月亮山, Continued

Wrote verse 2!!!

秋雨后的明月峰正朦胧
小竹筏划破漓江的彩虹
纤杆弯弯似无意
我端起酒杯看着你

淡淡的桂香如你的气息
浅浅品尝像是你的甜蜜
半滴雨画出音符
在杯中悄悄的轻歌曼舞

雕花窗记载着
爱像月亮山的三百六十
弦眉半镜让人如醉如痴
只能把感动写成诗

雕花窗记载着
爱像月亮山的三百六十
弦眉半镜让人如醉如痴
洒满了宣纸

江边的削壁悄悄起了雾
踏着小车走过那十里路
欢笑中看着画廊
铃声绕着榕树飘荡

西街的咖啡是你的温柔
慢慢溶化了所有的忧愁
一缕浓香抱着我
轻轻躺在怀中耳鬓厮磨

雕花窗记载着
爱像月亮山的三百六十
弦眉半镜让人如醉如痴
只能把感动写成诗

雕花窗记载着
爱像月亮山的三百六十
弦眉半镜让人如醉如痴
洒满了宣纸

Top Notch on the Roof Top

 
I booked a reservation for the Roof Top Cafe with a good deal of apprehension. Despite unanimous good reviews online, I was still afraid that this was going to be just another "famous" restaurant in an area that thrives on people who generally don't come back (at least very often) -- gaudy, overpriced, mediocre food, and bad service. To my surprise, my fears were dispelled one by one throughout the course of a very tasty dinner.

As soon as I saw the front door of the restaurant, I instantly liked it. It was a small and subtle door-front that was easy to miss; it added just the right amount of mystery to be enticing without being unfriendly. In the middle of the hubbub that is Mallory Square, a lush small garden surrounded an ocean blue sign bearing the restaurant name. It was understated, as if the restaurant knew it didn't have anything to compensate for. And it put us at ease, telling us that the ambience was cozy and relaxed, but that the owners/management were very attentive to details.

A small white stairway led up to the entrance on the second floor. Since the weather was so gorgeous, we decided to request an outside table on the balcony, so that we could enjoy the setting sun and do a little people watching as well. Our waiter Andy was great. He was polite and not artificially friendly, helpful without hovering over us. We went with his two recommendations, the local snapper and the diver scallops. Both of which turned out to be the best picks for the evening. The snapper was probably the freshest and most tender snapper I've had. It was flavored by a shrimp gravy that had just the right touch of delicious without overpowering the fish itself.

 The diver scallops were every bit as succulent as the snapper. It came with a passion fruit mustard sauce that was a delightful dance of sweet and savory, tang and creamy. The potatoe chive pancakes that accompanied the scallops were also a very pleasant surprise. It wasn't greasy or soggy like so many other potatoe pancakes I've had. And the chopped chives kept my taste buds singing without giving me concern about my post-dinner breath.

The rest of the meal were also very good. The hearts of romaine (off the special sunset menu) were fresh and juicy. The creamy caesar dressing was excellent, though since I tend to really like the natural flavor of vegetables, I would have preferred to have just a little less of it. On the other hand, I thought the Denver lamb ribs were very well seasoned, but it was slightly on the dry side and could have used a little more sauce. Finally, let's not forget dessert. We had the key lime pie off of the special sunset menu and the bittersweet chocolate pie off the regular menu. The key lime pie turned out to be the better pick of the two. It was a great blend of citrusy sour and custard sweet. And it came with whipped cream to balance out the lime. The chocolate pie was very rich and full of delicious chocolaty flavor, but I found it to be a little bit floury. Had we had more time, I would have ordered a glass of port to go with the chocolate pie, which I think would have made up for the dryness. All in all, despite my picking of nit, I thought the food overall was excellent, and Andy's two recommendations were outstanding.

We finished dinner soon after the sun dissappeared below the roofs of the buildings across the street, but we wished we could have stayed longer. I really didn't expect it, but dinner at this delightfully charming restaurant turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of our entire trip.

明天去迈阿密Key West!

今天是妈的生日。去迈阿密KeyWest玩也算是给她的一个生日礼物。

这两天老是提不起精神。不知道怎么搞的。锻炼又锻炼不起来，左脚弓右手腕都有伤，基本上什么都不能练，太郁闷了。
还好有ppstream消磨时间，呵呵。江苏卫视的《非诚勿扰》蛮搞笑的，而且有时还能听着一耳朵的南京口音，挺亲切温馨的。

中午去Tom家吃中饭。His family is not rich but is definitely rich in love. 他有三个孩子，大儿子在达拉斯当联邦警察，主要工作是遣返犯了罪的非法移民。他还经常上飞机做空中警察，预防有恐怖分子劫机。Tom的妻子Terry说他大儿子Noah小时候特别温柔，从来没想到长大后会练的五大三粗当上警察。他们的二儿子在New Haven一家计算机咨询公司工作，职位很高。他们的小女儿刚刚大学毕业(Smith)，准备去布朗大学进修神经科学，今天刚刚接到录取通知书。他们两个当爸妈为三个子女都非常自豪。我真的很羡慕这样的大家庭，以后我也一定要有一堆（小堆）孩子，呵呵呵。

还有就是Terry家一共有8个兄弟姊妹，她是最大的，比她最小的妹妹大20岁。她最小的妹妹跟她大儿子差不多大，她的妈妈现在已经有23个孙子辈了，我觉得这个家庭太神奇了！她的父亲是一家连锁酒店的executive chef。她们家从小就搬来搬去。她的父亲到了一个地方就会setup当地分支的一切与进餐有关的系统。等到都好了，开始运行了，她们家就会又搬到别的地方去重新开始。我觉得Tom和她挺配的。她的大家庭让Tom感到了他残缺的家庭没有能够给他的温馨。