Rainy Days & Sundays

This Sunday morning I finally slept in a bit (meaning, I slept beyond my normal wake up time of 5:30). Penny & Horace even both lounged on the bed with me, purring and getting along marvelously. My wrist is feeling much better after being in the brace most of yesterday and today as well.

Last night I went to a christening. My friend that we call "Ol Ouiser" (from Steel Magnolias) is the Godmother and she threw a big party at a local Italiano restaurant. It was mostly people from work and a friend of mine was the only "connected via mutual friends only" person there and she said to me, "You're very lucky. It's more like an extended family than just a group of friends." And it really was. The kids had pizza and played outside - like a big group of cousins. The babies were walking up and down between the tables, some adults were having small food and flower fights and everyone knew each other's stories as they were relayed to others. Lots of hugs, kisses and handshakes, it was a beautiful party and it really did feel like one big family. And I got big compliments from a hairdresser on my hair (he grabbed it and said "Oh, so beautiful!" which was good cos I had it in rollers for almost an hour) and got to speak in French last night as well and it was so nice.

Italian seems to be the name of the game this week. Yesterday whilst nursing what feels like an unmotivated virus, I watched Giada's Italian Holiday and started craving Proscuitto and Parmesan cheese. Next pay day I'm going to Fresh Market and buying a wedge of really good Parmagiano Reggiano cheese because a little goes a long way but more to the point, I want some Parma curls with proscuitto. Then she went to the world famous Harry's Bar in Venice (where I think I bought some Prosecco, but am not really sure) and had a Bellini Cocktail (of which I could make today but can't be bothered) and the Croque Monsieur sandwich. It's a slightly different take than the French Croque Monsieur which normally has ham, bechamel on buttered bread that is broiled or grilled (not unlike a grilled ham & cheese sandwich). It has a puree of swiss cheese, egg, dry mustard and wocestershire sauce, with boiled ham in the middle, cut into strips and then fried in olive oil. Oh mon dieu.

So I found the recipe on the Cipriani website and made it for brekkie this morning since I had a sliver of leftover swiss cheese and ham from my parents visit. It was literally sinful. I'm going to try to make it with Italian bread next time because the regular white bread I used this time absorbed a TON of the olive oil. I don't think there's anything bad about eating that much olive oil but I think a sturdier bread would be better. I plan to mix Parmesan with the swiss next time. I ate it venetian style as well, wrapped in a folded paper napkin. It was quick to make, but I need to work on it more to reduce the amount of oil. You literally cannot eat a whole sandwich it's so rich.

This makes me sad, Don Knotts died. He's one of those actors who seem suspended in TVLand and never seemed to get older or younger. I loved The Andy Griffith Show and Three's Company so I'm sad as yet another year passes and the living past begins to become the legendary past.

Today the weather here is cooler than it's been all week (high will be in the mid 60's but dropping to the 50's early today). It's raining and cloudy so my plan to go to the Farmer's Market via bicycle is foiled. I don't mind riding in the rain except when I get back on the bike, the seat will be wet (which is the worst feeling) and the route to town includes a lot of boardwalks which are extremely slick when wet. So it will just be me and the car today. I'm making Guacamole and Chipotle steaks for lunch. I got a guac mix from Frontera Grill ("just add avocados and fresh cilantro") - I hope it's nearly as good as what you get in Rick Bayless' Topolobampo Restaurant. My sister and I ate there over Christmas and it was the best experience and reasonably price considering it's a Celebrity Chef establishment.

My wrist is now getting sore so I'm off to figure out what to do today. Probably more relaxing and loafing. It's well deserved and needed, methinks.