What I Love About St. Pete - Our new hometown

Sometime before the holidays we will be moving into our new renovated/remodeled/additioned home in the Old Northeast section of St. Pete. Its been a long road to get to that point and we are READY to say "we live in ST. Pete". Which is a good thing since its taken us 2 years and more money that expected to get permits and construct our dream retirement home. (jerry would say nightmare...but he'll feel better when we're done).

We spend several weeks a month here now, renting a small furnished apartment a few blocks from the house. We are beginning to feel a bit "at home" here.

So what do I love about St. Pete this week? Diner 437, our fave restaurant in town. Chef Domenica Macchia has created a wonderful "home cooking" with a twist menu and SHE is a delight. I "met" her through Twitter via a post by @thestew (thanks guy!). She is fun, opinionated (in a good way), real, cooks REAL food, and is adventurous. Today we went for lunch and had her wet-aged (by Domenica herself) prime rib. Oh my gosh...divine...which absolutely perfect mashed potatoes. Can't wait to introduce Jason to her potatoes.

But there is more to St Pete besides good food. Last night we went to see the Rays play against the Yankees (sadly they lost) at the Tropicana Dome (The Trop). We bicycled there. Yes, me! Yes, to a major MLB ballfield. Even though we live in a quiet, homey, historic neighborhood, we are within 2 miles of the Trop. And there is a major bike path much of the way. We left the Trop on our bikes and were almost home before a lot of the people got out of the parking lot in their cars! Great fun!

And then there's people. We've become good friends with our architect John and his wife Susan. And now with our contractor Emil. We're making acquaintances with people through twitter (yes, I just said Twitter) mainly associated with food (good thing there are a lot of walking trails and sidewalks here...i'm going to need it to walk off all the dining opportunities).

Now if we can just stop finding dry rot and termite damage so we concentrate on building the new part of the house rather than rebuilding the old part! (see http://www.annettesspot.blogspot.com/ for the saga of the house).

Long Time No Post

The last few months have been a blur and I've sadly neglected this blog. Managed to keep up with Facebook and Flickr and am trying out Twitter. But am just often too weary to post. But I've renewed my conviction to keep this one up. So first. check out http://www.annettesspot.blogspot.com/ I've made several posts with updates on our new place in St. Pete. That will get you up to date on that aspect of our life. I've promised myself to update my travel blog with our June trip to Nashville and our July trip to Montreal. In the meanwhile you can check out www.flickr.com/photos/abaesel to catch some of the photos.

For now...here is a photo from today in St. Pete. This was a giant thunderhead with an enormous "anvil" which fortunately headed northwest instead of over st. pete.

Late Spring

This is my favorite time of year here, yes, even more than the autumn. When the peonies, lilacs, iris, roses, and aliums are in a riot of bloom...I just love it:

A La Maison in Ardmore

Found a little bit of Montreal bistro in Ardmore, PA. We love this place. Polished wood floors, high ceilings, bistro tables, warm tones on the walls, lots of light, and great food. A simple but delicious menu...we've eaten there 3 times in the best few weeks (once for lunch, twice for dinner). Its BYOB which is great. So far? Lamb Shanks on white beans, Fried Soft Shelled Crabs, Escargot, Moules and frites, mesclun salad, pink grouper on ratouille, Cassoulet. All perfect in taste and presentation. Oh and mixed berries with perfect creme and a pot au creme (chocolat with a few raspberries). yum. good service, a bit inexperienced but willing to find the answers quickly...make a point of making a stop at A La Maison. here is their website for more info and address. http://www.alamaisonbistro.com/

Kindle

I have a Kindle2. Never thought I'd want one. Never thought I'd really like it. Wrong on both counts. I decided that the new Kindle (being smaller/thinner and lighter) might make a great travel aid when we take long trips so that I don't have to lug along 15 lbs of books in my suitcase. Then I tried one and discovered that a) you can make the font bigger (great for aging eyes), b) you actually can make annotations on a page (great for book club reading), c) its easier to hold in bed when you are laying down than a really big book, d) you can share e-book purchases between family members with different kindles (as long as they are registered to the same Amazon user), e) it has really good battery life (especially when the wifi is turned of), f) its really light weight and, g) important for traveling - you can store an AMAZING amount of books on it. So I'm sold. And I haven't even explored the world of blogs, newspapers, and magazines yet. One learning curve at a time.

An unexpected note of good wishes from abroad.

Several years ago Jerry and I traveled to China where we bought some pearl earrings from Fanghua Pearls in Beijing. It was a delightful experience and I remember looking at all the pictures on the walls of foreign heads of state who had bought pearls from them at one time or another (for some reason I particularly remember a photo of Margaret Thatcher). Since that time they have never pestered us with emails or advertisements (even though we gave them our email). Today we received this from them:

Dear Sir or Madam:
This is a letter from Fanghua Pearls in China.
The A ( H1N1) influenza outbreak in some nations reminds us the days in 2003 when SARS epidemic spread in our country. We hope everyone is fine this time in your home town. We will stand together with you and believe that you and your great country will conquer all the difficulties.
Wish you and your family always be health and happy!

Fanghua Pearls

I have to say I was touched and responded back with thanks. It was a good reminder that we are not in this life alone, as individuals or as countries).

A Royal Visit

Last Tuesday night I hosted the Main Line Newcomers Bookgroup at my home. This bookgroup is one of my favorite activities and one I will miss greatly when I move. With Newcomers, I started the bookgroup 6 years ago last February. We've grown from 3readers to an average of 10 (with another 5 to 7 "sometimers"). We've read a diverse set of books over the years, some books I would never have picked for myself. We've enjoyed long conversations, good food and wine, and many interesting books.

This Tuesday we discussed one of my favorite books of the past few years, "Queen of the Road" by Doreen Orion. It is hysterically funny in parts, touching and revealing in others, and all in all thought provoking. I've had the good fortune to "friend" the author via Facebook and email over the past year. And as has become her custom she was willing to "attend" our bookgroup via speaker phone. So we came in our favorite shoes and drank martinis (you need to read the book to get the connection) and enjoyed a wonderful 45 minute chat with Doreen.

A great evening was had by all.