Well, we arrived in downtown Charlotte at around 6:30. DH suggested we eat at the hotel and promised we would stay two nights. He was just too tired to dress up and “go out on the town”. With the promise of another night’s stay, I agreed. Wow, was I in for a surprise. The hotel actually had a very good restaurant, with a very nice menu. For starters, we shared a warm tomato feta brulee with pita chips. ![[Image: Brulee.jpg]](http://forums.chef2chef.net/photopost/data/500/Brulee.jpg)
The tomatoes (two varieties from what I could tell) were warmed in their own juices with roasted garlic and topped with a generous dollop of a whipped form of feta…totally new to me, but VERY VERY good! William chose a fatoush salad with feta and a lemon vinaigrette.
![[Image: Salad1.jpg]](http://forums.chef2chef.net/photopost/data/500/Salad1.jpg)
I skipped salad to save room for my entrée. Even though he was skeptical ("I have venison all the time."), I talked him into the venison osso bucco served with polenta cakes and demi glaze.![[Image: osso_buco.jpg]](http://forums.chef2chef.net/photopost/data/500/osso_buco.jpg)
He was pleasantly surprised and shocked at the amount of food. He commented near the end of dinner, how interesting it was, when eating really good food; you didn’t need as much of it. He shockingly left a fair amount of food on his plate. I chose pan seared scallops on a bed of braised fennel and leeks in a tomato broth. It was excellent. I don't know where that picture went...oh well! The scallops were enormous and very tender. We enjoyed our meal immensely!
Our room was so nice. There was an enourmous bed piled high with down comforters, Egyptian sheets and lots of big fluffy pillows. There was a large picture window with a very nice view of the city. Neither one of us wanted to get up the next morning….LOL! But we had lots to do. We had found out from our bellman that there was a fine Greek market in a neighboring city which was toward home. So we decided to pack up and head in that direction after exploring a couple places in Charlotte. We had also agreed that after the nice meal the night before, there was really no need to explore another experience tonight. Fine with me….more goodies from the markets instead!
After finishing our business, we headed to the first market….an Asian market. The fresh seafood was beautiful….and the fresh veggies were so different. I saw so many things I had read about but had never seen. It was fascinating! Even DH was inthralled….wandering about picking things up and commenting! And the prices!!!!! OMG! I wanted to take the store home with me…to have these things available at these prices would be so nice! There was not one thing that I bought over $1.99! There was a large bag each of “real” panko and black and white sesame seeds. Then the very large bottles of mushroom soy, light soy, dark soy, tamarind and fish sauce. I also bought some coconut milk and rice noodles for my next try at Pad Thai. I also purchased a jar of frozen lemongrass. The little girl at the checkout was very helpful and made several suggestions, especially about the frozen lemongrass. I can’t wait to try it! DH bought some Kim Che, which he has decided is very good and very spicy…LOL! Then we were off for the Greek market. This was going to be a real experience. I hoped to find some good chutney or some interesting sauce there.
Before we headed out of town, DH wanted to make a stop of his own. He has been trying to get me to sell my car and get a new one for over a year now. So he pulls into a Mini Cooper dealership. Now mind you, I love my car and can not imagine having anything else, but he insisted. We were in the store and preparing for a test drive, when his cell phone rings. Our YS, at home alone, had made his way to a friends house. He was having a seizure or something and could not breathe! We ran from the dealership without explaination. I called DD and had her make her way to the hospital. His friends would stay with him until she could get there. Frightened out of our minds, we made a silent trip home. It took forever!
When we got close to home, DD said they had released him and mentioned something about drugs. We were mystified. I have questioned my son on numerous occassions, but he had sworn to me he was not doing that stuff I heard about. Yes he knew of people doing stuff, but he did not. When we got home, he still professed his innocence and left the house in a huff. We didn’t know what to do. DH left the house to check on the farm and while he was gone, he got another frantic call. YS was around the corner having another attack. I raced over there to get him. He managed to drive his truck home, but then it took full swing. He honestly looked like he was having a heart attack. By the time DH got home, YS had stopped breathing. We managed to get him to breath and raced to the hospital, meeting the ambulance over half way there. When we got there, the doctors and nurses were less than helpful and refused to give him anything. The believed he was coming down off of drugs because the test they ran showed he had drugs in his system. They had us convinced, but watching him like that was pure torture! When the attack subsided, they released him again, with no treatment. YS was furious that noone would believe him. Before we could get out of the hospital parking lot, he was having another one. This time, we insisted they at least give him something until we could get him to a doctor the next day.
DH slept by YS side in our bed while I slept fitfully in the recliner. No more attacks in the night and seemed fine the next day, but very sore. We had to wait until today for an appointment. Well, our regular doctor, in another town, got a copy of the hospital records and said that the drugs in his system were from the drug they gave him at the hospital except for one that YS had admitted to taking because of the spasm to begin with. The doctor also told us that it was a condition he had heard of before, often brought on when, say a patient has been under anethesia. It is called “Acute torticollis”, which is a painful spasm in the neck muscles which can cause enoough pain and tension to make the person stop breathing. He said that YS neck felt like it was still spasming and prescribed medication and suggestions on what to do in the event it happened again….along with a stern lecture to never take someone else’s pain medicine again!
Needless to say we were relieved. YS is also relieved that we now believe him and made us promise to never take him to that hospital again! I am saddened that I did not get to that lovely Greek market in Monrow, but maybe another day. I have also realized there is a large greek community in Wilmington…they have a Greek festival every spring that I intended to visit this year. I am hoping to discover a Greek market there that I will visit very soon!
The tomatoes (two varieties from what I could tell) were warmed in their own juices with roasted garlic and topped with a generous dollop of a whipped form of feta…totally new to me, but VERY VERY good! William chose a fatoush salad with feta and a lemon vinaigrette.
I skipped salad to save room for my entrée. Even though he was skeptical ("I have venison all the time."), I talked him into the venison osso bucco served with polenta cakes and demi glaze.
He was pleasantly surprised and shocked at the amount of food. He commented near the end of dinner, how interesting it was, when eating really good food; you didn’t need as much of it. He shockingly left a fair amount of food on his plate. I chose pan seared scallops on a bed of braised fennel and leeks in a tomato broth. It was excellent. I don't know where that picture went...oh well! The scallops were enormous and very tender. We enjoyed our meal immensely!
Our room was so nice. There was an enourmous bed piled high with down comforters, Egyptian sheets and lots of big fluffy pillows. There was a large picture window with a very nice view of the city. Neither one of us wanted to get up the next morning….LOL! But we had lots to do. We had found out from our bellman that there was a fine Greek market in a neighboring city which was toward home. So we decided to pack up and head in that direction after exploring a couple places in Charlotte. We had also agreed that after the nice meal the night before, there was really no need to explore another experience tonight. Fine with me….more goodies from the markets instead!
After finishing our business, we headed to the first market….an Asian market. The fresh seafood was beautiful….and the fresh veggies were so different. I saw so many things I had read about but had never seen. It was fascinating! Even DH was inthralled….wandering about picking things up and commenting! And the prices!!!!! OMG! I wanted to take the store home with me…to have these things available at these prices would be so nice! There was not one thing that I bought over $1.99! There was a large bag each of “real” panko and black and white sesame seeds. Then the very large bottles of mushroom soy, light soy, dark soy, tamarind and fish sauce. I also bought some coconut milk and rice noodles for my next try at Pad Thai. I also purchased a jar of frozen lemongrass. The little girl at the checkout was very helpful and made several suggestions, especially about the frozen lemongrass. I can’t wait to try it! DH bought some Kim Che, which he has decided is very good and very spicy…LOL! Then we were off for the Greek market. This was going to be a real experience. I hoped to find some good chutney or some interesting sauce there.
Before we headed out of town, DH wanted to make a stop of his own. He has been trying to get me to sell my car and get a new one for over a year now. So he pulls into a Mini Cooper dealership. Now mind you, I love my car and can not imagine having anything else, but he insisted. We were in the store and preparing for a test drive, when his cell phone rings. Our YS, at home alone, had made his way to a friends house. He was having a seizure or something and could not breathe! We ran from the dealership without explaination. I called DD and had her make her way to the hospital. His friends would stay with him until she could get there. Frightened out of our minds, we made a silent trip home. It took forever!
When we got close to home, DD said they had released him and mentioned something about drugs. We were mystified. I have questioned my son on numerous occassions, but he had sworn to me he was not doing that stuff I heard about. Yes he knew of people doing stuff, but he did not. When we got home, he still professed his innocence and left the house in a huff. We didn’t know what to do. DH left the house to check on the farm and while he was gone, he got another frantic call. YS was around the corner having another attack. I raced over there to get him. He managed to drive his truck home, but then it took full swing. He honestly looked like he was having a heart attack. By the time DH got home, YS had stopped breathing. We managed to get him to breath and raced to the hospital, meeting the ambulance over half way there. When we got there, the doctors and nurses were less than helpful and refused to give him anything. The believed he was coming down off of drugs because the test they ran showed he had drugs in his system. They had us convinced, but watching him like that was pure torture! When the attack subsided, they released him again, with no treatment. YS was furious that noone would believe him. Before we could get out of the hospital parking lot, he was having another one. This time, we insisted they at least give him something until we could get him to a doctor the next day.
DH slept by YS side in our bed while I slept fitfully in the recliner. No more attacks in the night and seemed fine the next day, but very sore. We had to wait until today for an appointment. Well, our regular doctor, in another town, got a copy of the hospital records and said that the drugs in his system were from the drug they gave him at the hospital except for one that YS had admitted to taking because of the spasm to begin with. The doctor also told us that it was a condition he had heard of before, often brought on when, say a patient has been under anethesia. It is called “Acute torticollis”, which is a painful spasm in the neck muscles which can cause enoough pain and tension to make the person stop breathing. He said that YS neck felt like it was still spasming and prescribed medication and suggestions on what to do in the event it happened again….along with a stern lecture to never take someone else’s pain medicine again!
Needless to say we were relieved. YS is also relieved that we now believe him and made us promise to never take him to that hospital again! I am saddened that I did not get to that lovely Greek market in Monrow, but maybe another day. I have also realized there is a large greek community in Wilmington…they have a Greek festival every spring that I intended to visit this year. I am hoping to discover a Greek market there that I will visit very soon!
Daphne
Keep your mind wide open.
Keep your mind wide open.
