Project Update
The ‘ is DONE. Quilted, washed and given away. Next up – a Quilter’s block challenge, my Drunkard’s Path, and a new quilt for my nephew who got married. That one will probably be a Mexican Star variation. I just need to go pick fabric…
As far as the title of this blog is concerned, quilting, cooking and gardening seem to go together for favorite hobbies. But sometimes we quilters will also rave about places we have eaten at so here is my rave.
I always thought that on Route 80 was catering only. But I saw their ad in the Patch, called my mother, and we and the spouses went out to try it. My husband, BTW, was fighting this – he does not like fixed menus – they generally have few choices and usually those choices are not what he would eat.
WELL – this place is AMAZING. For a fixed menu, the choices seemed endless – fresh mozzarella and tomato with balsamic and basil oil or a European cheese platter for appetizers, or if you wanted to pay for an extra, other choices (we picked the fried calamari with a chipotle drizzle, honey balsamic cherry peppers and fresh tomatoes). Then we had a house salad with a balsamic dressing and crunchy fried onions.
For dinner, there were at least three fish choices, three steak choices, a double boned veal chop, numerous chicken dishes, gnocchi, rack of lamb and probably some I forgot! Some dishes were served with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables or cunning sides like mushroom gorgonzola sauce for the steak and risotto for the veal chop.
By this time our stomachs were begging for mercy and then….dessert. Yikes! Dense dark chocolate cake, limoncello sponge cake, cannoli pie…oh boy.
The food was terrific – beautifully cooked, fresh as can be and each dish had some sort of signature twist. The chef came out to personally ask each table how they liked the food, but I think we were too busy to talk much amidst the chewing and ‘yummy’ sounds.
As far as pricing went this was beyond reasonable – if you stayed with the fixed menu it was $25 per person for 4 courses – so dinner for two would be $50 plus tax and tip (it is, however, BYOB). I don’t know of many restaurants that have food this good for that price.
My advice? Do not walk, RUN to Nataz the next time you are selecting a restaurant for your night out!
The Weekly Rant
It is amazing how in the spring, EVERYTHING outside is demanding attention. The gardens, the lawn, the deck – everything is shouting, ‘Come look at me! Come smell me! Come weed me! Come mow me! Come sit down on me!’ Doesn’t my garden know that if I am outside I can’t be inside quilting? Oh well – time to get my hands dirty!
Fun Facts About Quilts
There are many examples of a quilt block pattern having several names. The Mexican Star I referred to above is also known as the Dallas Star, the Mexican Rose, the Panama Block and the Star and Cross. Why? According to eHow, ‘…patterns were no doubt passed from one generation to the next and one woman to the next. As families moved, their environment and circumstances changed, and the naming of quilt patterns reflects these social developments. That is why one quilt pattern can have so many names, and sometimes one name is applied to several different patterns…’.
Even after magazines, newspapers and quilt publications helped to standardize the names of many patterns, there is still a lot of confusion over pattern names and the history of many heirloom quilts. So if you have your Great Aunt Betty’s quilt and you are trying to find the pattern name, don’t be surprised if you can’t! It may be under several names or she may have given it her own name!
