Dallas Days

Marisa, Sunset On The Balcony

Rami and Beth

Mitch and Milena

The Old Smoothies

It's another morning for sitting in the Beeman Hotel cafe, thinking about our trip, the past eleven days that seem to have flown by. We have been fortunate with the weather so far, lots of sun and decent temperatures although things may change tomorrow, Thanksgiving, with some rain and cooler temperatures.

Shoppers Hell

Yesterday we made three separate trips to Beth and Rami's apartment. I assume the valet is getting tired of parking and getting our car.  After coffee, writing the blog, and organizing our clothes, we drove to Beth's at 9:30.  Mitch and Milena were there already. Beth was finishing breakfast and offered to make some eggs for me.  After breakfast, Evie decided on a Costco trip and Beth was willing to drive so off we went to spend money and break my mantra: "I don't want what I don't have." We filled our cart after browsing for a half hour and our four credit cards would not work because they were not Visa.  So Beth had to pay for our bill after five minutes of trying one card after another.  We then stopped at a shoe store where Evie tried on multiple pairs of Hoka running shoes but none fit just right.  She did discover, however, that her left foot is a nine, her right an eight.  No wonder it has been difficult to find shoes.

Tyler's Back

We went back to the apartment, relaxed and talked with Marisa, Mitch, and Milena, and then had lunch, the leftover vodka pasta, just as good as the night before.  Rami and Marisa returned from their Crossfit workout and Rami then biked back to work.  At 2:00, Beth left to pick up Tyler who was flying in from Los Angeles so we went back to our hotel and relaxed for a couple of hours before showering and getting dolled up because we were going out to dinner at a fancy place, Salum.  We drove back to the apartment at 4:30 and were welcomed with big hugs from our grandson Tyler, who was working on the computer already on some of his classes.  

Milena And Her Dad

The Gals

Mitch, Rami, and Marisa

Milena's Mom, Tina, And Sister, Isabella

We relaxed and caught up on Tyler's life at UCLA where he is not only pursuing his Masters and Ph.D. in signal processing but teaching a class, a very busy boy. Meanwhile, Mitch and Milena drove into Dallas to pick up Ramiro because he got a flat tire while biking back to the office from lunch. Milena's parents and her younger sister, Isabella, were coming to dinner with us and they arrived around 6:00 to enjoy some wine and appetizers before driving off to Salum for dinner. They are a really fun couple.  David immigrated here from Italy 30 years ago to work for Texas Instruments. And Tina just happened to be in charge of the Italians who were arriving to work for Texas Instrument and was the major reason why David returned to the States.  Tina presently works in schools teaching young people computer skills.  She and Beth compared notes on their schools and both found that most of their peers are fed up with teaching and want to quit or retire. Teaching in Dallas sounds horrible.  

Dining At Salum

We arrived at Salum at 7:00 and our table for eleven was waiting.  Our waiter quickly opened a couple bottles of wine to start our meal and take our orders.  For appetizers, we had two buckets of mussels in Chimay beer topped with pomme frites and garlic aioli sauce,  an order of fried green tomatoes stuffed with crab meat, and Texas goat cheese on baguettes. Yum.  Everyone ordered something different for their main course and all were really superb.  I had slow-braised pork roulade with sauteed chard and spiced queso fresco over roasted fall vegetables.  That should give you some idea of the kinds of entrees on their menu. During dinner, Evi and I really hit it off with David and Tina and we ended the evening with them promising to come to visit us at the lake in the winter.  David misses the cold weather and snow of his youth when growing up in the Apennines in central Italy.

A Man And His Dog

We were home by 9:15, bid adieu to Milena's family, and relaxed in the living room with the family until 10:00 when we drove back to our hotel.  It was another good day.