“Annual Check Ups”
We took off for Dallas on Sunday to attend our all day physicals at the Cooper Clinic. A few minutes into the flight, the pilot let us know about a big storm in Dallas and Air Traffic Control telling him to fly up through Oklahoma and then loop back down. Only problem – they told him after he took off and so we didn’t have enough fuel. No big issue – we’ll land in Corpus Christi and get some more fuel. That was a very efficient process with us on the ground in Corpus for less than 15 minutes. I think we were around a couple of hours late getting to Dallas.
We were looking for a quick and healthy place to have dinner before checking into the Cooper Clinic. I found something called “Flower Child” in Inwood Village. This was perfect – quick, healthy, and tasty. It seems to be an expanding chain and I recommend it if you come across one.
Flower Child made me think of my sister in law, Amy. She was out protesting that we don’t need a king to rule the US:
I had originally considered Casa Rosa for dinner – when I waited tables there in the 80s, it was located right next to Flower Child. They had a recent reprise closer to Love field airport and are now permanently closed again.
Also right next door is the Inwood movie theater. Best known as the place where Denny and Anne had their first date. The movie – “Reservoir Dogs.” The offerings were much tamer on Sunday:
After dinner, we checked into our massive suite at the Cooper hotel and relaxed before all the prodding to come on Monday.
I caught up on texts and found some funny things. Will sent this picture of us a few years ago:
He also sent this caricature of the four of us:
And this silly one of himself – not sure how Christine feels about it:
Will is going to a wedding in Ibiza sometime soon and visiting Paris on his way. He remembers eating moules frites with curry sauce the last time he was in France – more than 25 years ago. Diana helped me pull up pictures to show him the best place in Paris – in Montmartre – big portions, well cooked, at a good price and with good service.
Alicia sent a funny Father’s Day meme – we’re not sure why the penguin has a purple eye and I couldn’t capture it at the point where the other penguins join in.
Our Cooper day started at 7:00am with blood draws. Diana was ahead of me and so I asked the lady how she had done getting blood from her. “Oh boy, that was hard, took four of us.” Diana told me they ultimately called in “Queen” from a different department to get her blood. The lady from the last two years who got her on the first poke wasn’t there anymore. I feel badly for Diana that there aren’t more superbly qualified phlebotomists out there.
Our days of tests were busy with nothing major found on either of us. Various vitamins that we need to take, and I had a couple of things frozen off in dermatology – finally getting rid of that thing under my glasses pad on my nose. This is the last time this very expensive day of tests will be covered by my work – we’ll see what we do going forward.
We left the clinic around 3pm and headed for McKinney to meet up with Finn and Holly. We checked into the very cool and historic Grand Hotel – above Rick’s Chop House (home of still the best shrimp and grits that I’ve ever had.)
We met Finn and Holly at the Urban grill in downtown McKinney. Diana and I had eaten a snack at the bar there and remembered it being good. Everything we had was delicious, with great service. I dropped a fork at one point and had a new one in my hand a few seconds later.
Our appetizers included calamari (Holly’s favourite), fish and chips (Finn), and ahi tuna tartare (yep – D.)
For dinner Finn went all out for his birthday with the ribeye steak. Diana and Holly both had the lamb chop lollipops, and I enjoyed a delicious heirloom beet salad.
The kids gave me a belated Father’s Day card and goodie bag. The card is excellent:
Very clever. The only one we had to explain was the “Sage” advice. Is that a generational thing? I don’t think so.
I received a very thoughtful goodie bag of treats.
Finn had gone to the cigar shop close to our old house and asked the guy for his best cigar recommendation. The penguin came from “Fair and Square” in downtown Mckinney (where McD got a cutting board gift for them) right before dinner. Finn remembered that Diana liked Mounds and not Almond Joy – huge brownie points scored. And then the Chanel goat juice (Elroy Kee term) – we think it smells really good. What a thoughtful little goodie bag.
We walked the kids back to their car and saw this sign outside Emporium Pies – I’m looking forward to trying the rhubarb pie at La Petite Grocery soon – been way too long.
You may know that June 17th is also our wedding anniversary. I love the cards that Diana and Mum got me – Diana’s with British pennies on it (do they still have those?) and Mum’s with a pair of dragonflies.
We looked at some pictures and videos from that lovely day in Cozumel. Finn thinks he would like to take Holly there for a honeymoon. That could happen.
We slept late on Tuesday and then made a trip to our old regular – “Filtered”, where we would have our coffee and a quiche. The place has been remodeled a bit, and for the better, looks great now. We passed on the quiche with the expectation of lunch at the Blue Goose. I can’t remember how we did on the puzzles, or if we even did them. We were sitting at a table of nerds working away on their laptops. When did going for coffee mean being surrounded by 90% nerds on laptops? When do you get a break?
We drove over to the local Blue Goose and had a lovely lunch experience – such amazing and positive service. I loved my sour cream enchilada and got the recipe for the sauce. Diana had the “off menu” pulled chicken taco salad and was quite happy.
The car returned, we were back inside Love field airport. We laughed at a guy from Lubbock sitting next to us at the bar who was exclaiming how humid it was. Diana and I had remarked in the morning that it was so dry and comfortable to move around. It’s all about what you’re used to – as they say. This guy was still sweating after having been in the very cool airport for 20 minutes.
The jet bridge wouldn’t align with the plane for our flight home, and so they ultimately moved the plane to a new gate. We arrived home a bit late, but probably got home around the same time as we missed rush hour traffic.
On Thursday evening we met Jeff and Merry Lee for dinner at Compere Lapin. This is a restaurant by Nina Compton from the Caribbean – and the dishes are a mix of New Orleans and her homeland. The place has won many awards. Diana and I went close to the opening (10 years ago) and I can still remember how amazing the goat curry tasted. I also remember being amazed by how adventurous Jack and Mason were with the menu, and Denny saying, “they eat what we eat.”
Jeff and I both had the goat curry (ridiculously good with all the flavour and the little gnocchi’s) , and the ladies both had the sea bass. I think we were all quite happy. We had some appetizers of fish collars, smoky fish dip, and ahi tuna. Deserts were I think mango creme brulee and something else that I can’t remember. I had a port and desserts aren’t really my thing.
Trey had asked us to consider attending his friend, and dog sitter, Nina’s show at the Maple Leaf on Friday night. Given that his dog, Bear, saved his life before his house burned to the ground recently, we thought we could do him a favour.
On Saturday I again got disappointed in our nation. First I read this New Yorker article – geez!:
Australia writer deportation – New Yorker
I stupidly followed that with “The Mauritian” movie. Jodie Foster is an excellent defense attorney and the movie is very well done, albeit a bit plodding. The message is that the main character spent 14 years in Guantanamo Bay prison, tortured as we have heard about, and never charged with a crime. I believe there were 778 prisoners there, only 8 were ever charged, and 5 of those were overruled on appeal. So 770 folks held for many years with no charges?
I spent another week with Richard Russo and “Everybody’s Fool”. I found the first 60% of this book a bit draggy and a bit disorganized – the last 40 % gets exciting and it all comes together in the excellent last 20%. See if you can skim the first half and pick up what you need to know about the key characters. Some online bumf: