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For LJ’s birthday, we did the coolest thing.  We took the Texas Heartland Flyer (Amtrak) from Ft. Worth to Oklahoma City for the weekend.  We met our friends in Ft. Worth on Friday afternoon and had late lunch at the Flying Saucer.   Then we boarded the train at the station and it pulled out right on time at 5:25PM.  The train was wonderful.  The seats are large and the leg room is enormous.  Even LJ can stretch out.  You can walk around, go get drinks or a snack in the cafe car, and relax and enjoy the scenery.  It’s MUCH more comfortable than a plane.

CJ & LJ on train

We arrived in Oklahoma City at about 9:15 as scheduled, and walked a short 3 blocks to the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.  The hotel was built in about 1910 or so, and renovated and expanded in 1945 and it is a grand place!  The lobby ceilings are at least 3 stories high and the fortieres would make Miss Ellen jealous.  The rooms have been completely updated and are just sleek and elegant.  We picked the right place to stay.

Saturday morning we all had a scrumptious breakfast in the hotel, and then we set out for the Oklahoma City Memorial.  As we were walking along, a city bus driver stopped and asked us if we were going to the Museum.  When we said yes, he insisted on giving us a lift because it was chilly and windy.  What a friendly thing to do!  We weren’t more than a couple of blocks away.  The memorial itself was just awe inspiring.  None of us could keep the tears from falling looking at the chairs, one for each life taken.  Of course the small chairs for the children were especially painful.  What a lot of people don’t know is that in addition to the outdoor memorial, there is a museum on the site which is a 3 story exhibit.  It’s broken into chapters such as Confusion, Chaos, Survivor Experiences, and Rescue and Recovery.  It was all quite moving and beautifully done.

We left the Memorial and walked next to the Oklahoma Museum of Art.  What a wonderful Museum!  I was so pleasantly surprised.  The first floor is for special exhibitions which is currently The Dutch Italianates.  These were Dutch painters who travelled to Italy to live and study with those masters.  We were not familiar with any of the artists (which felt really weird for us), but the paintings were interesting.  The second and third floors house the permanent museum collections, and for us the most exciting was the Dale Chihuly glass collection.  His blown glass pieces of flowers, sea shells, boats and other beautiful creations was amazing.  We took a few pictures, but it must be seen to be truly experienced.

After the Art Museum, we walked through the parks of the Myriad Botanical Gardens. 

Resting at Botanical Gardens

By then it had warmed up a little, the sun was shining, and it was just beautiful.  We just sat on the benches and took it all in for awhile, until we realized how hungry we were for lunch.  We walked on to Bricktown, which is the area of downtown Oklahoma City which they’ve revitalized and through which they’ve built a canal.  Restaurants and shops are beginning to build up along the canal, as well as some condos and hotels.  It’s on its way to becoming really special. 

We ate lunch at a New Orleans style eatery which was fine, nothing to blog about, and then we took the boat ride along the canal.  The boat “guide” (did we need a guide?) was full of bad jokes and regional put-downs and nearly drove us batty, but the scenery was interesting.  There were some pretty fantastic sculptures of people on horseback and in covered wagons depiciting the rush to Oklahoma to stake your claim to land. 

Sculptures along canal ride

I would recommend the boat ride with a different guide, but I guess you don’t get to pick.

By the time we finished, we were all ready to head back to the hotel for a nap.  We all met up in the evening, for drinks and dinner, and the Skirvin kindly gave us gratis transportation to our restaurant in the hotel limo.  We went to a beautiful little restaurant called Nonna.  We started in their bar which is upstairs and looks out onto Bricktown and the canal.  After drinks, we went downstairs to dinner.  The specials were steaks, which some of us had, but LJ had a sausage lasagna and I had duck breast with blackberry sauce.  It was all good and we were all quite happy, and pretty exhausted from our day.

Ok City Train Station

The next morning we caught the train back at 8:25AM.  It left on time, and returned us to the Ft. Worth Amtrak Station about 12:15.  What a weekend.  If you’re looking for something a little different, I highly recommend it. 

It’s my birthday, and once again LJ has pulled off an event weekend that made it so special.  We had a mini staycation in Dallas.  The best way to describe it would be to say we ate our way through the weekend.

It started with lunch on Saturday at Jasper’s, Kent Rathbun’s incredible restaurant featuring, as he describes it, gourmet backyard cuisine.  It is a lovely place with a warmly modern decor.  The ceilings are incredibly high, and the tables are dark wood but the lighting and accessories are all metal and glass.  I wanted to eat something light considering I had an idea that much more was to come that day, but, alas, Mr. Rathbun is not known for light.  I had the Smoked Salmon Cobb Salad, and it was delicious.  I expected thin slices of lox-like salmon arranged in a Cobb Salad, but instead was treated to a generous portion of perfectly cooked salmon filet.  The salad had the expected boiled egg, apple smoked bacon, tomato and avacado with a rich creamy dressing over all.  What utter decadence!  LJ had what was called Grilled Chicken Breast, California Avocado.  It was a lightly grilled breast of chicken over a lovely sauce of avocado puree with avocado chunks and grape tomatoes accompanied by Paula Lambert’s specially made creamy cottage cheese.  LJ said it was perfectly cooked and delicious.

Later in the afternoon, we checked into the lovely Warwick Melrose Hotel.  The old, stately Melrose is where my parents spent their wedding night 63 years ago.  It has been lovingly restored, and it retains its old charm while being perfectly comfortable.  Our room was a mini suite on the 8th floor with windows all along the side facing downtown.  It had a homey little sitting area and luxurious draperies and bed linens.  The bathroom floor was marble and it had all the amenities you would expect from a hotel of high caliber.  The Library Bar is still warm and inviting with its dark wood walls and high ceilings.

The highlight of the evening was dinner at Rise No. 1.  It’s a tiny little place with antique French googaws filling the room, wooden tables with mismatched chairs, a circle of stone in the center, and an exposed kitchen.  The restaurant specializes in souffles, and they are remarkable.  But first, the salad.  LJ and I started with a Rise No. 1 house salad with baby lettuce, bleu cheese, toothpicks of granny smith apple, pecans, and the most amazing “Pecan Vinaigrette.”  It is like nothing I have ever had anywhere.  It’s made with fragrant walnut oil that almost makes you think of chocolate when you take the first bite.  We were overwhelmed with the salad, but Rise was just getting started.  Oh, and the bread!!!  It was without a doubt the best bread I have had since I was in France.  It made me understand why, when Jacques Pepin was asked what his favorite food is, he answered, “really good bread and really good butter.  What better can you get than that!”  This bread was perfectly crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside.  I could have made a meal of it.

My entree was Truffle Infused Mushroom Souffle and LJ had Jambon & Gruyere Souffle.  We kept going back and forth trying to decide who had the best.  Each one was intensely flavored and light as a feather, a feat I don’t believe is easily accomplished.  Whe the waiter asked me at one point how the meal was going, I believe I teared up!  Then came dessert.  I could not resist my all-time favorite, Grand Marnier Souffle, and LJ had Bread Pudding Souffle.  He insisted his was best, but for me you can’t beat Grand Marnier.  Anyway, both were flawless.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and went into the Library Bar for an after dinner drink and a little entertainment.  They had a lovely female singer who wasn’t bad, but it was glorified karioki with prerecorded background instruments.  I wonder how good she could have been if she had been accompanied by live piano and drums or bass which would have allowed her some room to express herself instead of following a pre-set arrangement.

Anyway, what a lovely birthday.  Great food, beautiful surroundings, lovely music - it doesn’t get any better.  How lucky I am to be married to someone who loves these things like I do, and generously lavishes me with them.