A celebration of Lucy

A little over 5 months ago, our application to adopt a senior dog was approved by the local Humane Society. We went to pick her up, being given only 15 minutes to make a yeah-or-nay decision because of Covid protocols. She was charming and well-behaved, so we took her home. It's the best thing that happened to us in 2021. 

So it's been a while...

Sorry, life continues while the blog stands still. I've been more active on other platforms (Twitter, Facebook) and also joined Instagram and Snapchat.

I got an Instant Pot for Christmas in 2018 and finally started using it just after Christmas in 2019. It's been a lot of fun and has really inspired me to do more home-cooking in the past couple months.

Favorite recipes so far:
Instant Pot Creamy Shells and Beef from Six Sisters' Stuff

Instant Pot Yogurt from Six Sisters' Stuff (this is a cold-start recipe)

Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto from Pressure Luck

Instant Pot Key Lime Cheesecake from Twin City Adventures

I've also tried applesauce, chicken noodle soup, and mac-and-cheese, but none of those were good enough to get memorialized here...

Red Curry Recipe

Borrowed heavily from a now-deleted post by SheSimmers.com

1 can coconut cream (19 oz)
1/2 can red curry paste
2-3 Tablespoons avocado oil
1.25 pounds ground pork
1 pound grilled chicken (CostCo skewers, don't ask...)
1/2 large zucchini, cut into small slivers
1/2 large orange bell pepper, cut into small slivers
1/2 pound white mushrooms, already cooked (leftover from Omelet Day)
a couple of garlic scapes, cut into tiny pieces
1/4 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
handful of fresh basil leaves (I used lettuce basil from my mom's herb garden)

Heat the avocado oil in the bottom of a large Dutch oven.
Add the cream from the can of coconut - but save at least 1/2 cup for the end
Once the cream starts to break down, add the curry paste and mix gently to combine.
After the curry paste has heated through and started smelling good, add the ground pork. Don't stir too often, as you want the bottom to actually brown if possible.
Once the pork is cooked, add vegetables, chicken, and 1/2 cup water, plus more coconut milk if you've got more than 1/2 cup left.
Cook about 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are soft but not mushy and chicken is heated through. Add the last 1/2 cup of coconut milk, the fish sauce, sugar, salt, and basil. 
Mix thoroughly and taste; adjust seasonings as necessary.
Serve over rice.

OK if you really want to ask: the grilled chicken skewers make a good addition to a salad but we weren't eating them fast enough...

My favorite books of 2018

In no particular order...

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
The Last Good Man by Linda Nagata
Elysium Fire by Alistair Reynolds
The Ones Who Got Away by Roni Loren
A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson
Making Up by Lucy Parker
Head On by John Scalzi
Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Lake House by Kate Morton
Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves

Fan fiction:
If They Haven't Learned Your Name by Silent Walrus
Landscape with a Blur of Consequences by Diasterisms

-->

My favorite movies of 2018

Tough list!

Movies from 2018:
Black Panther Just mind-blowingly good, from start to finish. I love how the movie managed to be feminist despite centering on the struggles of two young men.

A Wrinkle in Time Gorgeous visuals, a great story. I love how it's a very child-friendly movie but still a great adventure.

Ocean's Eight Not quite enough sense of tension, as the women are so competent that I just assumed it would all work out. I do love the twists in the 3rd act.

Operation Finale A thrilling story that neatly subverts Ben Kingsley's incredible charm.

Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse I cannot even describe how much this movie charmed me, from start to finish.

Crazy Rich Asians

Honorable mentions:
Aquaman
Incredibles 2
Mission Impossible: Fallout
First Man
Bumblebee
Mortal Engines
Artemis Hotel
Annihilation

Movies from earlier, that I first watched in 2018:
Moon
Midnight in Paris
Charlie Wilson's War
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
La La Land
Wind River

Edited to add: In terms of Hugo nominations, I have a few more movies I want to watch, but right it's looking like this:
Black Panther
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
A Wrinkle in Time
Aquaman
Annihilation or Incredibles 2
(I really got a kick out of Artemis Hotel, but I suspect it would be a wasted vote)

My weekend in NYC

Pondicheri Cafe: a huge birthday party in back, so the noise level was unpleasantly high and it was nigh impossible to get to the restrooms. We had the Sindhi Pakora Chaat (delicious), the Dal and Brussels (good, but an odd combination), the Green Masala Shrimp (fabulous), and the Goa Pork (very good). We finished with house-made ice cream. I had the Turmeric Lavender in a house-made cone, which had ground peppercorn and rose petals embedded in it. It was an innovative combination and I adored it. The other people had the Moringa Mint and said it was really good, but not as minty as they'd expected.

Pain Quotidien: I actually ate here on two consecutive mornings. The first time, I had the Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon, and a mug of their Hot Honey Lemon Ginger. Both were terrific. The second time, I got the Smoked Salmon Breakfast and a mug of coffee. The food was great but I once again realized how much I dislike trying to eat a soft-boiled egg in the shell. My companions had the Belgian Waffle with fruit (delicious, not too big) and the Skillet Eggs with Salmon and Avocado (really good.)

Xian Famous Foods: it's a tiny little dive, mostly catering to the carry-out crowd.  You stand along one wall and watch a pair of cooks prepare your order, which takes under 5 minutes. Everything involves their hand-torn noodles, which the cooks also make when they have a free moment. I recommend it for sheer entertainment value, plus the food was delicious. We had the Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles (delicious, but so spicy I could only have a bite) and the Pork "Zha Jiang" Hand-Ripped Noodles (only slightly spicy, and totally delicious.)

Fournos Theofilos: We also got carry-out from here one night. The Greek Salad was amazing and I will always remember it as my new gold standard. Unfortunately, the carry-out situation was confusing, with almost nothing else on the website actually being on offer that night. We ended up with mediocre sausage rolls. I really liked the tomato chutney that came with it; not so much the spicy green mustard sauce.

Great Northern: a food hall in Grand Central Station, featuring Nordic food such as open-faced sandwiches (smørrebrød) and hearty salads. It's a bit confusing: there are multiple stations and you pay for the food at each station right there. I planned carefully and got my drink (GUS grapefruit soda, so good) and a trio of open-faced sandwiches at the same stall. I had the smoked salmon and radish, the curried herring with grated egg, and the avocado with green tomato and green apple. All three were delicious and innovative and I only wish I'd had more space in my stomach!

Bien Cuit: a bakery in Grand Central Market. We picked up breakfast food: an apple cardamom danish, a ginger cranberry tart, and a chocolate almond croissant. All three were terrific.

Pescatore Seafood: a seafood shop in Grand Central Market. We picked up crab rolls and shrimp rolls for the trip home. I loved the crab roll; my mom loved the shrimp roll but I thought it had too much mayonnaise. Service was swift, friendly, and helpful.

In addition to all this, we shopped at Columbus Circle and Uniqlo, and window-shopped up and down Madison Ave. We spent hours at the Winter Fair at Bryant Park, and I found some really lovely and unique gifts plus a necklace for myself. I'd wanted to eat at Momofuku Noodle Bar, but they turned out to be closed on Sundays. (Hello! Update your website with correct hours, people...)

All in all, a lovely weekend despite the driving rain and sleet on Sunday.

Review of Grass Roots Creamery (Granby, CT)

Grass Roots Creamery is one of the must-stop places if you're in north-central CT. They used to be open only April-November, but are experimenting with staying open all winter this year. Please go support them!

They serve ice cream, all of it made in house, much of it wildly creative. In the summer there's about three dozen flavors ready to be scooped; they seem to have cut back to about two dozen right now, but it's still a great range of options. Example: my mother-in-law once got a three-scoop with Geranium, Lavender, and Rose Chocolate Chip as the flavors. They've had flavors as disparate as Pear Blue Cheese, Maple Bacon, and Olive Oil Rosemary. They're constantly trying out new flavors and sadly, this sometimes means that they shelve old ones (I once had a scoop of jalapeno-chip ice cream there. It was amazing. I've never seen it again.)

There's a fascinating back-story of activism and courage behind the store and the name.

The owners are currently expanding, with an eatery opening next door. (Edited to add: open as of 11/28/18)

My only criticism of Grass Roots Creamery is that it's bad for people with specific food allergies, as they cannot guarantee a lack of cross-contamination. They are completely up front about this, but don't have an easy way to address the problem, as they use the same equipment to produce all their different flavors.

Review of Mei Tzu (East Windsor, CT)

Mei Tzu is a small Chinese restaurant in East Windsor, CT. It also has an excellent sushi bar and a few Thai offerings, such as curry. It's located in a strip mall between a tattoo parlor and a gun shop, but ignore the surroundings. The restaurant inside is pretty, cozy, and serves the best Asian food in the area.

Although you can get such typical fare as General Tso Chicken (and it's very good), you really want to try the house specials. The Mongolian Beef is crispy, spicy, and a real treat. The Basil Beef and the Garlic Shrimp are delectable and my whole family adores the Boneless Duck. My personal favorite is the Thai Casserole, a delicate but complex blend of spices, coconut milk, vegetables, chicken, and shrimp. If you're eating alone, this is a balanced dinner in a single pot.

From the regular menu, I confidently recommend the Spicy Jengdu Dumplings and the Hot and Sour Soup (yes, I know the latter is vegetarian - trust me, you won't even miss the meat.) I love the Garlic and Ginger Sauteed Bean Sprouts with Chicken and I've yet to feed it to somebody who doesn't end up liking it. The chef is very good with noodles: try the Drunken Noodles, the Chow Fun, and the Pad Thai.

The sushi is also great, with some really creative special rolls like the White Forest Roll, the Fujiyama Mama, and the eponymous Mei Tzu roll in addition to the usual fare.

The lunch menu has a wide range of options. The basic lunch is a great deal at $7 for a plate of pork-fried rice, brown, or white rice and your choice of entree. You can add on an egg roll (don't bother) or soup (all three options are very good) for just a dollar. I recommend the Beef with Broccoli, the Vegetable Delight with Tofu, the Kung Pao Chicken, or any of the Thai Curry options.

The menu is clearly marked with both gluten-free and vegetarian options, and the servers will help you select dishes that fit your dietary needs.

My only complaint about this restaurant is that they use wide, shallow serving bowls that take up an unreasonable amount of real estate on the table. But this is a small matter. The servers are friendly and efficient; the food is delicious and reasonably priced. What are you waiting for?

Review of Tiger Belly Noodle Bar (Granby, CT)

Tiger Belly Noodle Bar is located in a quiet little strip mall in Granby, CT. Parking is relatively plentiful. The restaurant itself is a bit hard to find: follow your GPS to 9 Mill Pond Road and it's the middle store in the second plaza on the right. If you just park and walk around, it will be easier to find.

The restaurant itself is long and narrow. There are two big tables up front that each seat up to 8 people, and are often being shared by smaller groups. There are two smaller tables that seat up to 4 people each in back, by the bathroom. In the middle, there's an L-shaped seating area surrounding the kitchen and sushi counter. The view is partially obstructed by all the ingredients they keep piled up on the counters, but you can get a good sense of what's going on. It's completely casual, and service is a bit erratic, but there's a lovely sense of warmth and good humor emanating from the chefs and the harried servers.

Tiger Belly is part of the same restaurant group as Mei Tzu, so the sushi menus are almost identical. The sushi is reasonably priced and very good, with some complex options (the Mei Tzu roll is out of this world) and the usual basics.

The appetizer menu includes standard options like edamame and fried beef gyoza, but you have to give the bao buns a try. They're messy, but so delicious that you won't even care. Seriously, I've had worse bao buns at 3 star restaurants in NYC. They're a must-buy. (Two buns per order at $9, so feel free so share with a friend.)

The main menu includes two types of fried chicken, a rice bowl, and three types of soup. The fried chicken is shatteringly crispy and delicious. My kids wrinkled their noses at eating chicken on the bone, but they quickly got behind it and devoured the whole plate. We haven't tried the rice bowl yet, but the table next to us got it and seemed quite pleased; it looked like a generous portion.

The vegetarian ramen is good, the pho with brisket and dumplings is better, and "The Darkness", their signature pork ramen, is unbelievably good. I recommend trying them all, either sharing around the table or on three separate visits.

Review of Han Restaurant (West Hartford, CT)

Han is a hot-pot specialty restaurant located on a side street in West Hartford, CT. There's plenty of parking. Reservations recommended for popular times, but we walked in on a Thursday at 1pm and there were plenty of booths still available.

Han is slowly branching out to include more foods that aren't hot-pot. The hot-pot is so yummy that I haven't tried anything except their fried dumplings, which are quite good.

The specialty, of course, is hot-pot. They have a choice of a dozen types of broth, many of them either sour or spicy. For beginners, I recommend either the Mushroom or the Chinese Herbal broth.

The lunch special is quite a bargain: broth, noodles or rice, a choice of basic protein (lamb, chicken, shrimp, fish, or beef) and a platter of vegetables and mushrooms, all for $11.99 per person. If you're a heavy eater, you might want to order one more serving of meat.

The dinner menu is bit pricier, but portions are larger. The vegetable platter at dinner is huge and can be shared over 2 or 3 people. There are several pages of options for things to put into your hot pot: mushrooms, meatballs, noodles, meat, a whole page of vegetables!

One of the best features of Han is their sauce bar, which features about two dozen different options, plus a couple of pre-made sauces. It's hard to go wrong unless you hate cilantro and accidentally put it in your dish. I really like both pre-made sauces and will jazz them up with diced preserved vegetables or cilantro and scallions.

Review of Shu Chinese Restaurant (West Hartford, CT)

Shu is a small, friendly restaurant in the same shopping plaza as A-Dong Market and Pho Boston, at 160 Shield Street. Reservations recommended, particularly if you go with a party larger than 4 people. The dishes are reasonably priced but the portions are a bit smaller than at other places, so order some appetizers or another entree to share with the table. This is a Szechuan restaurant so they take their spice seriously: a one-pepper rating here would be a two-pepper rating almost anywhere else, and even the no-pepper ratings have a bit of zip to them.

We went there with family and had a marvelous dinner.

For appetizers, we ordered the fried pork dumplings (very juicy and tasty), the Cheng-du potatoes (just French Fries with Szechuan pepper powder dusted over them but so, so good), and scallion pancakes (literally the best I have ever eaten.)

For the main course, we had tea smoked duck (very good), crispy beef with coconut sauce (too sweet for me, but the kids loved it), sauteed string beans (tasty and perfectly cooked), young pea greens with garlic (divine, as always), lobster with scallion and ginger (tasty, but very hard to eat with just chopsticks!), and steamed pork belly with preserved pickled vegetables (melt-in-your-mouth good).

I left to pick up some groceries from A-Dong Market before they closed, but the rest of the family stayed to eat dessert. I believe they ordered one of everything (it's not a long menu) and thoroughly enjoyed them.

26th day of Summer Vacation: in which we laze around and eat really good food

We decided to rest our feet for a day and enjoy the lovely view from our rental units. We got a carry-out lunch from a little sandwich shop called Cicinin Panini al Metro. I have no idea what was in them, but man were they good. (Edited to add: one was soprasetta and the other was roast beef with Asiago.)

We went for our "fancy dinner" of the trip to Ristorante il Vicoletto. You should definitely eat there, and you should also definitely make reservations. We were lucky that they could squeeze us in at opening time, but we were given a firm departure time of 7:45 so the 8:00 seating could get the table.

Appetizers: spinach souffle in cream sauce (so good) and seafood appetizer, consisting of chopped smoked salmon, a grilled scallop in pea sauce, hot shredded cot, an anchovy wrapped with pickled red peppers, grilled octopus over a squash sauce. Also so good.

First course: Four of us had gnocchi in cream sauce with a huge piece of crispy fried pork; the others had squash ravioli with saffron sauce. Both so good. So rich.

Second course: MIL had a seafood tagliatelle in saffron sauce, from the 1st course menu. The rest of us had lamb chops or rib-eye steak, but I had salmon in curry sauce with mussels and fried oysters. The salmon sat on a raft of steamed spinach. It was divine. Everything was really good.

The house special dessert was apricot and Grand Marnier cake, and that was very good, too.

25th day of Summer Vacation: in which we take a train into Switzerland

We took a train to Domodossola, and then another train over the mountains to Locorna. Lovely views from the train, although it was hard to get good pictures.

Lunch there at Sensi: Ristorante Fred Feltpausch, which had a nice view of the water and some very aggressive sparrows.

I had the chicken marsala with saffron risotto (the former too salty, and with too much sage; the latter very good.)
DH and I split a caprese salad that was competent, but not amazing.
Younger Son and DH each had pasta carbonara, which was very rich.
MIL had lake trout with saffron risotto. She said it was very good.
FIL had a pasta dish with basil, tomatoes, and maybe capers? or anchovies?
Elder Son had some kind of schnitzel with fries.

Then we took a slow ferry back along Lago Maggiore, to Stresa. MIL thought the ferry left at 2:10, but it actually left at 4:15. We walked around town and found a nice shopping district. I finally managed to find good face lotion and we bought freshly squeezed orange juice and Swiss pastries. But we spent a lot of time sitting around on the dock.

There was no passport control either way, although we'd been warned to take our passports with us.

The ride back was lovely and took about 2 hours 45 minutes. Most of us sat inside, under A/C, playing cards. I popped outside every half hour to take pictures.

Then DH and I went out to eat by ourselves. We found a lovely little place (edited to add: Luina Albergo Ristorante) that advertised fluency in English. Limited menu, but the food was really good. We shared a salad of rocket, Cafone cheese, and pears with balsamic dressing. Then he had schnitzel with fries and I had fish-filled ravioli with a sauce of tomatoes and more fish on top. It was divine.

24th day of Sumer Vacation: in which we voyage to Isola Bella

Isola Bella is one of the three habitable islands in Lake Maggiore. (The other two are Isola dei Pescatori and Isola Madre) It's home to astonishingly beautiful gardens and a castle stuffed with artwork. The grounds are home to several white peacocks and peahens, which make the most astoundingly awful screeching noises.

Isola Bella was the center of command for the region for many years. Napolean and Josephine stayed 2 nights on the island. The Strasa Conference of 1935 was held there, in one of the final attempts to curb the ambitions of Hitler's Germany.

The ferry ride is only about 10 minutes each way, with great views for all of it. The castle itself is gorgeous. The grotto in the lowest level is crazy-cool, although I don't know what those rooms actually got used for. Also, the view into the lower gardens from the grotto rooms was just gorgeous:

There are several nice-looking cafes and restaurants outside the grounds, but we hadn't budgeted time to eat there. Next time, I would build in an extra hour and have a drink and a snack at one of the restaurants by the docks. As it was, we just had lunch at the (not very impressive) cafe within the garden. The high point of lunch was definitely my MIL's flower salad:

The gardens are extensive. Not as many flowers as I'd thought, but lots of amazing statuary.

On the way back from the ferry, we had gelato at a great place - Langola del Gelato -  I had "perla nera" which translates to Black Pearl but is actually chocolate with rum and chunks of dark chocolate. Nice music outside; too. I didn't take photos of the musicians but I should have - they really looked like The Civil Wars although their singing wasn't quite as good. They were incredibly good for street musicians and we threw a few Euros into their guitar case on our way out.

41st day of Summer Vacation: the movies you watch on airplanes

On the way over: Charlie Wilson's War (coincidentally, I was also in the middle of reading the book) a lot of fun and very good performances by Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

On the way back: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Holy shit this was good and I completely see why it got all that love at the Oscars last year. Later, I read that Frances McDormand is actually 60 in real life, and had suggested playing Amanda's grandmother rather than mother, but they felt that it needed to be a mother-daughter relationship and just had her play a woman in her 40's. Given that the character, Mildred, has led a tough life, I thought that the aging worked fine.

The Post: also very good. Holy shit, Meryl Streep is just in a league of her own. Also, very interesting story and description of the time (1970).

Justice League: possibly the worst movie I've seen this year. No, seriously. Makes "The Covenant" look like high art; at least it had a coherent plot and a comprehensible villain.

23rd day of Summer Vacation: in which we explore Stresa

We're safely esconsed in our lovely apartment in Stresa. It's got a tiny elevator for luggage but is clearly meant to be a walk-up. Our place has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a tiny kitchen, and a large living-dining room. The deck is small but can hold a couple of chaise lounges and a 4-person table. Also a drying rack, because although we have a laundry machine, there's no dryer!

We were all pretty jet-lagged by the time we drove into Stresa on Thursday. We unpacked a bit and walked downtown to find dinner; we just walked until we found someplace quiet. The woman spoke good English, and the menu had an English section... we were too tired to wrestle with translating Italian! It's called La Botte Trattoria and comes highly recommended by several guidebooks.

I had wide noodles with saffron cream sauce and mushrooms. Also baby artichokes cooked in butter and garlic. It was really good!
FIL: eggplant ravioli with a concentrated sundried tomato garnish (really good)
DH: Gorgonzola risotto with pear puree (he didn't love it)
Elder: Milanese chops (thin veal, breaded and fried) and french fries (very good)
MIL: Cod in tomato and polenta. I thought the cod was overcooked but the polenta and sauce made a great combo
Younger: spaghetti carbonara (very good, no visible bacon)

Then we went down the street for gelato. (Gelateria - good prices, good gelato, although not the best we had in that city.)

The tourist area in Stresa has about a dozen gelato places and two dozen restaurants, all within about 5 blocks of each other. I got postcards and Bergamot soap.

My FIL and I went to the Friday market in Stresa. (Open 6-2, I believe) It has lots of clothes, leather items, and tourist gear. There's a smaller food area, where I mostly failed to get any good pictures. Sorry! You'll have to envision vans with umbrella awnings that pop out of the top to make the stall.

The sausage and cheese vendors give you free samples, but they're also very pushy! Very few people spoke very much English - they kept trying Spanish, German, and French on us. I got a blue shawl, and we got sausage, cheese, and cookies. Also pre-cooked chicken and pork ribs, very good. Then we found a tiny little bakery, run by Americans, and got a huge round loaf of whole-wheat bread that was extremely good.

Now off to see the Isola Bella, a tiny island in the middle of Lago Maggiore.

21st day of Summer Vacation: in which we travel to Italy

We are in Italy!

We flew Hartord to Philadelphia, then to Heathrow London, then to Milano Linate.

I HATE Heathrow while it's under construction. We spent almost an hour total on busses, just trying to get from one terminal to another. The whole place felt like a nightmare, involving long lines for the bathrooms, no obvious place to buy breakfast, and no public water fountains. I'm pretty sure that the tap water is potable but I wasn't going to take chances... the last straw was when they forced us to check the violin, which may have permanently damaged it. (UPDATE: hooray for carbon fiber violins! It survived.)

On a lighter note, I read two entire novels (Proxima by Stephen Baxter and White Nights by Ann Cleeves) and watched Charlie Wilson's War, which I enjoyed mightily.

We then drove to Stresa, Italy. It's a vacation town on the shores of Lago Maggiore. The drive down is terrifyingly steep, but the views are amazing.

And that's it for today! Tomorrow, I think we're going to visit one of the islands.

27th day of Summer Vacation: in which we visit Isola Madre

Isola Madre is another of the three inhabited islands in Lake Maggiore. We left on an early ferry, and took 5 stops to get there; it's about a 30 minute ride. The day was hazy and overcast, but not too hot.

Similar to Isola Bella, the two primary attractions are the garden and the castle. On Isola Bella, you have to do the castle tour first to get into the gardens. On Isola Madre, you have to walk through a large part of the garden to get up to the castle. The walks direct you to a single path around the island and upwards, with potential alternate routes clearly blocked off and labeled.

The gardens were lovely and cool at 10am. The flowers were amazing, especially the "water lily as large as my head" varietal.

We saw a number of tiny little lizards:

And the grounds, generally, were just lovely and provided some great views:

We then went into the castle, which felt less formal than the one on Isola Bella. The pictures are larger and better lit, and are very nice. Some of the Borromean countesses were gorgeous! Or else had very talented portrait painters. There was not as much explanation of the paintings, which I did miss. The castle held three giant puppet theaters and many mannequins in period costume, which were more than slightly creepy.

We then went outside to see more of the gardens, and had foccocia and croissants by the water lily pond. My MIL got mobbed by some very aggressive sparrows.

We admired the aviary and the free-roaming birds. The island is famous for its white peacocks, which are loud and like to scream at you.

We also saw a number of blue (traditional?) peacocks...

 plus one fantastical creature that seemed to be a mix of the two. Edited to add: possibly this cool bi-colored bird was a peahen.

We then rode the ferry back to Stresa, and I confess that I failed to get a good photo of Isola Madre going in either direction.

The rest of the day: met up with DH and Younger Son at the dock. Went to get sandwiches, once again at Cicinin Panini al Metro. All were very good, although the vegetarian one had beets so I just had a small nibble of it. Also gelato, again at Langolo del Gelato. I really was tempted to get more Perla Nera, but I saw they had Violetta and I love that flavor, so I ended up with Violetta and Mandarinetta and both tasted great but were rather too sweet. This is why I usually get chocolate, coffee, or nut flavored gelato.

I might not bother blogging about packing up and driving over to Lake Como; the weather was lousy and I didn't take any good pictures.

17th day of Summer Vacation: in which we make questionable decisions on Netflix

Still feeling under the weather. Broiling hot day outside. Other than giving the dog the walks he requests, it's been a good day for exploring the movie offerings on Netflix.

Mistakes were made.

The Covenant (2006) is a poorly reviewed movie that I ended up watching because it features early Sebastian Stan and Taylor Kitsch. The special effects are terrible. So is most of the acting. Also, the plot.

Moon (2009) is a low-budget, well-reviewed science fiction movie about a guy working alone on the far side of the moon. Stars Sam Rockwell, who does a remarkably good Everyman. I guessed at least one of the plot twists early on, but it's still a fantastic movie for the money.

Midnight in Paris (2012) is a well-reviewed film THAT WAS DIRECTED BY WOODY ALLEN, I am so sorry, my liberal credentials are all shot to hell for at least this one evening. I literally did not remember. I was in the mood for something light and lovely and, while Owen Wilson doesn't really tick that box for me, Rachel McAdams and Marion Cotillard certainly do. The soundtrack is bonkers-ass good.

I have a long list of movies I'd like to check out on Netflix this summer, so expect at least a couple of follow-up posts.

16th day of Summer Vacation: in which we do Desperation Cooking

It's been a nutty few days around here. Several of my favorite people are moving away and I've been running around trying to have a last conversation with each of them before they depart. I'm pretty sure that I'll see all of them again, possibly even in the near future, but my brain doesn't accept that as a fact and I'm getting rather verklempt, just thinking about going to work and not having them there every day.

I also seem to be coming down with something: I'm sniffling, exhausted, and my entire body aches.

So, when it came time to get dinner on the table tonight, I was not feeling my finest. I found a big container of fried rice. I also found a small container of sausage-and-diced-mozzerella that had been intended to go into stuffed mushrooms, but I ran out of mushrooms long before I ran out of filling for them. So yes, I threw the two containers together in a serving bowl, microwaved it for 2 minutes, and put it out. And it was delicious.

We also had carrot sticks and some left-over tossed salad to round out our meal.