Notes for "The Only Real Stumbling Block"

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These are the notes for "The Only Real Stumbling Block."

Ruth Fisher -- She has fair skin, blue eyes, and short blonde hair starting to go gray.  Her heritage is French and American.  She speaks English and French fluently, with some Italian.  She is 58 years old in 2016.  Ruth used to co-own a fancy restaurant with her husband in Raleigh, North Carolina.  After the car accident that killed him and left her paralyzed below the waist, she left the restaurant to their oldest daughter Joan and retired.  Ruth moved to Portside Park, a luxury development of low-rise apartment buildings and cottages with high accessibility.  For a year or so, she did very little, but soon got bored.  So she resumed cooking fine cuisine, this time for family and friends who wanted to hire a cook for a special occasion.  She also hosts dinner parties in her own home, and gives lessons on adaptive cooking.  Ruth is friends with Tolli and Simon.  She typically wears gray and white as neutrals, accented with pastels, and beach-themed accessories for warmer and cooler weather.
Qualities: Master (+6) Cook, Expert (+4) Creative, Expert (+4) Emotional Intelligence, Good (+2) Accessibility Teacher, Good (+2) Dexterity, Good (+2) Grandmother
Poor (-2) Easily Bored

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"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."
-- Julia Child

Portside Park is a luxury development of low-rise apartment buildings and cottages with high accessibility.  It has several greens, swimming pools, and a plaza with a fountain connected by wide sidewalks flanked by park benches and flower gardens.  In some areas, they have live-work buildings with retail or services on the ground floor and apartments above, creating the Promenade, for a walkable bikeable community that reduces the need of residents to travel elsewhere.

This corner of the Promenade has the Leasing Office.  Traffic-calming bulb outs make the streets more pedestrian-friendly while providing close front-door access to less-mobile people. Inside is the lobby.

The Promenade offers a charming variety of shops, restaurants, and services such as hairdressers that create a walkable, bikeable neighborhood.  Most of the storefronts belong to residents, who get first claim on the community space.

Wide sidewalks with frequent benches surround the green, encouraging people to get out and walk.

Accessible community gardens include features like this plaza with roll-under beds.  This part of the community garden has raised beds and an orchard.

This 4-story apartment building has a restaurant on the ground floor.  This one has 3 stories.

A dog park offers a place for pets to play.

The clubhouse has a gym inside.  The main pool includes a lift.  A pergola offers shade.  Some buildings have their own smaller pool to minimize crowding.

A loggia offers outdoor gathering space.  Inside there is a lounge with a community kitchen.

The Coffee Lounge is next to the Rec Room.  The Rec Room is next to the Gym., which includes a yoga floor.

Units include:
Studio $1,227 to $1,290/month, 1 bath 622 sqft (with or without a balcony)
1 bed $1,231 to $1,426/month, 1 bath, 707 sqft (kitchen left floor plan)
1 bed $1,239 to $1,372/month, 1 bath, 689 sqft (kitchen right floor plan)
2 bed $1,578 to $1,764, 2 bath, 1,138 sqft (bedrooms together)
2 bed $1623 to $1724, 2 bath, 993 sqft (bedrooms split)
3 bed $2,036 to $2,085, 2 bath, 1,374 sqft (two baths)
3 bed $2,067/month, 3 bath, 1,307 sqft (three baths)

3-story 2-bedroom townhouse with garage
3-story 3-bedroom townhouse with garage

The ADA floor plans are similar for apartments and cottages.
1-bedroom ADA Floor Plan
2-bedroom ADA Floor Plan

Small cottages offer a place for people who want privacy with nearby amenities.  Some models have extra space for crafts, hobbies, or work from home.

1-bedroom cottage (exterior and floor plan)
2-bedroom cottage (exterior and floor plan)
2-bedroom 2-bath cottage floor plan
1-bedroom with den cottage floor plan

Ruth Fisher's apartment has an adaptive kitchen.  The dining room, which takes up the whole living-dining area, has a glass table with a garden view.  The living room has been set up in one of the bedrooms, with a hide-a-bed for guests.  The bathroom has an accessible tub.  Ruth's bedroom includes a sitting area and a window.

The lake and its surrounding marsh have extensive boardwalks, docks, and fishing piers for easy access.  Birdhouses and birdfeeders encourage local wildlife.

A bus stop with bike rack connects the Portside Park community to the rest of Raleigh.


The Palace of Atlantis is a fancy restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina.  They have a teleporter to bring in seafood from all over the world, and it's attracting attention from all colors of the cape.  Instead of one big dining room, it has many small ones, some with matching dotties, and a ballroom with a stage.

The outside actually does look like a small Victorian castle with a stone face and round turrets.

The lobby includes an elevator.  Its public bathrooms include a view of the large aquarium.  The ballroom has a stage with a grand piano.

The Abalone Dining Room has a matching dottie, done in mother-of-pearl and lavender.

The Swordfish Dining Room is cobalt blue with a fireplace at one end.

The Periwinkle Dining Room is periwinkle blue with a fireplace on one side.

The Pearl Dining Room is turquoise and white.

The Starfish Dining Room is mostly white and decorated with starfish, with a matching bathroom.

The Seafoam Dining Room is pale green and has its own dottie.

The Sailboat Dining Room is white with touches of gold and verdigris, decorated with boats.

The Sand Dining Room is beige with pictures of sea life, and it also has a bathroom.

The Dolphin Dining Room is gray and so is its dottie.

There is also a common bathroom upstairs.


Multi-course meals can be presented in assorted ways.  It helps to vary the impact of different dishes.  This one is a surf-and-turf supper with hors d'oeuvres, seafood salad, vegetarian course, beef course, and dessert.  The use of a generous comfort food is a clever way to fill up hearty appetites who might otherwise be unsatisfied by the small portions of fine dining.

Fancy Deviled Eggs 5 Ways
from top left: goat cheese + asparagus, smoked salmon + dill, caper + chive, cheddar + bacon, and (middle row on the ends) green chili + corn salsa.

Avocado Mango Shrimp Salad
Use a ring mold for enhanced salad presentation.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Wild Rice Medley

Filet Mignon with Mashed Potatoes and Salad

Kaffir Key Lime Tarts (with toasted coconut cream)

A kitchen torch is a good tool for browning things.  Explore some good models.  Learn how to use a kitchen torch and what you can do with one.