Adventures In The Arts

Mazen and I went to Hillsborough for a relaxing weekend with Grammie and Pea. (We left Thomas home for some me time and a huge garage overhaul!) Our trip had a few main goals: for my dad and me to attend a show and to see Grammie’s art on display.

A few months ago my dad, who likes every kind of music except country, asked me if I wanted to join him for a Nashville songwriter showcase at the Durham Performing Arts Center. I didn’t hesitate to say yes! Grammie took Mazen out on a date, and dad and I started ours with an early dinner at Antonio’s in downtown Hillsborough.

We shared this roasted vegetable starter as our “salad” course.

MY OTHER RECIPES

And I had a half portion of house-made fettuccini with a bolognese sauce for dinner. It was great!!

Before we left town, we went to a few of the art galleries open for Last Friday, including one where Grammie was a featured artist!

The dinosaur on the Hillsborough Riverwalk is my favorite!

She and Mazen were greeting visitors and enjoying the kids arts table.

Then dad and I departed for Durham.

Going to the DPAC made me wish we lived in a bigger city. I would love to go see some of these major Broadway shows, and I’m going to look up some of the performances at our high school and UVA to see if there are any coming up soon. We saw a lot of theater growing up and I miss it!

There was no photography inside the theater, but our show was great. We heard nine of Nashville’s finest sing the songs that they wrote that went on to become number-one hits. Songs like “Drink  On It,” “The Climb,” “A Little More Country Than That,” “All The Pretty Girls,” “Heads Carolina, Tales California,” and “Live Like You Were Dying.” My dad only knew one song, but I think he might like country a little bit more now!

We got home pretty late to find that Mazen had JUST gone to sleep. He was up at 6:30 the next morning and mom had to be up early for the farmer’s market, so we were all quite sleep deprived the next day! Luckily, we all fit in short afternoon naps.

Many things in the “new house” are new: the kitchen, the bathrooms, the bedding, but some things never change, like dad’s coffee preference and pot from the 80s. I accepted a cup of Folgers with an open mind, but gosh it was awful! It tasted like a coffee substitute beverage.

Breakfast was simple:

Followed by second breakfast – the last tablespoon in the jar.

We showered and dressed and headed to the farmer’s market where mom was. She sold 10 paintings! You can learn more about her artwork here. Each painting has a story.

Mazen “bought” this one for his room. The bird had decided to change the color of his feathers and is having trouble choosing a color.

After the market we went to Cameron Park, the elementary school where I started kindergarten 30 years ago (!), to meet my friend Becca, who was in my first grade class and has been a great friend ever since!

She brought her three girls (her oldest is almost taller than me!) and Mazen had a great time with them at the playground. The same dirt I played on when I was his age!

We walked home and had a picnic lunch on my parents’ porch.

There happen to be twin five-year-old boys and a seven-year-old girl who live right next door to my parents, so Mazen, who is not the least bit shy, went over and played with them for a few hours. He was thrilled and we were so thankful to the kids parents, who were also thrilled to have a new dynamic to add excitement to their Saturday. We could all sit on the porch and supervise.

Mazen came home later in the afternoon, exhausted, and we relaxed with some necessary screen time on the couch : )

Finally we set out for an early dinner downtown at Radius Pizza.

I had the above salad, which was so good with that truffle dressing, and shared this pizza with dad.

Afterwards, we went to West Hillsborough to try out Whit’s Custard that my friend Tiffany recommended. The place was happening!

Whit’s was kind of like a cross between Kohr Bros and Coldstone, and you could select any number of mixins to put in your base. I got the Bourbon Praline Pecan custard with heath bar and butterscotch! OMG.

We were asleep by 9pm and enjoyed 10 glorious hours before a 7am wake-up. I’m banking my sleep between now and October!

First thing in the morning, I set out on a run in search of coffee. I took a 1.5 mile route to get to Cup A Joe, the cutest coffee shop serving a delicious Ethiopian coffee! Delicious.

I sipped it on my walk home, which took me by the house I grew up in. I’d say my parents are 60% moved into the new house and are mostly sleeping there. The old house is unofficially on the market if anyone wants to buy an 185-year-old historic home in a charming southern town! We all love and miss the house, but I am very very happy to be sleeping at the new one. I promised them I would come visit more after the move now that they have adequate air conditioning, good shower water pressure, a modern kitchen, and mattresses from this century :  )

It comes with the matching playhouse from our childhood! (Admittedly, both houses are showing their age.)

Something from my childhood not showing its age is this toast press! My mom used to press smiley faces into our toast when we were little. We played some Monster Mash too. (I am still really good at it )

I brought home two muffins from Cup A Joe and we shared these with bacon and strawberries.

We said goodbye to Hillsborough and G+P and hit the road to Virginia.

In the spirit of #keepingitreal, Mazen begged me to stop at McDonald’s for lunch. Pre-having-kids, I would have packed a sandwich or just had a late lunch when I got home, but as his mom, I want nothing more than to see this child smile from ear to ear. So, stop we did! (We have a rule that we only go to fast food on car trips, not making it any kind of regular habit.)

I had the Southwest salad, which was actually pretty darn good! I loved the black bean and corn mix on top, and the lettuce was a mix of romaine, mixed greens, and spinach and was better than some airport salads I’ve had in the past. Just sayin’! (Yes, I stole a few of Mazen’s fries.)

Once home, we were so happy to see Thomas and Gus! Thomas took Mazen to play putt-putt while I unpacked and wrote this blog post. Mazen got a hole-in-one on the first hole!

Hope you were able to get outside and enjoy the spring weather where you live!

from Kath Eats Real Food https://ift.tt/2jftx8Z