joy and shadows

Oh, Biscuit. I don't know what you ate, but dayum.

For a while now, I had been going on about wanting to go into the city to Via Emilia for some authentic Emilia-Romagnan Italian cuisine and to Vino for some Lambrusco. My husband's family is from Emiliga-Romagna, and the style of cooking there is quite different from the Siciliano and Calabrese style you tend to get in the US (lots of red sauce, cheese, and fried things.) Lambrusco is a fizzy dark red wine that has a bad rep in the US because apparently it was popular in the '70s, and it evokes a lot of disdain now. We drank a lot of it in Italy, and it's great stuff on a hot summer's day. Unfortunately, because Lambrusco is so unpopular, we had to go to a special store to get it here in the States.

On the spur of the moment, my husband looked up some room rates in midtown Manhattan, and they must be hurting bad for customers because we found four-star hotels for $200 and lower. He booked us a room in the Hyatt on 42nd and Park, and off we went. It was a lovely weekend to be in the city, because the weather took a turn for the warmer, and you could walk around outside without wanting to dive into the nearest coffeeshop.

We went to Grand Central Station because I'd never been there before, and then we thought it would be interesting to go to the UN. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything to see, because it was all closed. Then we went to the central branch of the New York Public Library, and Patience and Fortitude seemed to have gotten a cleaning since I was there last. (morgi, I wanted to take a photo of the reading room for you, but no photos were allowed.) Afterwards, we went to Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace because husband is a big fan of TR, and it was a worthwhile way to spend an hour or so. Afterwards, we got our Lambrusco at the wine shop, which was in the same neighborhood, and then husband took me to Tiffany's so I could look at all the sparklies.

Around 6 PM, we went to dinner, and we were both very pleased to get some torta fritta and some Lambrusco to drink with it. The flavors were authentic, and my husband enjoyed his wild boar entree while I had the lamb shank. By the end of it, we were so stuffed that all we could do was totter back to the hotel, though we tried to go to a Barnes and Noble for something to read and found it had closed at 8 PM (much to my surprise.)

Although we wanted to spend Sunday doing something interesting in the city, it was too nice a day to spend indoors, and I missed Biscuit. I always feel guilty about leaving her alone all weekend. We had a ridiculously expensive breakfast at the hotel ($30 each for a crappy buffet? next time, husband will be more open to the idea of grabbing a bagel) and headed home. It was so nice out that we washed the cars, and husband went for a ride on his new bike, and I made tomato cream soup with orzo for dinner. And I'm ashamed to say that I watched the Pro Bowl. All in all, a very nice time out.

I'm vastly amused about the media attention given to the "25 Random Things About Me" meme on Facebook. (There's also been an article in the New York Times.) It's like these people have never seen an Internet meme before. HELLO PPL WELCOME TO INTERWEBS.

I just love the Grumpy Old Presidents. Bush 41 and Clinton, BFF.

Two Biscuit stories today.

Story The First:

Husband: ...Did you bring home some pumpkin bread?

Me: Yes, why?

Husband: SOMEBODY has learned to jump on the counter, and there's a big chunk taken out of it.

Biscuit: OM NOM NOM NOM PUMKIN BREAD

Me: *gets out the spritz bottle and lets Biscuit have it*

Biscuit: WHY WHY WHY YOU DO THIS D: *relocates to Mars*

Story The Second:

We have two bags of kitty treats that my MIL gave Biscuit for Christmas. They are little ziptop bags, and we keep them in the pantry. Today, my husband went to the pantry for some candied walnuts that happen to be in a very similar bag. he poured out some nuts and munched them right in front of her while she was watching, and apparently she went nuts.

Biscuit: WHY YOU EAT MY TREATS OMG OMG OMG

(epilogue: when he got done laughing, husband gave her a treat.)

Today I met jaina and fadingembers at Mitsuwa for udon noodles, taiyaki, and other yummilicious treats. I spent way too much money on candy, tea, and booze, so it goes down as a fantastic day. Also we exchanged Christmas gifts (before July! Who could imagine?) and fadingembers is an amazing knitter and made me some really sweet arm warmers. jaina got me a super interesting book of the best science writing in 2008, and I'm working through it already.

Afterwards, I stopped at an Asian food market in Watchung for some lychee juice, because I miss having lychee martinis. Having the GPS is just fantastic for these kinds of things, because I just ask Sam (my GPS) where to go, and Sam tells me. Though I think she secretly gets pissed off when I don't follow her orders. I imagine her stewing in her microchips, thinking, "If you already knew which way to go, WHY DID YOU ASK ME?" I also went to Borders, intending only to get a blank journal, but I walked out with three cookbooks.

Dinner: Chicken with goat cheese, sundried tomato, and balsamic vinegar stuffing. Mm mm good. Now I have to call my cousin's fiancee about bridesmaid's dresses, whee.

Reposted from sff_corgi.

Mow-Bama and the Lawn Rangers

Dave Barry wrote about the Lawn Rangers in his column, and I heard that they marched in the Inaugural Parade. Will definitely have to watch this.

I don't know whether any of you on the flist have the same problems with dry, cracked skin that I do in the winter, but last night I gave Bag Balm a try under cotton gloves. It was fantastic, and the rough skin on the backs of my hands is feeling better today.

Just so's you all know.

Today I made an appointment with the vet to address Biscuit's fart problem. The receptionist was trying desperately to maintain a professional demeanor, but she was laughing when she said she'd put down that Miss Biscuit was "gassy." It really has gotten to be too much - she sits with us in the evening, and when we run away and fan the air, she gives us a look like, "What? What did I do?"