REFLECTIONS
Cuba in 2019
Seven years ago this week, the Chief Penguin and I were part of a small group educational and cultural trip to Cuba. We were in Havana the bulk of the time with a trip one day to the Vinales Valley. In the city, we experienced lunch at a private restaurant, one of the few examples of free enterprise allowed, and heard a talk by an economics professor on how the Cuban economy worked. We learned about Hispanic music from a musician professor and attended a special dance performance by a lively female troupe.
Havana is called “a city of columns.” I took a walking tour of the city’s architecture led by a noted local architect and was impressed with the beauty of its historic buildings.
We also saw a variety of cotton candy convertibles on the streets, sometimes midst buildings in disrepair. It was a study in contrasts.
During our visit, there was a hurricane and the power went off in the middle of our group dinner on the second floor of a partially open-air restaurant. Undeterred and cooking with gas, the waitstaff brought us our remaining courses by candlelight. Using our iPhone flashlights, we safely navigated down the stairs to our waiting van. The hotel and our room were also in the dark until the lights blinked on around 3:00 am. That was an unexpected adventure.
In the countryside, we visited a tobacco farm, saw tobacco leaves being dried, and could purchase cigars singly or by the box. At another farm property, we climbed into a wooden cart pulled by a pair of oxen and jogged up a muddy hill for lunch outside. The family who run this farm were most welcoming and lunch was a tasty spread.
All in all, visiting Cuba was a memorable experience and alas, a trip you couldn’t make today.
MUSIC AND FOOD
Before the latest snowstorm, the Chief Penguin and I enjoyed two outings, one to a concert, the other for lunch at a nearby Lebanese restaurant.
North Carolina Symphony Concert
After almost two years in this area, we finally attended a NC Symphony concert in Raleigh. Meymandi Concert Hall is a contemporary building with 65 ft. high ceilings and several tiers of seating in addition to the main floor orchestra level. It is named for Dr. Assad Meymandi, a native Iranian, psychiatrist and neurologist, who practiced medicine in Fayetteville and then in Raleigh. A faithful subscriber to the concerts, he was also a generous donor. The hall opened in 2001.
Not being season subscribers, we had a limited choice of seats, but we ended up, happily we discovered, in the 4th row on the main floor. Very close to the musicians, which might not always matter, but it put us with an excellent view of the pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason for her Mozart piano concerto (No.23 in A).
The concert, led by energetic guest conductor Ketaro Harada, was devoted to Mozart with several pieces in D major, and the concerto in A. We heard the overtures to “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro” along with Symphony No. 35. It was a most enjoyable evening and a good incentive to go again.
Lunch at Sassool in Cary
Due to a civil war in Lebanon in 1976, the Saleh family left their country for the United States. Unable to find pita bread, they initially started a bakery and then later expanded in 1989 to become a restaurant. One brother went out on his own and named his new casual restaurant, Sassool, grandmother Cecilia’s nickname. Today, there are two Sassool locations, one in Cary and one in Raleigh.
A group of us went for lunch and Simone, one of the family owners, offered up a buffet of their signature dishes. We could sample everything from chicken shawarma, falafel, kibbeh patties, Greek salad, a lentil dish, hummus, baba ghanouj, and, of course, fresh pita bread. You can eat in or take out from the wide variety of salads and other dishes in their cases or purchase dry goods from the grocery section. We savored the variety of foods and even brought some of it home!
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
