A Night of Culture and Rickshaws

For Christmas I bought my special someone tickets to the NC Symphony. I selected Friday night, the 18th, because they were highlighting jazz. More on that later..

For dinner, I wanted to try The Mint. This evening was, after all, a present, so a fancy restaurant was justified. I couldn't really judge the place until experiencing the food. Thinking that I didn't need reservations for a 6pm dinner, we just walked in. Note to self - make reservations next time. So we ate at Riviera, still one of my favorite places. The pistachio crusted trout was very tasty. The salad was simple but had lots of flavor, and the wine was great as usual.

We skipped dessert and decided to have a beer at the new Landmark Tavern before heading to the concert. The place was very crowded, it was opening night, but from the outside you could see the smoke. We opened the door and sure enough, the odor was too much. On another night perhaps we would have braved the smoke, but I really didn't want to sit in a nice concert hall reeking of cigarettes. It makes me feel so old to say something like that, but I just can't deal with smoke anymore. Sorry. I look forward to Landmark - I've already heard some great things, but I think I'll be visiting during the week when there's not a big crowd.

Since we still had about 30 minutes, guess where we went? Back to The Mint! I decided to try that $14 glass of chardonnay. And I have to confess, it was really, really good. The bartender let me try all of the wines before selecting one, but like any good bartender, he started with the good stuff and I just couldn't say no.

The concert was good. The highlight was the talented Jubilant Sykes. I was expecting a lot of jazz music, but as a celebration of African American composers, Mr. Sykes sang quite a few songs. His range was amazing. What an incredible voice. You know, it's nice to go and do something you would never normally do. It keeps the mind fresh. This evening was definitely a treat for us. Raleigh has some great activities to choose from. Step outside your comfort zone! Do something different one weekend.

Speaking of doing something different, the best part of the evening was the ride back to the car in the rickshaw! I've seen these guys everywhere but never needed a ride. I think it's such a great idea and I am so impressed by the athletic ability of pulling 300+ pounds on a bike. So we hailed one after the concert and enjoyed a nice ride for 4 blocks. Great ending to a nice evening.