Chapel Hill

Where are you from?

This innocent social query has always been difficult for me to answer. Partly because we moved a lot as kids, I was born in NY, lived two places in Ohio, back to NY before settling in Chapel Hill for 7-12 grade. and then there was college and grad school and at some point, I realized I've lived in Waco longer than any where else, but I'm definitely not "from Waco." The most correct answer to that question is Chapel Hill. I really was just flat out excited about going to see the place itself again.

Well, Treeby, Laura and I had an absolutely fabulous time. I got into RDU around 4:00. Laura picked me up and we checked into the Franklin. The Franklin is lovely, very new, right in the heart of all the downtown action. We had drink at Dead Mule Bar, right next to the hotel while we waited for Treeby to arrive. Friday night we walked up to Crook's Corner. Their website has a great quote from the NY Times, 'sacred ground for southern foodies.' Indeed, it is. Eating there really did have this pilgrimage feeling about it.

Crook's has, quite simply, the greatest shrimp and grits in the world. They have quite excellent french fries as well. We got french fries as an appetizer and spilt shrimp and grits and a really good eggplant dish also. The fries and the shrimp were every bit as good as I remembered them and really I think the shrimp was even better than I remembered it, though that could have something to do with not having eaten bacon in over three years (I did make a couple minor exception to the vegetarian regime. I did not, however, have a chicken and cheese biscuit at Time Out, I settled for cheese alone, which truthfully was what I ordered a lot in high school during my early foray in the vegetarianism. We decided not to have dessert at Crooks due to the scheduled post midnight Time Out run. We hit several bars, Henderson Street is closed now, but we went to a nice wine bar and He's Not Here and the Cave.

Saturday, we slept late, walked around campus and met Molly, another friend from high school, and ate at Mama Dips. ( Lenore, you would love this place). Saturday night we ate at 411 West. Lovely Italian food, we got a wild mushroom polenta that was yummy, a seafood pasta dish and red snapper. It was also even better than I remembered it being. And we did get the Peanut Butter Pie for dessert.

Well, obviously, it wasn't just all about the food, but Chapel Hill is a food town, one of the many things I loved about living there and that I love about Austin. I've often thought that one of the reasons I like Austin is because it reminds me of Chapel Hill, but actually they are quite different. Austin really is a city compared to Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill doesn't have a skyline... There's the liberal college town ethos, of course, but mostly what Austin and Chapel Hill share has to do with the energy that pulsates in a town that people love to live in and that's the similar energy as much as anything..

It was great reconnecting with Treeby and Laura and hearing all about their lives and their kids. It was great reconnecting with that part of me that they know. We've decided to make it an annual event.