James at the Mill, Dickson Street Books and a day to travel

Sometimes you just need to claim a day for yourself and it is worth it.

I had a phone call from a customer looking for clay and she informed my that Flat Rock Clay was going out of business or at least changing to not be a supplier any more. I called them and it was true and they were having a big sale Friday and Saturday. So John, my husband, and I decided to escape and make a day trip to check it out.

I bought a bunch of popular glazes to sell at my shop and then we headed downtown to find lunch. We found a natural food restaurant called Smiling Jacks Fresh Food and we split a delicious grilled cheese and a salad with pears, spinach, pecans and goat cheese and poppy seed dressing, and a wheat beer.

Luckily it was located right behind Dickson Street bookstore. Of course, we cannot go in there without coming out with a hand full of books. John found a Larry McMurtry book Boones's Lick and we are gathering Sherman Alexies books and we found Indian Fighter.

I found Animal,Vegetable,Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver ( a wonderful author I got to spend an afternoon with in Emory, Va,). I also discovered Daybook, The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt, a book about motherhood, childhood and the struggles of being an artist.

We walked around downtown and then headed for James at the Mill. It is an incredible restaurant where John purchase and enjoyed a $12 bowl of soup six years ago, part of our 30 year anniversary celebration. I love the place but felt much to frugal to really eat there again.

I gave in and it was a great idea. We sat at the bar and watched the chefs prepare incredible gourmet meals. We paused and pondered and tried to decide what appetizers to order.
Expensive wine or cheaper beer? Well, in the meantime they brought us great bread and bread sticks and also a complimentary bowl of soup:
Soup of asparagus, leek, and parsnip with blue lump crab relish
and roasted red pepper foam normally $12.
I think they saw us enjoying and studying the menu in awe and decided to help up out.

And it was great. The next item we actually chose and split was:

Homemade Farfalle pasta with English peas, pearl onions, San-Danielle Prosciutto,
roast garlic cream, and crusted chicken breast $19.

It was incredible. Delicious! And it was really fun to watch the young men scramble to get the dishes delivered at just the right moment to each table.

We spent a fascinated hour or so watching the cooks scramble to prepare with graceful movements a great array of entrees. Stacks of beautiful cookware and white restaurant plates that worked as canvasses below their beautiful sauces and seared salmon, grilled chicken and more. They squirted colorful and tasty sauces over lovely nearly always"upright" foods and tossed spices herbs and chives over the top of nearly every dish.

We wanted to want dessert. Just could not do it. We watched for a few more minutes while we tried a press pot of Bolivian coffee out of a lovely restaurant style white cup and saucer.

So yes, I was not at work today. It is fun to reclaim my life, still work oriented but on another little adventure and spending time with my husband as well.