A post in which I spend the day with Angela!!

I woke up this morning feeling kinda lazy and lackadaisical about having the day to waste. There is plenty of stuff around here that needs doing, but I just plain don’t feel like doing it. While I was making coffee, I decided to click on the computer and see what was going on in the world. When I opened my email, there was one from Angela, and she was in Asheville! She explained that she’s in town, again thinking about moving back to the area, and of course shopping movie ideas. I emailed her back, and just decided to get ready to go up. It’s a win/win. If she didn’t have time to see me I could just spend the day in Asheville, have lunch, maybe do some picture shopping. I was so glad I was free today to just go on a whim. When Angela comes it’s always kind of like the circus is in town. She’s good for me because she influences me to be more spontaneous. I think I need a bit more of that in my life. I'm also trying to focus more on doing the things that are actually important, rather than things I feel I should be doing. Seeing Angela definitely counts for that. About the time I hit the car to head up there, my phone rang, and it was her. I just explained I was headed her way, and she was delighted. I got up there about 11:30, and met them at her mother Joanne’s apartment. Joanne is a hoot too, and always fun to be around.

They are both eschewing cars at the mo, but Joanne lives right downtown, so we prepared for a walking tour of the city. We strolled and chatted along, and stopped at a small beer garden-type place for a drink. We did some catching up sipping ice-cold locally made lager under a shade tree as we watched the pedestrians go by. Asheville has a beautiful and very active downtown, and it was an absolutely stunningly lovely day. After that we decided to get a spot of lunch, but on the way there we stumbled into a little wine shop called Asheville Wine Market. Angela wanted to pick up a bottle of Lambrusco to go with lunch – it’s one of her favorites too. They were doing a tasting of different sparkling whites, and we were delighted to try them all. I bought a bottle of wonderfully full-bodied and juicy white, round and sassy like a big-butted woman (along with some delightful little wine crackers that look like tortellini), and wanted to come back to buy some more things I found there – I didn’t want to carry a bunch of wine in my backpack all day. Leaving there triumphant (we each bought a bottle of wine) we wandered next door to a lovely little locally owned gourmet deli and catering place called Laurey’s and had a delicious lunch. They let us drink our wine there, which was great, and the staff was super-nice. We polished off a bottle of wine with lunch. We were somewhat suspiciously happy by the time we left.

We were walking back towards the apartment when we went by one of my favorite antique stores in Asheville, Lexington Park Antiques. I hadn’t been in there in far too long, and we spend a delightful hour or so having a good rummage. I found a dinner plate in my blue bubble glass, and picked up a Floral platter for less than half price – did I tell you I love this place? The owners are super nice also.

Floral "Poinsettia" 10 3/4" oval platter in green by Jeannette Glass, circa 1931-1395

After all that, we finally went back to the apartment for a while to have a sit-down and for Angela to catch up on her email. We had a pleasant little interlude at Joanne’s place, but eventually decided to venture back out. We first went for key lime pie. Angela and Joanne are key lime pie connoisseurs, and have eaten it all over the country. They knew a little local place that indeed gave great pie. Of course we had another drink with our pie, and people watched for a bit. Then they wanted to take me to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, a place that Joanne frequents. They had a dessert called a ‘liquid truffle’, which is one of the best chocolate things I have ever eaten. Best described as a warm chocolate mousse, it was decadently rich and fluffy all at the same time, kind of a cross between a chocolate lava cake, or slightly thinned chocolate mousse; hard to describe, but scrumptious. The hint of fresh lavender incorporated into the mix was a delightful compliment to the chocolate that kept it from being cloying. It was absolutely a molten cup of heaven. They also do their own hand dipped chocolates, and we had a salted honey caramel dipped in dark chocolate that was gorgeous.

Dessert taken care of, we decided to have some supper. We walked through town to arrive at a place called Wasabi, where we had some very decent sushi. The monk fish liver we had was a bit overdone, and I was rather disappointed in it, but the sushi was good, and the portions were huge. I ordered three rolls and couldn’t finish them. Of course, we’d been kind of grazing all day.

We strolled through downtown, taking in the sights as we headed back to Joanne’s, where I took my leave. It was a fabulous and delightful day. But I was wiped out from the walking and the drinking! They can both drink me under the table. Fortunately I had forsworn alcohol at dinner, but I was still feeling kind of headachy and drug out from earlier. It was a small price to pay for such a great day though!