May 23 - viva Italy!

I am stuffed. Tonight's meal was magnifico, if the chef is allowed to say so. The menu consisted of Fennel and Cucumber Salad, Chicken alla Cacciatora, Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts, Torta di Patate e Pomodori, and Podere Boccaccio Chianti 2002. To be honest, the wine was kind of bland, but it turns out that I was the only one drinking so.... maybe bland is good when one feels pressured to polish off a bottle alone.

More notes on the food - I am so proud of the Torta di Patate e Pomodori. If you reference the entry on India you'll see that, much like baking bread, baking pastry of any sort makes me a bit nervous. But the torta turned out wonderfully - it browned nicely, it held all of the filling (I was amazed by that - the ever expanding torte pan), and most importantly, I didn't burn it!!! I really liked everything I made, and good thing too 'cause there are a ton of leftovers. One more thing - I'll let you in on a little secret... the cucumber and fennel salad had no fennel in it. Apparently fennel bulbs are out of season in May. I figured with our globalized economy somebody would be growing fennel somewhere, but 'tis not the case. So, according to the Internet, Belgian endive makes a good substitute for a fennel bulb and that's what we had. Tasted fine to me.

The guests tonight were Joe and Brenda Bellon, and their 3-year-old daughter Zoe. Oh - something not on the menu but that was offered tonight was spaghetti and dinner rolls. Small children are fans of such cuisine, but Chicken alla Cacciatora... not so much. Zoe really admired the handpainted wine glass in front of her mom's plate, so the pictures of her "boozing it up" are really apple juice. Seriously - no need to call in Child Protective Services. We had a good time chatting over dinner, and Zoe enjoyed getting to know the cat and the dog. Joe made a fabulous marscapone cheesecake with a chocolate-hazelnut sauce made out of Nutella. It was really lightweight and it kinda melted in your mouth. Fantastic. After-dinner activities included playing with cat toys, looking at wedding pictures, wearing a tiara, and watching "The Jungle Book" - all Zoe's ideas, of course.

That's about it for now - the next few days are going to be BUSY. I have tomorrow off, and then starting Thursday we have four in a row. Make sure you tune in to hear about Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and Romania.