The frequent RAIN this month has limited our R outings but we weren’t about to let the weather rain on our parade entirely. We managed a few more R experiences to Remember.

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A REPERTOIRE OF RESTAURANTS

As part of a girlfriend getaway weekend to celebrate our dear friend Lee’s birthday, we took the Dallas Uptown Foodie Walk, which lasted close to five hours and included five stops plus a trolley RIDE and a quick stroll through the Klyde Warren Park. It also offered more food than any sane person should consume. We thought it would be small tastings but surprise – you get good-sized portions and enough food at each place to actually call it a day!

The first restaurant was The RUSTIC, where we had an egg frittata, polenta, avocado toast and a huge “Peanut Butter Pie.” The last got special emphasis because – well see for yourself below. Our bellies said, “you can stop now,” but it was off to Eureka! for a delicious beef, goat cheese and fig jam slider and honey drenched sweet potato fries. Now we were truly full, but the third stop was calling so we waddled over to Tacos and Tequila where we had just that. We were nearly comatose but made it to Baboush for pita bread and dips, chicken shawarma and a beef and lamb dish. Finally, our last tasting was at Bisous Bisous Patisserie for French macarons, where gratefully we were given the choice to take our two pastries to go! It was a great tour – our bellies were full, our capris were bursting and our quest for tasty food was sated! Barbara immediately took a nap when she arrived home, Lee cancelled her dinner plans and Laura refused to even look at food for the rest of the day and night.

REFLECTIONS from this outing:

1. Meeting new people continues to enrich us. We met a truly delightful man from India on this food tour. He and his wife were born and raised in America but are now devoting their time to rescuing young women and children from the Red Light District in India and helping them turn their lives around. Our conversations with him were the true dessert of the day!
2. Anything in excess loses some of its luster. For the most part, the food we sampled was quite tasty, but it was actually too much and took away a bit from the overall experience. It’s better to savor life’s treats rather than overdose!

Have you ever taken a food tour? If so, we’d love to hear about it.

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Ruminations on ROMANIA

This month we visited ROMANIA through the recent film Graduation by director Cristian Mungiu. Offering a bleak glimpse into a country still racked with bureaucratic obstacles and corruption following the collapse of Soviet Communism, this film is about ROMEO, a doctor who faces the choice of fulfilling his dream of having his daughter Eliza leave the country and study abroad vs. compromising his moral and ethical values to achieve this. Eliza has won a university scholarship and has only to pass her final exam to set everything in motion. Unfortunately the day before the exam, she is sexually assaulted and her wrist is broken, thereby lessening her chances of scoring the necessary grades to launch her future plans. This movie led to discussions of several topics dealing with a parent’s influence and expectations but what resonated most was where is the invisible line drawn between right and wrong and is it ever okay to cross the line?

Have you seen any R movies this month? Let us know.