Mark on a Bike, AKA Heather's World

As you probably already know, Mark left yesterday for his bicycle trip from San Diego to Jacksonville. He's blogging about that trip at markonabike08.blogspot.com.

So, for a while, it's Heather's World, which is probably not going to be very newsworthy. I'm just busy getting settled in to my new job as a faculty physician at the University of Iowa and the Iowa City VA.

Simone's Plain and Simple

We've found a lot of great places to eat in Iowa City. However, Simone's Plain and Simple is quite different from the rest. To get there, you need to drive deep into Iowa farm country, which is not very far from where we live.

From Simone's

Simone Delaty is a French woman who has been living in the United States for many years. She is a retired professor who now spends much of her time during the warmer months cooking for others at her home, a ten-acre farm with spectacular views of the Iowa countryside. About once a month, she hosts a Table d'Hôte, where people can come and enjoy a delicious, family-style meal. Her table has been the subject of several magazine, TV, and radio articles, and is featured on the cover of the book A Cooks Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland by Kurt Friese.

From Simone's

Simone's home is comfortable and unassuming. It seems very French. We had a great time socializing and eating with several other groups of people. The menu of our evening is below. I'm sure this won't be our last visit to Simone's.

Effluves d’Automne’

Canapés et autres Amuse-gueules - Assorted Hors d’oeuvres.

‘Consommé aux tomates et à l’oseille’ - an exquisite icy cold Tomato and Sorrel Soup.

‘Coq au vin’’ - Galen’s Free Range Chicken baked in a wine sauce. Served with Grilled Potatoes and Braised Lettuce.

From Simone's

‘Salade de fenouil’ – Shaved Fennel Apple Salad with Fennel Purée and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette.

From Simone's

‘Plateau de fromages’ – an assortment of Cheeses.

‘Crème brûlée aux feuilles de pêcher’ – Peach Leaf Crème brûlée.

From Simone's

street sign

We saw a funny street name today. I wonder if Superman lives in the neighborhood?

Frisbee Golf

Rich is visiting this weekend and we wanted to find some fun, active things to do with him... so, we went Frisbee golfing today. We've played before - you just search around in your closet until you find an old Frisbee, dust it off, and walk outside. Then you pick an object within eyesight and state that it's going to be the first hole... a fire hydrant, a tree, whatever. Eighteen holes later you're done.

Things are different here. There are two, count'em TWO, professional Frisbee golf courses here. The "holes" look like this:

Each course winds it's way through the trees, around water traps, over hills and valleys, around clumps of trees. The course was really pretty.

Before starting, we drove over to Wal-Mart to buy a couple of Frisbees. We were SHOCKED when we saw the display. There are more than fifty kinds: drivers, putters, mid-range faders, experimental driver faders, an all-around disc. And they all looked different than a normal Frisbee. They were heavier and flatter. Of course, they cost more than a regular Frisbee. We were planning on buying a couple of cheap Frisbees and ended up spending $70.00 on discs.

That's okay, we're planning on being here for a long time and when you come to visit us you can play too!