Autumn in North Carolina

We've been so busy lately that we almost missed my favorite season - autumn! Fortunately, the riot of color that is my favorite part of autumn came a little later to North Carolina and we finally had a chance to go enjoy it all this weekend! Technically, the fall colors are just about over but the leaves around Raleigh just started to change this past week so we thought we'd explore the area a little more.

Today was a beautiful, warm, sunny day - we feel so lucky to be down here where it can still be in the 60's in mid-November! We hear that it's cold, rainy or snowy back in Ann Arbor and Cleveland....sorry! There was a scrumptious start to the day, meeting up with Chris' med school friends, Susie, Yousuf and his wife Fatima at the Piedmont, where we had our delicious dinner with Michael Ruhlman. Lest you think that we are overly biased towards the Piedmont, Yousuf was the one who chose it! We found out they all like the Food Network too and had been watching The Next Iron Chef (Yousuf was rooting for John Besh but we forgive him) too! And I had grits for the first time...and liked them! The shrimp, bacon, mushrooms, scallions, and lemon juice made it all the yummier.

Then we tried to drive around a North Carolina scenic byway north of Durham and got a little lost. Surprisingly, most of the leaves had actually fallen. Durham is only about 15 miles west of Raleigh but it made a difference. Also, we saw evidence of the drought North Carolina has been suffering. Didn't get a picture but suffice it to say that the lake was really more of a creek.

We ended up in the Duke Gardens, which are quite lovely. Not quite our beloved Arb in Ann Arbor but very picturesque. Plus, it gave a chance to test out some fancy new features on my new camera (and I'm typing this on my new computer...all my gadgets are shiny and new!).

Red trees always catch my attention first:

But yellow trees glow in the sunlight!
And we can't forget all the orange...

A nice little bridge:

More pictures from our little jaunt to be posted on flickr soon. But a last shot of us enjoying the afternoon...

Yay Michael Symon!!!!

How could you not love the ultra-cheesy original Japanese Iron Chef? We used to watch that show faithfully. And we went to Morimoto's restaurant in Philly, which is the best Japanese food we've had to date. We haven't been as big fans of Iron Chef America - for various reasons. But once we found out Michael Symon, of Lola and Lolita fame in Cleveland, was going to be on the Next Iron Chef America, we had to watch.

Michael Symon is really as engaging as he seems on TV. We were eating at Lolita one time and he came out to talk to some friends sitting at the next table. He stopped to chat with us too and made us laugh. His laugh is totally maniacal but so fun! He is also an amazing chef so naturally, we've been rooting for him. And he won! We were so nervous that everyone seemed to love John Besh but we really thought Symon was more imaginative and his plates looked better (like we know anything) so yay that the judges agreed with us! Can't wait to see what Michael Ruhlman has to say about this on his blog....

Annotated what?

Why annotated-alice? I have been called Alice in Wonderland for years and years. So I adopted it for myself and used "Wonderland" on a bare bones webpage just to poke fun at myself. When it came time to choose a name for this blog, Wonderland was already taken since I am a bit late to the blogging world. So what to call it? Then I remembered a book that I had called "The Annotated Alice" which is actually a pretty cool book. It explains all the references (annotations) in the original Alice in Wonderland as well as the original illustrations. So by checking out the blog, you get the inside, referenced scoop on my life. Well, when I update it, that is.

I suppose I could have named the blog after another "Alice" book or two I have: About Alice (which might make sense actually) or Alice, Let's Eat: Further Adventures of a Happy Eater. Hm. That would be a good name for a spin-off blog or the foodie pages. Actually, those are the titles of 2 books by Calvin Trillin, an American humorist. About Alice is a love letter to his wife and is quite touching actually. Alice, Let's Eat is an ode to food. How can you not love it? Ooh, I see there is another book called Travels with Alice. Again, a perfect title for another page/blog! Gotta go get that one.

Sad notes from today:
* Michigan lost to Wisconsin. It was painful to watch. Chris and I turned to watching Friday Night Lights instead for some compelling football. :)
(On a brighter note, Ohio State lost too. We're still unsure of whether this is good or bad. It would have been fun to be the ones to take them down from the #1 spot. On the other hand, I have a bad feeling that they will beat us anyway. Doh!)
* Our official wedding photos still aren't posted yet. Our photographer didn't promise they would be posted by a specific date but sent out a general email a couple weeks ago promising that all pictures from October would be posted by....2 weeks ago. Anyone who helped with the photographer decision knows who we're a little annoyed. Oh well. We'll get them eventually. Thank you to everyone who has sent us pictures so keep sending them!