asheville, monday evening

That hot jazz combo last night at the cafe was great. They had a silly name -- Sweet Mama T and Her Red Hot Babies -- but they were very good. I tipped them a dollar, which should have been more but it was the only small bill I had. I was a little embarrassed to tip so little but they all thanked me (they were between songs when I walked up).

I have to say, of everything we've done so far on this trip, hanging out at the cafe with our computers listening to live hot jazz was my favorite. What a fun way to spend an evening. I am such a geek.

We had dinner at an upscale restaurant called Marketplace. It was a bit pricey, but well worth it. The waiter raved about the wood fired grill, so I had pork chops with roasted apples, spinach and fingerling potatoes, and Georg had bison tenderloin with beets and a potato gratin. Sad to say, my pork chops were actually a bit tough. I really wouldn't expect overcooked pork from such an upscale restaurant. In fact I almost ordered it medium well, fearing that medium might be cooked too pink for my taste. Good thing I didn't; I'd hate to see how medium well would have turned out.

But Marketplace still gets high marks from me: the dessert was good enough to more than make up for the entree. I had a molten lava chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, banana rum sauce, and sliced bananas. Oh man! It was amazing. Rich but not overwhelming. I wonder if it was some kind of signature dessert for them, as two different waiters told us it was their favorite. Georg had a plum souffle, which I did not taste because, you know, eggs. He said that the souffle was an excellent example of souffle, very well prepared, but the flavors were maybe too subtle. At least compared to the cake, which knocked our socks off. I wonder if it's difficult to make a molten cake turn out right. I bet you have to practice a few times to get the feel of your oven. I've had molten cakes before that were soft inside but still basically like cake all the way through. This was like a thin crust of cake with chocolate sauce inside.

Right now it's Monday evening and we're at the same internet cafe as last night, the New French Bar. We ordered dinner but we're geeking out until it arrives. We talked to the manager about the wireless access. She was very bummed that the local weekly listed 3 Asheville places that offer net access but did not include them, even though they were the second place here to do it. She asked us to tell everyone we know about their wireless access. We don't know anyone in Asheville, but I dutifully mention here that New French Bar has net access, the signal is very good, they play great music (Elvis tonight), you can sit outside or in, and they don't seem to mind if you nurse one drink the whole time you're working. Also, they should book Sweet Mama T and Her Red Hot Babies again. They were great.

Today we drove up to Blowing Rock, partly on the Blue Ridge Parkway but mainly on state roads. We had a great time, but I think our food is arriving so I'll have to write it up later.