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m - Morrisville and Preston Progress. Thursday. July 31. 1997 Birthday bash served up with friends, chefs surprise Sometimes special occasions call for the company of special people. I am blessed to have many opportuni ties to blend the two. I kinda knew that, but sorrietimes even the most fortunate people can forget just how blessed they are, to the point of naivete. For instance, we recently shared a special evening with Marty and Gail Allen at one of our favorite hang outs, which would of course be the formal dining room of the Prestonwood Country Club. The four of us had been trying to coordinate our schedules for a din ner date for some time, and since 1 thought this was to be my 40th birth day celebration, I was especially pleased that they would be sharing the evening with us. As it turns out, the formal dining room was having the unique experi ence of serving dinner to five indi viduals who were celebrating birth days on this particular evening. Acquaintances Bob Lucas (we share a June 30 birthday) and his wife. Rose Mary, whose birthday is June 20, and Anna Lackey-Medlin, with a June 11 birthday, and her husband P. Tracy Medlin with a June 17 birth day. were celebrating at nearby tables. We hope these other celebraters of birthdays will forgive us for having indulged in about 10 minutes of juvenile behavior while we posed for candid shots taken by Marly. All this playing caused us to work up some hearty appetites, and it's a good thing, for the menu was full of enticements. So much so, in fact, that if you’re one of those people who are offended by bite-swapping in the formal dining room, you might not want to read on. Gail opened the menu of the sea son with the Ricotta filled tortelloni with proscuitto and parmigiano reg- giano. Marty was real proud of his herb-crusted sea scallops with a sun- dried tomato relish, but because he is even more proud of his photogra phy, it wasn’t terribly difficult to wrest a bite from his plate. What does one have to do with the other? Easy. All I had to do was threaten to turn over some of my photography to The Progress, and give him credit for them; for as 1 sweetly point out, so far as I know, copyright laws only protect people from having others steal their credit...not from giving it to them. Truth be told, he was actually gen erous with tasteful offers this partic ular evening, and while I’m one of those people who prefer the smaller bay scallops over sea scallops, I Prestonwood Gourmet By Roxanne Powers have to admit these were nice. I guess if Marty got too upset with me for blackmailing him, he got over it when 1 in turn, offered him one of Illy soft-shell crabs with a lemon buerre blanc. Certainly, this appetizer seemed to be the evening’ favorite, though James’ chilled shrimp cocktail with remoulade and a spicy tomato sauce offered some stiff competition. Warm Vichyssoise was on the menu again; but this time I wasn’t confused, (on this issue anyway) for I now know that Vichyssoise refers less to the temperature than to the potatoes in the soup. While it looked delicious, I’m guessing that Marty was relieved that this time, no on asked him to share, because Gail and I were too busy talking and eat ing our pub cheese soup with pancetta, and James was busy nib bling at the white Cheddar topping on his onion soup. There was a time when my hus band would get pul out with me for being so predictable in my menu choices. (It seems to me that most restaurants have one or two menu choices they do wonderfully, and everything else on the menu is just so-so in comparison.) If those days weren’t already gone, they would be now, because I’ve noticed a suspi cious pattern with third courses; James almost always has the Caesar salad he enjoys so much, or the V.l.P. feeling he gets from tableside service, but now that I’m on to him, he can’t pick on me anymore. Gail’s salad was so pretty with the combination of wild chicory, Mache, curly escaroie, dandelion and rocket lettuces topped with a cit rus vinaigrette, that I tried to con vince her that it wasn’t any good, but, unfortunately, she’s not as inno cent as she looks, so I just com menced to enjoying my curly spinach with toasted pumpkin seeds and a raspberry vinaigrette. I enjoyed all but the pumpkin seeds, but James offered to recycle them in Gordon Rimmers’ field so I could enjoy them this fall, so I let them loll around on my plate awhile longer. Just as we were finishing our sal ads, I noticed some black crosses skirting the edge of the golf course right outside the formal dining room window. Try as he might, Edward Simpkins couldn’t convince me that this wasn’t his macabre way of try ing to tell me something about turn ing 40. (He claims that they are squirrel proof bird feeders.) For our main course, I had the lob ster, which was good, but in retro spect, I wonder why I didn’t follow the crowd and have the flambeed tenderloin of beef au poivre with a tawny port reduction, because I don’t think I’ve ever met a reduction I didn’t like. (Hmmm, I wonder if there’s a little psychological play on words going on here.) A few evenings later, James informed me that we were going back to the formal dining room for dinner. I didn’t really want to go out again so soon, but he said that he wanted my real birthday dinner to be a romantic dinner with just the two of us, and that Chef Ed Kaminski had agreed to prepare a dinner of some of our favorite foods. I gently scolded James for having asked that of Chef, I said, “James, he’s not the Chef de cuisine, he’s the Executive Chef. He’s not even sup posed to be here at that time.” James just -answered nonchalantly, "Well, he said he didn’t mind.” Naively, 1 just shook my head at my husband’s chutzpah, and though to myself, "Wow! I can’t believe Chef Kaminiski would do this for mel" Several hours later, when we entered the Club through the main entrance, and my ever-curious hus band proceeded to step into the for mal dining room bar where it was obvious a private party was being held, 1 whispered scoldingly,” James, don’t go in there! Someone’s having a private party in there!” James stepped back, and, taking my arm, said, "It’s okay. I’m just look ing for Edward.” Reluctantly, I followed, and briefly glanced up as we stood just inside the door. Then, I did a double-take. These were all people I knew and loved; and, of course, this was the moment they shouted, “Surprise!” Had I not still been so full from our dinner of a few nights before. I’m sure I would have caught on much sooner. yr' n* i.w SUMMER LANDSCAPING—Participants in the 4-H “Summer of Service” program planted flow ers near the Morrisville sign in the Shiloh com munity along N.C. 54 recently. The grant by IBM to the Wake County Cooperative Extension Services (of which 4-H is an arm) provided experiences for about 50 middle school stu dents per day who worked on projects across the county. The youth who worked in the hot sun to beautify our area were, left to right, Brandon Hawkins, Kendra Addison, Charisse Jacobs, Matthew Swan, Nicole Weatherford, Laura Phillips, Robert Kaplan, David Wright and Tansley Lawrence. Board okays vacation for Speicher Chamber dues to increase, Moseley next speaker BY KATHY HIGGINS A proposed contract to hire Carl Speicher and Speicher’s Inspection Service, Inc. to assist the town engi neer with infrastructure inspections brought on heated debate the July 14 meeting of the Morrisville Town Board. Town Manager David Hodgkins presented the contract, which included a salary of $32 per hour, and provisions that Speicher would be paid $48 per hour for every hour worked over thirty hours per week or worked on a Saturday or Sunday. The contract specified that Speicher would be paid a $64-per- hour holiday rate and would get two weeks of paid vacation per year. He would also receive the same cost of living increase as permanent town employees. Commissioner Silver-Smith argued that the town already had an “expensive” engineer. Hiring a per son to do many of the same duties would be too expensive, he said. Silver-Smith objected to the provi sion in the contract that would give Speicher two weeks of vacation “out of taxpayer money” when he is not a full-time town employee. Speicher is an independent contrac tor who will retain other part-time time jobs on the side. Commissioner C.T. Moore object ed, maintaining that the town would still come out ahead financially. Commissioner Billy Sauls said the town engineer will continue to be overloaded with work as the town grows, and that another position would be necessary in the future anyway. Commissioner Leavy Barbee said, “ If you continue to overload a horse, he’ll either lie down or walk off. We need someone with experi ence for this position, and you’ve got to pay for experience.” Silver-Smith replied, “We have an obligation to make the best deal for the town monetarily.” Hodgkins assured the board that most of Speicher’s salary would come from collected inspection fees. “We are bringing in over and what will pay his salary in fees,” he said. Commissioner approved the con tract with revisions, allowing for a $32-per-hour salary with cost of liv ing adjustments as necessary, and two weeks paid vacation. Silver-Smith cast the lone dissent ing vote. Cary Carpet Care, Inc. Licensed and Insured IICRC Certified Master Bestoration & Carpet Cleaning Technicians Uniformed, Courteous & Professional Employees •24-Hour Service Available •Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning •Oriental & Wool Rugs •All Work Guaranteed Chamber dues will increase this year, partly due to the decrease in funding from the Town of Morrisville. The new dues will go into effect after Oct. 1. The chamber had requested $24,000 from the Town of Morrisville. but received $12,000 in its fiscal year 1997-98 allocation. The new rate of $165 per year plus $1 per full-time employee and $1 per unit of hotel, motel or apartment is an increase of $9 from the $156 base membership fee last year. Individuals will remain at $75 per year, and nonprofits will stay at $ 120 per year plus $ 1 per employee. N.C. Rep. Jane Moseley will be the speaker for the next Issues & Eggs breakfast Friday, Aug. 15 from 7:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. at Sorrento’s. Chamber Corner Business After Hours will be held at Plain Paper Solutions the previ ous evenina. Thursday, Aug,14 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The chamber office will be closed Monday, Sept. I for the Labor Day holiday. Chamber Director Ray Lech will be on vacation from Sept. 2 through 5. The Chamber Board of Directors meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 a.m. New members for the month of July are AAA Travel Agency, Ace Vending, American Institute for Financial Research, Bill’s Barbecue and Chicken, Campbell University—Raleigh Branch, David N. Williams, D.D.S., Duane K. Stewart & Associates. Morgan & Co., Inc., Sage Technical Services, Screenprinf DOW, SMA Microsystems, LLC, and the Stephens Center. What's going on? Read us and find out. This Ad And Receive 10% OFF RESIDENTIAL CLEANING Offer good through July 31,1997 Turf Car Services, Ikc. 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Counting Coup August 21 7:30 pm Wellington’s Readers Circle discusses Independence Day by Richard Ford At your community-owned independent bookstore Maynard Crossing (comer of High House & Maynard Roads, Cary) Mon-Fri 9*9, Sat-Sun 10-6 467-0815 www.wellingtons.com Carpets Direct 2039 Progress Court • Raleigh • 833-0016 ** 2 Yr. Warranty On Installation ** 20% Off All Pads ** Call For In-Home Consultation ** 6 Month • No Payments - Financing “ Alt Major Credit Cards Accepted Home of the Lowest Carpet Prices m RTP. Sale ends 7-31-97. LANE’S SEAFOOD & STEAKHOUSE “A Full Service Restaurant” SPECIAU7MC. 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Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.)
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July 31, 1997, edition 1
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