including a pool and state-of-the-art (for that time) gym equipment. A gorgeous multi-level library with winding staircases; a four-story chandelier that reminded me of the pendulum experiment in Merrill. Though we did get *some* decorating ideas from it for our house of dreams ;)
Also, um, six pours of wine (at *maybe* an ounce or two per), decent sweet white wine though it was, got me all pink and toasty, and I had to down half that bag of chicharones afterwards to make sure I would be okay. Uh, oops,ursamajor has ZERO TOLERANCE, reminder to self.
Got to see anelemmire7 and a fractalspackle :) Winter coffee drinks at the Dripolator, sesame noodles at the Noodle House, wandering around the most earnestly New Age feelgood artists' colony transplanted into the Smoky Mountains, making friends at the cupcake shop.
Today: it's off to the Smokies again for a wee bit of hiking, plus barbecue for Hyoun and steak for Jane. Plus finishing Crystalis when we get back for me!
Tuesday: Arrived chez Park. Ate a wide assortment of Korean food. Napped frequently.
Wednesday:
Wandered out of the house around noon to be introduced to Krystal's sliders. Learned that sliders are, apparently, mini-burgers on dinner-roll-sized buns, and not just the New England name for a screen door that runs along a track. Learned that you're supposed to order them by the dozen.
Came back, discovered a still-functioning original Nintendo and SNES; got the former set up, and delved into a replay of Crystalis. I forgot how much I loved this game! I need the soundtrack, at the very least. I need to finish my replay today, though, because we leave tomorrow; I've just arrived in Swan, tricked the guards, and am circling around the dungeon there.
Went shopping to prep for Thanksgiving dinner after that; found:
 |
A Chanukah calendar! Lift each of the candles up (except the shamash) to reveal ... |
 |
That's right, gelt! |
Steak dinner at the Copper Cellar after that (well, at least for Hyoun; I was still in beef overload after three of those sliders, and ordered a fish dish).
Thursday: Feast! Turkey, natch, with yummy gravy (at which Hyoun's mom kicks ass; must learn from the master) and cranberry-Asian pear chutney; apricot-chestnut stuffing, garlic mashers, candied sweet potatoes, cider-roasted veggies (carrots, parsnips, zucchini, shiitake mushrooms), buttered corn, pan de sal, sesame green beans, spinach salad with goat cheese and candied pecans and blueberry vinaigrette dressing; strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert. And of course, more Crystalis. ;) And Bubble Bobble!
Friday: Fun with GPS en français. (
hyounpark so, so needs one of these.) Free day at the Knoxville Museum of Art, where I made far too many fannish references. Look, when a painting has six red-headed boys, all looking very much alike, of course I'm going to go, "Where's Ginny?" And when there's a photograph of wine corks all lined up on a library bookshelf, each one labeled with the name of the woman with which the protagonist shared that bottle of wine ... and Pam is right next to Karen? (Jim is, however, not that much of a ladies' man. There were several hundred corks.) Also, one particular person's charcoal drawings of clouds looked remarkably like the caverns where Data's head was found after he travelled back in time!
Dinner at the Tomato Head; Hyoun and I split a soft-crust pizza with lamb sausage, sundried tomatoes, olives, capers, roasted garlic, and goat cheese. There was a street fair in Market Square, with an ice rink and fair foods, so natch I got the fried Oreos for dessert ;) oh, so chewy and chocolaty and creamy in the middle; it's exactly what fried dough is *missing* when it's by itself.
Saturday: Started off the morning with a long drive through the mountains; gorgeously ethereal at the bottom due to the smoky fog, almost seeming more real as you glanced up towards the summits; feeling cradled in their depths while driving through them, so tall there was no visible sky through the windshield.
Farmers' market (in farm stalls; more reminiscent of the Big E to me!) breakfast of cinnamon rolls and hot mulled cider; picked up two pounds of salty Amish butter, a jar of sourwood honey, and hot pork skins (if there's ever a Filipino-Southern fusion restaurant, it'll start with cracklins/chicharones).
The Biltmore Estate is just crazycakes, yo. 43 bathrooms. An entire gym in the basement, including a pool and state-of-the-art (for that time) gym equipment. A gorgeous multi-level library with winding staircases; a four-story chandelier that reminded me of the pendulum experiment in Merrill. Though we did get *some* decorating ideas from it for our house of dreams ;)
Also, um, six pours of wine (at *maybe* an ounce or two per), decent sweet white wine though it was, got me all pink and toasty, and I had to down half that bag of chicharones afterwards to make sure I would be okay. Uh, oops,
ursamajor has ZERO TOLERANCE, reminder to self.Got to see an
elemmire7 and a fractalspackle :) Winter coffee drinks at the Dripolator, sesame noodles at the Noodle House, wandering around the most earnestly New Age feelgood artists' colony transplanted into the Smoky Mountains, making friends at the cupcake shop.Today: it's off to the Smokies again for a wee bit of hiking, plus barbecue for Hyoun and steak for Jane. Plus finishing Crystalis when we get back for me!