TWD: Tarte Noire

Well, I'm here. North Carolina, I mean. Finally. And let me tell you - don't let anyone claim that Midwesterners are the friendliest, most neighborly people you'll meet. They're lying - Southeasterners are without a doubt the most friendly people I've ever met. I should probably back up though, huh? My life, she is flying by at a rate that I can't even comprehend!


I flew in to the Raleigh-Durham airport a mere 6 days ago, which is mindboggling to say the least. The only thing to note about the whole 8 hours in multiple airports and planes? I sat next to a wonderfully nice National Guardswoman on the flight from Burbank, CA to Dallas-Fort Worth. We chatted for about half the flight, spurred on by her first comment to me soon after I sat down next to her. She leaned over and, half in a whisper, asked if I had looked closely at the people up in first class on our flight. I admitted that I hadn't, not admitting that it was partially due to being envious that they got free alcohol on a 7a flight. That would have been neither here nor there, right? Well, it turns out that Leann Rimes was on our flight. Wha? Not only did I get to see random paparazzi on my little jaunt through Hollywood, I had also experienced a celebrity sighting as well! LA is a weird place, people. Weird.


But now I'm in Chapel Hill. Not only that, I moved into the fiance and my apartment just last Friday, assisted by three of the nicest, most wonderful guys from TROSA. Not only did they come right on time, smile the whole time, and gasp whenever I tried to pick anything up (seriously, did they think I was just going to stand around while they moved my things?), they called me ma'am! Seriously! In order to keep me from carrying things in, the foreman tasked me with putting together the bedframe - apparently I don't look like I can lift anything. I love shocking people by actually having some sort of strength. It was all done in such good nature though that I couldn't fault them. And hey, it meant I actually had a permanent address! After two months without one, it's embarrassing how happy that made me.


I'm all unpacked now, having buckled down that very night and opened every single box, putting everything away. Hopefully the fiance can fit his things in here when he shows up in two weeks, but my things came first, right? Once that was done, all that was left was looking forward to Charli coming for the weekend. My college roommate of three years and my maid of honor, Charli also understood that Sunday was not for grilling - oh no, Sunday was spent baking. All day. Bread, peach cobbler, and this tart, which was definitely improved by the use of fancypants El Rey chocolate we picked up walking through Whole Foods. Good stuff, people, this tart is good stuff.

Also, since I haven't bothered getting cable or internet at my new place (and will therefore be stealing internet access at the handy-dandy Barnes & Noble a mile away), reading of blogs and commenting will be greatly reduced. It doesn't help that as of this morning, I'm hopping feet-first into the lab at UNC and learning the ropes. After reading page after page of articles on secondary organic aerosol, I hope you'll forgive me if all I want to do is eat a slice of this tart.


One last note - I feel it is my duty to tell you a few things we realized over the weekend. One, double cream brie is like butter. Cheesy, wonderful, tasty butter. Two, the movie Leap Day? Awful. I'm surprised we made it through the first 45 minutes, after which the characters finally became slightly likable. Three, sweet tea vodka is pretty wonderful stuff. So are fried okra. And four, best friends? Priceless.

Last Week: Little Vanilla Cakes
Next Week: Brrrr-ownies (mint and chocolate = my nemesis, so taste testing might wait until the fiance shows up)