Mothers Day: A Very Late Summary

Although this is a bit late, I will tell you about the lovely time my mom and I spent together for Mothers Day :-)

My mom had been wanting to visit for a while, and was trying to plan it to coincide with a Gallery Hop. However, we soon realized this wouldn't be possible until August or September given our schedules. Instead I convinced her to come see me for Mothers Day.

She arrived last Saturday around lunchtime, so we began our visit by getting a nice meal at Rigsby's. I actually had not eaten there yet, and because of the less expensive lunch prices, thought it would be a great opportunity to try it. We shared the Apple, Endive, and Watercress Salad w/ Walnuts and Roquefort. I could have left happy with just that. Ah, but there was the main course too... Mom ordered the Bucatini all' Amatriciana. Bucatini looks like thick spaghetti noodles but is hollow. The pasta was in a red sauce, topped with sun dried tomatoes and cheese, and we found out from the waitress that it was flavored with some unappetizing sounding (but very flavorful and delicious) part of a pig. I opted for the potato gnocchi with sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese, and a balsamic reduction. As most gnocchi tend to be very dense and doughy, I was expecting my mom to have to roll me out of the restaurant. But these gnocchi were actually light and spongy (and really good of course!), so this left room for dessert :-)

And how could we resist dessert? Jeni's Ice Cream was right there, so we had to stop in. Somehow we were on the same wavelength because we both decided to get a scoop of the Pear Riesling Sorbet and Dark Chocolate Gelato. Ok, they don't pair well together, but they are both amazingly good.

Heaven in a disposable cup.

After Jeni's, we walked around the Short North a bit, as it was necessary to walk off that colossal meal.  Next, we headed over to the Franklin Park Conservatory. I had been meaning to visit the Conservatory for a few years now and never made it, so I'm glad we finally went. It was a great time! The best part, of course, was the Blooms & Butterflies section where we wildly ran around snapping pictures of butterflies among the plants and awesome Chihuly glass sculptures. A butterfly even landed on my foot. It tickled.

That day the Conservatory was also holding a plant sale, so we took full advantage of that. I bought a lot of herbs and a few leafy plants. And after I convinced my mom that plants were capable of surviving her drive home the following day, we had soon filled up our little red wagon (they had a brigade of Radio Flyers!).  

On our way back to my apartment, we decided that a second dessert was necessary and stopped by Pistacia Vera in German Village (my mom is a bad influence on me, or perhaps I am a bad influence on her). Anyway, after hearing about this bakery from Jenny, I thought we would both enjoy it. We decided to get 2 of each kind of macaron (lemon pistachio, chocolate, mocha hazelnut, raspberry rosewater, apricot turmeric, and caramel pecan) as well as a sweet wine cookie, honey lemon madeleine, and one of the larger white chocolate coconut raspberry macarons. Just a small sampling of things ;-)

Several of Pistacia Vera's signature macarons

Sadly, I found the macarons to be too sweet for my liking. They looked fantastic, but half a bite was really enough for me. I know that is probably strange, given how much I like to bake, but it's true. However, I really enjoyed the wine cookie and madeleine and would probably go back to try their other desserts. 

For some more eating, we went to Vino Vino for dinner. This time Adrian came along too. My mom and I both did different wine flights, while Adrian stuck with a simple glass of Pinot Noir. My wine flight was called "Tease Me in Tuscany" and featured 3 Tuscan reds. The first was a good sipping wine and was pretty mellow-- 2005 Morellino Sangiovese. Next was a bolder wine, which was really good with my meal-- 2006 Poggio al Moro. Finally, I had a 2005 Le Cupole Super Tuscan. The description of this one called it "The Big Sexy," so I was intrigued. This was my favorite of the three. It wasn't too mellow but wasn't overpowering either. Of course, the others were still good, but this was the best. My mom did the "Pinot Envy" flight, consisting entirely of Pinot Noir, and those seemed pretty good too. As for meals, Adrian had spinach fettucini with seared tuna, I had beef tenderloin with shitake mushrooms and bleu cheese, and my mom had the pistachio crusted chicken (this might just be my favorite thing on the menu, it's so good). Everything was great! 

Looking like winos

My mommy getting her meal

To finish our weekend of gluttonous eating, we had breakfast at Tasi on Sunday morning. I tried the Sourdough Pancakes, which were good but entirely too large. My mom had the Cinnamon Challah French Toast, and I am of the firm belief that this is the best thing they serve at Tasi. The bread is from Eleni Christina, the bakery also owned by Kent and Tasi Rigsby (hey, Rigsby's again!), and the french toast is covered with bananas in a delicious Frangelica syrup. 

Overall, I'd say we had a great weekend, and we probably gained 5 pounds each. It was nice spending time with my mom and enjoying all the good food. 

Thanks, mom! :-D