Rainy day in the city...

We slipped in  Harry's Delicatessen ,  just before a heavy rain began falling.  We had read several articles about this newly opened deli and all the reviews were good.  The deli is billed as Jewish/Italian with emphasis on the locally grown and homemade.  Harry's is located in the space  once occupied by Harold's Deli.  Harold's was a Knoxville institution for over 55 years, serving kosher overstuffed sandwiches, crunchy oversize pickles and many Jewish delights. It closed in 2005 and the building stood empty until Harry's opened.   

As we stood in line to order, John's boss and his wife appeared from seats at the end of the counter and warmly greeted us.  He told us his son and daughter-in-law, both professionally trained chefs, moved back from Vermont to open this deli.  He is one proud "papa"!  We chatted a few minutes, ordered and grabbed two stools in the front window. A steady rain continued to fall as we watched people dash about on Gay Street.

Our food arrived quickly.  I ordered a traditional corned beef and John ordered a patty melt.  In the basket with each sandwich was a side of pickled cucumbers, cauliflower and beets.  I normally won't eat off a plate if a beet has touched the surface but these beets were delicious!  I am now a big fan... of these beets anyway.

Corned Beef

Vinegar based coleslaw and roasted fingerling potatoes were our sides of choice

Patty melt

The rain had slowed to a trickle by the time we finished lunch so we walked a few blocks south to explore Union Avenue Books.  The bookstore, which opened a week ago, was hosting a grand opening event.   Nice to see a bookstore in downtown.  

John in front of just ripe, a new grocery and prepared foods store located next to the bookstore

Flowers purchased at today's Market Square Farmer's Market

We finished our day back downtown for the final performance of "Forbidden Knoxville" at Theater Knoxville Downtown.  Like everywhere else in Knoxville, the road in front of the theater is shrouded in orange construction barrels and we had to make our way through the rubble to the entrance.

The play is a locally written satire touching on such topics as the Road Kill Bill, Lane Kiffin, Bruce Pearl and other UT sports figures, road construction, Tim Burchett, the Hillside Task Force, Pilot and the Haslam family, Pat Summit and so on.  We laughed till we cried.  Another good day in downtown Knoxville...

Valentine's Recap...

The high holiday referred to as Valentine's Day is over.  Below is a recap...our 10th together. 

The festivities began on Friday night with John scoring major points for bringing home this beautiful bouquet of roses.  He defied my weeklong "don't buy flowers" routine but needless to say, I was quite happy. I love roses and I love my husband.  He is a SUPER STAR!

Saturday, after spending the morning working out with a mop, vacuum cleaner, rake and dust cloth, we headed to Stanley's Greenhouse http://stanleysgreenhouses.com/  to pick up a little taste of spring in the form of  ferns and other greenery to add to indoor pieces of pottery.  Along the way, we got side tracked by a bronze yard sculpture and brought it home. 

The sculpture is actually a pinwheel which spins from a joint in the middle of the base and  two independent circular wheels on top.  The leaf paddles are large enough that even the slightest breeze  sends them twisting and twirling.  Click on the video clip below (small arrow, left bottom of pic) to see the pinwheels in action. Oh, ignore the rugs hanging over the rail, we are getting ready for the Ladies of the Club.  

We had our official Valentine's Day celebration Saturday night.  First up was dinner at Nama's Sushi Bar  http://www.namasushibar.com/ .  This was the last weekend before Nama's downtown moves from it's hole in the wall location on the historic 100 block of Gay Street to a bigger space on the 500 block.  The creativeness and quality of the sushi is incredible and Nama's reputation has grown far beyond it's current seating capacity.  We had a great Valentine's meal and look forward to more availability in seating at the new location.   

After dinner, we walked down Gay Street to  Theater Knoxville Downtown to see the Valentine's performance of  "Almost, Maine." Theater Knoxville   http://theatreknoxville.com/index.html , Knoxville's own Off-off Broadway,  is an  intimate venue seating about 42 people.  The actors, directors and set designers are volunteers from the community. 

We laughed loud and often during the play.  "Almost, Maine", by John Cariani, is a series of 8 short acts that take place at approximately the same time in the small town of Almost, Maine. We were pleased to watch friend, Randy Thompson, make his debut performance with TKD.  He is a natural!!

Sunday afternoon was our final push for the Ladies of the Club.  We spent time setting the table and icing cupcakes.  While the cupcakes turned out well, I am currently over cupcakes and don't plan to whip up butter cream frosting again for a while!!!!  

Finally, Monday night arrived, the table was set and the ladies at the front door. We had a nice time chatting, studying and eating...cupcakes, strawberries, cheese, nuts and decaf.  And then, as quickly as they arrived, The Ladies of the Club left and Valentine's Day 2011 was over!

The sky was on fire as morning broke a little after 6:15 AM post Valentine's Day. The photo below was taken through our side porch door.  Have a great Wednesday night and thanks for reading!!