Spa Weekend!

I decided a while back that as soon as I was through chemo, we were going to stay at one of the two five-star boutique hotels nearby. One choice was the Fearrington House, which is a bit farther away in Pittsboro, and the other was the Umstead Hotel & Spa, which is about 15 minutes from our house, in Cary. I made a reservation at the Fearrington House initially, but then learned that my incredible internet friends, who knew of this plan, got me a gift card to the Umstead, so I switched! 

When I made the reservation, there was a place to write any comments or special requests. I wrote that I would be finishing chemotherapy and we would love an extra quiet and secluded room. This is what you might call "playing the cancer card." I try not to do it! But the problem is that it is very effective. When we checked in, we learned they had upgraded us to a spa level studio suite for free. It truly was in the most secluded part of the hotel, on the garden level but the opposite end of the spa and pool, on a tiny hall with only 2 other rooms. We never saw or heard anyone else around.

The room was huge!

We had a nice patio surrounded by greenery, with a little path that led out across the lawn to the pool area.

The Umstead is 2 minutes from the highway but feels like the middle of nowhere. It's beautiful.

For dinner Friday night we went to An, which I have been wanting to try forever and is very close to the Umstead. I mentioned to my boss that we were going there and asked if I could use my corporate AmEx to pay for it and he said YES, as long as I introduced myself to the manager and asked if there was anything we could do better. Score.

They brought us an amuse bouche to start, edamame hummus with a rice cracker.

Ben ordered an appetizer with some Japanese words because it sounded fancy, but we didn't know what it was. It turned out to be a selection of pickled items, some seaweed salad, a pork bun, and two fried oysters. Jackpot!

I got a big pile of perfectly fried tempura asparagus with miso-mustard dipping sauce.

Ben ordered scallops, which are his most favorite things. They were also perfectly done. And it must be true, because he is a really harsh judge of scallop preparation.

My entree was sweet & sour shrimp, served with avocado-bacon jam and jasmine rice and coconut powder. Delicious!

The desserts were extremely complicated in addition to being tasty. Mine is chocolate cake-based.

And Ben's was "citrus."

It was a fantastic meal! And even better because it was FREE! For the record, An is very pleased with their Mutual Distributing Company rep and service.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while. I was on pins and needles waiting for the pet sitter to call and tell me she couldn't get Banana to take his meds - but we heard nothing at 9:30pm and nothing the next morning for the 6:30am dose, either. Very relieved.

Saturday morning we had breakfast in the hotel's nice restaurant. I didn't bring a camera but Benjamin had brioche french toast and I had crab cake benedict, both excellent. We ended up sort of splitting both items because one was sweet and one savory.

Then we went back to the room and relaxed for a few minutes until it was time for our massages. 

The massages were GREAT, definitely the best of my life. Those Umstead people are pros. After the massages we hung out in the therapeutic current pool for a while and then Ben got in the sauna and I went out to the pool and snagged us some chairs in the shade.

You could really tell this was a luxury hotel that serves mostly adults, because every chair was full but there were hardly ever any people in the actual pool. We sat there all afternoon and it was so, so lovely. 

Benjamin was becoming surly about posing for pictures.

Unfortunately, at 2:45 the phone rang. Banana was being terrible and the pet sitter couldn't get anywhere near him. I could hear him growling and howling and hissing over the phone. This is what I'd expected from the beginning so I wasn't too upset - mostly just grateful we did get one night without having to worry about it. I drove home and of course he was his normal sweet self and swallowed the pill in one second. Then I drove back and kept sitting by the pool for another hour or so.

Before we went back to the room, we walked around the lake a bit to enjoy nature.

We had an absolutely incredible meal for dinner at the hotel restaurant, Herons. One of the top meals of my life, for sure. I didn't take pictures because it would have been uncouth, but here are the things we ate:

First Course:

B: Salmon Tartare: Pumpernickel, Quail Egg, Caper Puree, Herbed Mustard

M: Ricotta Gnudi: Ham, Chick Peas, Rhubarb, Buttermilk Veil, Green Garlic 

Second Course:

B: Sea Scallop: Lardo, Nasturtiums, Tapioca, Morels, White Poppy Seed Milk

M: Carolina Quail: Apricot-Lavender Lacquer, Hakurei Turnip, Ramps, Smoked Bacon 

Entree:

Both: Beef Tenderloin: Black Garlic, Twice Baked Espresso Potato, Fava Beans, Port

Dessert:

B: Videri Chocolate Cremeux: Coffee Custard, Cappuccino Foam, Dehydrated Mousse, Violet Gelato

M: Strawberries: Elderflower Blooms, Blue Corn Cake, Tarragon, St. Germain Sorbet 

Plus three different breads with three kinds of butter, and various amuse bouches and snacks brought throughout the meal. And they gave us some sea salt chocolate toffee bark to take home. It was a lot.

Then, naturally, we drove home to give Banana his pill before driving back and going to sleep in our lovely hotel room. Benjamin took one for the team and got up at 6:30am to go back home and do the morning dose. Then we ordered room service breakfast.

We went back to the spa for more time in the current pool, whirlpool, and sauna, and then sadly returned to our normal lives at home. It was the perfect reward for getting through chemo! I want to live like that all the time!

As for Banana, I don't know what's going to happen but clearly this is not sustainable situation. He has a neurologist appointment next week and I'm going to ask about changing to a medication that is only twice a day, because that will open up some options for us to board him. Right now there's only one place in town that is open to do the late night dose, and it's very noisy and chaotic. We put him there over Christmas and he didn't eat the entire time. SIGH. What a pain. CATS.