Yesterday was our two-year wedding anniversary.  To celebrate we choose a restaurant that we hadn’t been to before, Gumbo’s Louisiana Style Cafe.  It didn’t hurt that I had bought a coupon a couple of months ago from LivingSocial (similar to Groupon) that gave us $50 of food for the $25 the coupon cost.  We had a couple of other ideas for dinner, but those restaurants were all closed on Mondays.  Anyway, we arrived between six and six-thirty to find Gumbo’s mostly empty.  Again this might be due to it being a Monday, but I was a little surprised.  We were seated at a nice booth table and service was very quick.

We had already decided to try some gumbo before ordering meals.  Kim went with the chicken and sausage, while I ordered the red beans and rice.  Both of these were delicious, though I’d give a slight edge to the chicken and sausage gumbo.  The red beans and rice were fairly typical, but not that it’s a bad thing.  Our server was excellent, suggesting other beers when the one I had chosen was out of stock, as well as voicing her opinion during the crucial entrée selection.  Kim decided to have the pistachio crusted Mahi, which is served over roasted shallot jalapeno cream sauce, topped with sautéed crabmeat and grilled asparagus spears.  Our server commented that this was her favorite.  I decided to have the blackened chicken pasta, typically served over tomato basil sauce.  However, the server recommended that I order it with the mushroom bacon garlic sauce, which I did.  Both of our choices were delicious.  Well I’m assuming Kim’s was delicious, as I didn’t try it, but she did finish the entire piece of fish.  I was glad that I switched the sauce on my pasta, as I thoroughly enjoyed every last bite.

So the food was very good, the price wasn’t overly high, and the service was excellent. I’d definitely recommend this restaurant to any fans of creole food.

After celebrating our friends’ wedding in Newport, Rhode Island, we spent the next day exploring parts of Connecticut.  Rhode Island was my forty-fourth visited state, and Massachusetts was number forty-five, making Connecticut number forty-six.  Rather than taking the interstate between Newport and Mystic, CT, we drove the entire way on highway 1, which included a couple of scenic moments.  It wasn’t nearly as pretty as I had hoped, but it was better than the highway, which we later took back to Providence for our flight out.

Our friends Tracey and Kevin came along for the adventure in Connecticut.  Our first stop was for lunch at the famous Mystic Pizza.  Prior to our trip I had never heard of the movie with the same name, but I was able to view clips of it on the restaurants TV sets as we enjoyed some pizza.  It wasn’t the best pizza I had ever had, but it was good enough to satisfy a very hungry group of four.  After lunch we decided to check out the Mystic Seaport.  Admission was a little pricey, but once inside I realized there was a full day of entertainment available.  It was a little hot for my liking, but we gave our best effort to see as much as we could and actually stayed all the way until closing.

After the Seaport, Kevin decided to start his drive back to New Jersey, leaving Tracey to explore with us for the rest of the day.  Eventually we made our way over to our hotel in the nearby town of New London, and after getting settled, decided to drive back over to Mystic for dinner at the Captain Danial Packer Inne Restaurant and Pub.  After checking out the upstairs menu, we decided to eat at the more casual downstairs pub.  Fortunately many of the dishes served upstairs are also available downstairs and at a discounted price.  This was another of my favorite meals!  The Lemon Peppered Chicken was delicious.

The next day we explored the boardwalk of another nearby town called Niantic.  Part of the boardwalk was closed, but we still enjoyed the limited time on the rocky shores of this tiny town.  We had one last meal at Dad’s Restaurant before making our way back to Providence for our flights out-of-town.  We had a great time exploring New England, and I’m happy that there are now only four states remaining that I have not yet visited.

Mystic on Dwellable

Does anyone remember that Geico commercial that featured a collect call from Bob Wehadababyitsaboy?  I can’t be the only one.  Here is a YouTube link if you need a reminder.

Anyway, we are having a baby and it is a boy! We actually found out a few weeks ago, but it was confirmed at yesterdays twenty week appointment. I added some pictures and additional information over on kimandedjr.com to go along with all the entries Kim has added over the last couple of months.  Be sure to check it out.  Here is one of my favorite images from yesterday.

We spent a considerable amount of time dining out over the weekend.  Saturday evening was no exception, when we decided to try the nearby Mecca Grill.  This Lebanese restaurant appeared to get mostly favorable reviews, minus one or two that mentioned very slow service.  After dining here I can agree with the service being extra slow, but the food was so good that I nearly forgot about the service.  We arrived around eight in the evening to find one server outside on the patio chatting with a couple of customers, along with one or two tables of people inside.  We walked in and didn’t know if we should seat ourselves or not, but a man who appeared to be the owner came out soon enough and asked us to sit where we liked.

The owner was not only serving as the cook and dishwasher for the evening, but also as baby sitter for what appeared to be his grade school aged son.  Needless to say, he had his hands full, so the slow service from him was understandable.  However, the whole experience could have been much better had the server who was sitting on the patio actually was doing his job.  Eventually he did help out, but at that point it was already too late.  Anyway, back to the food.  We started with some humus, which was served with plenty of warm pita bread.  Kim ordered the vegetarian plate, while I went with the falafel plate.  Both of these were excellent selections!  Their falafel were perfect, as was the baba ganoush and tabouleh.  We were given even more pita bread with our meals that we filled with various ingredients before eating.

If you do decide to try this restaurant, be sure to allot plenty of time for the experience.  Though it was slow, the service was friendly, and the food was definitely worth the wait.

My friends Karen and Aaron were married in Newport, Rhode Island at the beautiful Belle Mer Island House a couple of weeks ago.  It was a wonderful time with many close friends, wonderful food, and delicious drinks.  Before helping them celebrate their wedding vows, we also spent time exploring Newport.  We had a big group dinner at the Brick Alley the night before, which might be my favorite meal of the trip.  I would highly recommend the Triple Hot! Hot! Hot! Buffalo Pasta. Earlier on the day of the wedding, we took a tour of the famous Breakers mansion and enjoyed a nice lunch at the Marina Cafe & Pub.  I really enjoyed our time in Newport, but the large tourist crowds and traffic congestion made me happy to only be spending a couple of days there.

Newport on Dwellable

Before ducking out of Massachusetts and heading back toward Rhode Island for the wedding a few weekends ago, we made a quick stop in Cambridge to see the Harvard University campus.  I didn’t take very many pictures of the campus, but it was cool to see, and we even sat in on a tour for a bit.  We attempted to grab lunch at Mr. Bartley’s Gourmet Burgers, but the line was insane.  Instead we ended up at the Cambridge Common for great food and a wonderful beer selection.  I don’t recall what everyone ordered, but my Uncommon BLT was excellent!  After lunch we headed toward Rhode Island with a quick stop past the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  We didn’t even get out of the car, just drove through, as we were running out of time.  Here are a few pictures from the day that was filled mostly with travel.

Cambridge on Dwellable

To kick of the weekend Kim and I walked over to The Local Daylight Diner (2217 East Mississippi), a place we had visited once before back at the beginning of July.  On that visit, I recall ordering lunch as it was getting late in the morning.  I enjoyed the chicken salad sandwich very much, and Kim really enjoyed the crème brûlée oatmeal that she ordered.  We both tried different items on this weekend’s visit.  I went with the mini Belgian waffles, which are served with a mixed berry compote and fresh whipped cream.  I also ordered the signature hash browns, which are covered in green chile and cheese.  Kim decided to have an egg sandwich with pepper jack cheese and soyrizo.

Once again the food was great!  I would absolutely order the mini Belgian waffles again, and while I did enjoy the signature hash browns somewhat, I would have preferred a little more of a spice to the green chile.  Kim remarked that she enjoyed her egg sandwich, but that she should have ordered the egg over hard, as it was very runny upon arrival.  The service isn’t the most speedy in the world, but they were definitely busy on our latest visit.  There wasn’t an open table both inside or outside on the small patio.  This newly opened diner must be doing something right, and we will definitely be back in the future.

While my dad was in town, we also took a drive up to Fort Collins to visit both Odell and New Belgium Brewing Companies.  We stopped at Odell first where we sampled twelve different brews (all the regular beers and a flight of pilot brews as well) and then took a very nice tour of their facility.  Despite producing some of my favorite brews, I had never taken a tour and I was glad to finally check that off the list.  Our second stop was at New Belgium, where reservations are now accepted for tours.  I didn’t realize that before my dad’s visit, but we decided to stop anyway and have a few tastes.  The waitlist was pretty long for the tours, if there were even any no-shows, so we took the three free sample chips each and headed inside to taste some brews.  Next time I will have to plan ahead for any visitors who want to head up north for the tours.

The real highlight of this trip occurred on the way up as we took a small detour over to Lyons, Colorado for lunch at the Oskar Blues Grill & Brew.  I’ve driven past this restaurant numerous times on our way to and from Rocky Mountain National Park, and have always wanted to stop in.  I figured with my dad in town, this was a perfect opportunity to stop in.  We arrived on a quiet Wednesday afternoon and were immediately seated at a booth by the windows.  I had my dad sample Dale’s Pale Ale first (another of my favorites), while I opted for the One-Nut Brown Ale.  For lunch I decided to try the Turkey Reuben, while my dad picked the Pulled Pork Sandwich, and Kim opted for the Chicken Avocado.  The definite highlight was the Chicken Avocado served grilled with bacon, lettuce, tomato, swiss, and guacamole on naan bread.  Also delicious were the side of Texas Toothpicks, deep-fried slices of onions and jalapeno, along with the rest of the meals.  I didn’t hear any complaints as we nearly cleared all of our plates.  I definitely hope to stop again on our next trip through Lyons.

Fort Collins on Dwellable

Something happened last night that hasn’t happened in over sixteen years.  My dad took me to see the band Rush, who has always been one of his favorite bands.  I grew up listening to their albums, and when I was eleven years old he took me to my first ever concert, which happened to be Rush.  We went again the day after my fourteenth birthday.  Both times were at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, now known as US Bank Arena.  I don’t really remember much of those concerts, and prior to last night I hadn’t seen Rush in concert again.  So I don’t really have much to compare last night’s performance with, but I thought it was pretty awesome.  While they are definitely getting older, and the lead singer, Geddy Lee, can’t quite hit the same notes he once could, they are still very talented musicians.

It’s well-known that Rush doesn’t very their setlist throughout a tour, so we already knew what they were going to play.  This obviously takes away some of the excitement and anticipation out of the show, but I’m sure it helps the band to really play these twenty-four songs very well.  And one bonus that I hadn’t thought of before is that you can play your bathroom and concession trips around the setlist, which I did take advantage of last night.  One noticeable thing about last night’s setlist was that they played their entire Moving Pictures album in order from start to finish, thirty years after it was recorded.  Other highlights of the night included nearly all of their top 100 hits along with other favorites of mine “Freewill,” “Marathon,” and the first two parts of “2112.”

As I already mentioned, their musical ability is amazing.  For just a three-piece act, they sure can put out of ton of different sounds.  Neil Peart on drums is always an amazing site to see.  Many consider him to be one of the best around, and he definitely put on a show last night.  His drums solos create an entire song on their own.  Contrary to another great drummer, Carter Beauford from the Dave Matthews Band who is always smiling, Neil rarely cracks a smirk and appears to be very serious and dedicated to his craft.  Lead vocalist, Geddy Lee, is also the bassist and is quite accomplished in his own right.  And when he gets the chance, Alex Lifeson on guitar can really play a mean lead solo.

The stage was set with all sorts of props covering the speakers as the band often seems to do.  Their lighting equipment was really good, and they had amazingly high quality video screen taking up the entire back of the stage.  Both sets of music started with a comedic video starring the band members if various costumes, and there was even a video at the end of the show with the band members playing themselves in normal attire with cameos from Jason Segel and Paul Rudd who pose as Rush fans.  I was amazed at how many people not only stayed through the last note, but stuck around to watch the video at the end which must have went on for ten minutes.  Needless to say the show was excellent and I know that my dad had a great time seeing them at Red Rocks for the first time.

After checking out Fenway on our first night in Boston, we spent the majority of our second day walking the Freedom Trail.  We started in Boston Common and made it all the way to the USS Constitution, which I’m told is about two and a half miles.  It certainly felt like it was longer than that, but the effort was well worth it.  The amount of history along this trail is unparalleled, at least as far as the U.S. goes.  I would highly recommend the walk, and I think you’ll agree after flipping through these photos.

Boston on Dwellable