Do you remember the Cafe' Galleria in Burlington on the corner of Farnsworth and Pearl. It had those lovely large windows looking out to the Delaware and Burlington Island and the walls were filled with beautiful paintings. I loved that place.
Then, it disappeared! All of my friends and I wondered what happened - such a great location, and a wonderful restaurant and very little competition in Burlington City.....Then we discovered Curtin's Wharf and were happy again.
Today, my friend Gail and I tried Robin's Nest in Mt. Holly first, but they had buffet in a tent, one of those event tents, and it was c o l d out there today, so I said no. And we tried out luck at Curtin's Whart - not opened until May 21st. Why would you not open for Mother's Day, surely a very profitable day or restaurants as we moms are supposed to be released from kitchen duty. Oh well, we drove over to where the Cafe' Galleria used to be to ees if the new restaurant was open yet and VOILA! it was.
The only seating still available was on the patio, but by then it had warmed considerably, 65 degrees by my phone and there was a lively breeze off the river and a lovely view, so we were happy.
Gail had Juevos rancheros, and I had creamed oasted cauliflower soup with a nice spring salad and a lemon grass tea. The soup was delicious! The salad was a little too much greens and not enough other kinds of salad goodies. If you are going for a spring salad, some strawberries would be nice, or grated carrots, but it was good and healthful.
Gail found her jeuvos's rancheros overcooked. The eggs were hard and it was too much potatoes and hardly any black beans. But those few minor complaints aside, the music was delightful, a mellow selection of standards in jazz of the Billy Holiday variety mixed with some soul and R & B, very smooth and calming and conducive to thinking about old times and old loves.
The big excitement came when a very assertive breeze carried off one of the large red umbrellas and sailed it like a tethered space shape over the fountain, barely missing two daughters and their mom. Soon, though, the other umbrellas were closed and the crashed plane umbrella was righted and closed and all was safe on the patio again.
I am so glad that the restaurant opened there in that lovely location and I wish them the best of luck. I would definitely go there again to have lunch and I will recommend it to my friends, too.
We drove home in the late afternoon sun, and took a detour to Knight Park for a walk, a quiet sit on a bench by the pond, and then headed home.
My daughter had sent me a pretty little Honolulu bay blue ukulele for Mother's day which was a thrill! I was happy to find that Black Horse Pike Music Store was still open and operating yesterday so I could buy a tuning helper. The proprietor tuned the uke for me and with the help of a few internet sites of ukulele for beginners, I gave it my first one hour practice.
She sent me that gift after I mentioned that I had answered a question in a creativity book about what one thing I had always wanted to do and had never done. I had always wanted to play a musical instrument. The piano was too hard (for me) and the harmonica gave me sore lips. The guitar gave me sore finger tips. I was hoping the Luke would be friendlier to a slacker with tender fingers I'll let you know how it goes.
Happy Mother's Day! Hope your day was as good as mine or better!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment