My Garden

Anyone who has read my blog in the past knows that I attempted to plant a garden earlier in the summer. Oddly enough, it's not doing too badly for being the garden of a computer geek. The first picture shows a good bit of the garden with domestic strawberry plants at the top and the watermelon plant at the bottom. The second picture shows a better view of the watermelon plant.

And on closer inspection, I actually have my very first teeny tiny watermelon. I'm so thrilled!!

Umaido Ramen House

Last weekend, on suggestion from our friend J, we decided to try the new ramen shop in Suwanee. The name of the place is Umaido and it's found on the ground floor of the two story building next to the Super H Mart in Suwanee. Their menu, as you see above, is not very extensive. I was very disappointed when I was told that they couldn't make the gyosa that is on the menu. It doesn't seem right to have half a dozen things on the menu and then for them to tell you they can't make one. I was also disappointed by the fact that the request I made for water to drink apparently missed them because all we ever got by way of beverages was cold barley tea. I'd never had it before and it wasn't bad. It just didn't take the place of water for me. I did think the barley breath after the meal was funny though. :)

This little plate just had the green onions (or was it chives) covered in hot sauce. It was pretty.

We were seated at the bar where the guys could see the cooks while I was snapping pictures all around. I was too short to see the cooks.

I ordered the ramen with miso. It was very tasty. However, the noodles were a little chewy and I rather didn't car for the idea of that egg. I tried the pork too but wasn't much interested in that either, so the guys at it for me. Probably my favorite part of the whole meal was the fungus or seaweed to the top right in the picture.

In conclusion, I would go back again, only this time choosing the ramen without the miso. The prices were a bit high for a bowl of noodle soup, if you ask me. I still think that What the Pho in Duluth, Georgia is the best value for a bowl of noodles though.

Dry Falls in North Carolina

At the end of July we finally got an opportunity to take the MINI Cooper up into the north Georgia, western North Carolina mountains. We had a lot of fun. The MINI just handles SO well. Next time we go up, DH says he'll take the motorcycle and I can chase in the car.

This time we stopped at Dry Falls off of U.S. Highway 64 in Highlands, North Carolina. It was really pretty. They've got a nice parking lot with picnic tables to eat, should you so desire. The walk down to and behind the falls was an easy walk. It is pretty touristy, as a warning if you're not into dealing with the tourists. In the top picture you can see the people on the path where it goes behind the falls themselves.

OUCH! That hurts!

Toward the end of July, I took my daughter K to the allergist to be tested. There had to be a reason she would sneeze 30-40 times in a row every morning. We rather suspected she was allergic to cat dander, but were kind of surprised at what else they found. She's more allergic to dogs than she is to cats. She's allergic to a couple of grasses and dust mites. She's allergic to one type of mold. It's easy in the pictures to tell which one is the arm with the testing for the dog and cat and dust mites.