This is a random post because I haven’t really done much for the past few days except hang out with MD and go to Milan.  But, of course, there is a hot guy at the end of the story…in  a sense.

MD has been fabulous and allowed me to escape crazy roommate for two nights straight, as well as enabling me to decimate what was left of my meager bank account.  (It had to be done, I can’t be walking around wearing American size ‘medium’ anymore….as I’m sure you can imagine, it’s like wearing an Italian XL…and looks sloppy at best.)  I feel I might as well use up the money here, since upon my return to America, I will be (barely) only one step up from a customer service slave to the masses, and only desperation will allow me to refill the account without slowly poisoning the denizens of my city with arsenic.

I also feel, as all ‘real’ gays should, that if a pair of jeans looks cute, you have to buy them, regardless of cost or quality.  Or, more often in my case, if the salesperson is cute, and lies about the jeans to your face, you must still buy them.  It’s always best to bring ‘the honest friend’ along, especially one who is skillful in the art of train travel.

So, off we went to Milan yesterday. I in search of the rush really only Italy can provide, that of the perfect storm of way too much sugar, caffeine, and a dose of hot man-candy, MD, along for moral support and a variety of essential beauty products.

Once you see the picture below, I will once again lose some ‘Daniel P., world traveler points,’ but it was either start a bitch match with this guy, or only mildly suffer and then passive-aggressively punish the guy across from me with own my long legs instead.

After reading some other ridiculous blogs in which exclamation points are often used…in reference to things such as:

- “Europeans don’t have any sense of personal space!!!!! OMG, get away!!!”

- “OMG!!!  The toilet was just a hole in the ground, EWWW!!”

- “Everyone is always late to everything!!!  UGH! It’s so annoying!!”

- “OMFG! I got cut in line again!!”

- “Holy smokes!  How are Italians so skinny?  They eat nothing but pasta!!!!!”

- “Wow!!  Italians are soooo fabulously fashionable and put together!”

Most of these have moderately rational explanations (which I promise will be part of my “end of trip” post), and quite frankly are refreshing (at times), as I find Americans to be obnoxiously polite, slow, lazy, selfish, and often completely unaware of their surroundings.

But, this guy.  I mean really.

Now, I have learned to give up my well honed, “6-feet-at-all-times around me even if you’re my family” personal space, especially when on buses, or in the line at the grocery store (I mean really lady, are you smelling the back of my neck for a particular reason?).  But this guy was already sitting like this, in a packed train, even before he fell asleep.  I felt bad about it later, but the poor (apparently frightened at hearing English) guy across from me had to tuck his little Italian legs beneath his seat.  I’m sorry I’m 6 feet tall and you’re only 4.  Life is hard.  Now move those Ferragamos.

Upon arrival in Milan, one notices that it isn’t an attractive city at all.  Yes, I felt that the general populace is more smartly dressed, but they also tended to be older, richer, and smartly dressed in a boring “i’m a banker, but still attractive” kind of way.  But the city itself, minus the cathedral, was ‘meh.’ Turin is much more regal, interesting, and definitely cleaner.

(random attractive Italian cathedral)

(random attractive Italian, a destra)

After the prerequisite and oh-so-satisfying trip to La Rinascente, it was time for my secret real reason for being so excited about Milan… Included on our tour of the city was a visit to Chocolat!!  Holy smokes this place was good!  As far as my tour of gelato (megapost coming at some point, I swear) goes, it’s in the top three.  I almost couldn’t finish my cup o’ chocolatey goodness.  Almost.  It wins points for: most flavors of chocolate gelato (obviously), smart styling, the hiring of (chocolate) minorities, and the steady stream of extremely attractive Italian men sweeping in and out of the door for a quick ice cream, coffee, and/or hair check.

[Note to ALL travelers to Milan.  Bring a lighter.  Even if you don't smoke.  I promise you won't regret it.]

After more walking around in a carb-tastic, post-chocolate daze, and spending way too much money at H&M, we started walking by a line of people. To get into a store.  An Abercrombie & Fitch. Yes.  Here in Italy at last.  Three cheers for globalization!!!

I had already witnessed this phenomenon multiple times in NYC, where Europeans (and probably U.S. tourists from Texas) would line up literally around the block for the A&F on 5th avenue.

This is even more curious now, because:

A.  I may have gotten a tad older, but, once 40-yr-old gays started to wear A&F, it was a death knell for its coolness.  I could be wrong, but, I don’t think that it’s currently the pinnacle of “American” style and fashion it once may have been.

B.  Italians could buy a round-trip plane ticket to NYC, buy all of their clothes at the A&F there, and still save money than if they bought it in Milan.

C.  Um, now that it’s in Italy…it’s not really all that interesting, far away, or even very American anymore.  It’s like H&M in Atlanta.  H&M was only cool before it arrived in Atlanta because you were wearing clothes that could only be bought in Chicago or NYC.  Now, it’s just another GAP.

All this being said…..you KNOW I had to get my picture taken with the hot Italian A&F beefcake, whose soul purpose (like in America during the holidays) is to stand in front of the door and look hot… I mean, c’mon! Look at him!   W* Milano!!

Um, someone give him a cookie please.

Also amusing is the guy in the background, whose smirk says: “Um, yeah, I know exactly what you’re up to mister”

After my sugar-high-enhanced heart palpitations began to slow, it was time to return home.  This time, having learned the hard way, I had ample legroom and armrest space…without having to cut anyone.

Also, a nice young lady heard us speaking in English (maaaayyyybe about how certain Italians could kiss our grits…) and wished us a Happy Thanksgiving.  It was sweet, but also a sign of how far I’ve literally and figuratively come, as I had no idea (or cared) that it was even turkey day.

Upon return, the wonderful FS procured all I need to survive in this world: french fries and pizza with four kinds of meat…mmmm…Thanks MD and FS!!

(*short for viva!)

In a curiously-named Italian restaurant called La Barca, I ate to my little heart’s content while the bill was rung up on Dad’s client’s expense. Gotta love these business dinners I get to tag along to.

(Can’t blame me for shamelessly milking my chances before the return to student-type pasta meals)

My starter of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with buttered toast was a bit of a letdown. Not that it was bad, but when you keep thinking Ahh I could make this myself and have it taste the same, I suppose that renders it a hit-and-miss.

Ah, but the steak, the steak! I had the scotch fillet – medium rare – in a shrooms-and-red wine sauce. Glorious meat juices danced on my tongue the moment my incisors got to work on each perfectly-seared sliver of meat.
Pink = très bien!

Fully stuffed with three-quarters of the fillet but unable to resist the call of a triple-whammy of gelato, I decided to err on the side of heartburn. (I don’t have a sweet tooth so I always refuse cake, but I do seem to have a separate gut for ice-cream or gelato)

And it all ended well when this little pig rolled her way back to her father’s hotel room and hogged the telly watching trashy Brit reality shows to round off a very indulgent night.

]]> http://tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/il-gelato-di-san-crispino-rome/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:03:09 +0000 Su-Lin http://tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/il-gelato-di-san-crispino-rome/

We cannot go all the way to Italy without having gelato! To maximise the number of flavours tried, we split each and every cup we ordered. The place we frequented the most was Il Gelato di San Crispino, purveyors of artisanal gelato made with top quality seasonal ingredients; their gelato is considered some of the best in Rome. Of course, the best comes at a price with what I consider a “regular” sized cup of gelato coming in at about €3.50-4.00. They don’t offer cones.

We ran into one branch by the Pantheon and this became our go-to place in the area. Our first cup was of two flavours of sorbet: pomegranate and bergamot. Wow. It sounds cliched but the pomegranate really was full of the flavour of the fruit while the bergamot was so highly scented, almost like perfume. Very fruity and not too sweet.

As soon as we finished that cup, we turned around immediately and headed back in. This time, hazelnut gelato and gelato di San Crispino (a honey cream). These were much richer and creamier, as expected. Their eponymous gelato was like dunking my tongue into a pot of honey while the hazelnut was exactly that – nutty.

On another visit, we split three flavours in a larger cup: pistachio, lemon and pear. The pistachio was a little weaker than I expected – I’ve been spoiled by the delicious gelato at Oddono’s in London. Lemon was wonderfully citrusy while pear was my favourite of the lot – you could almost detect that slight graininess of the fruit.

This really was some of the best gelato we had in Rome. OK, a massive craving for gelato has now set in…

Il Gelato di San Crispino
Piazza della Maddalena, 3
00186 Rome, Italy

This is the branch near the Pantheon that we frequented but there are a few other branches in Rome; all are listed on their website. Too bad we didn’t fly out of Terminal A at the airport – there’s one there!

Happy Thanksgiving, kids! In honor of our illustrious holiday of turkey, I present photos of last year’s Thanksgiving feast, which I never got around to blogging. I used to get my Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods, but as of a year or two ago, they stopped letting you pick your side dishes, and I am not really a fan of stuffing, and I could live forever and be all too happy to never see another green bean. (I do not understand the obsession with green bean casserole either, by the way – is that a New England thing? I’ve spent the better part of 10 years in Massachusetts, but I’d never heard of this odd dish until I got to Boston.)

Anyway, last year, I decided just to order my turkey from Whole Foods, because that is the one part of the Thanksgiving feast that I do not have any particular desire to do myself. I am secure in my culinary adventurousness to be okay with letting someone else take care of the dirty work of dealing with the turkey. So I got my turkey, and made everything else. I don’t remember much except that I did not time things well, and I was cooking essentially all day, and I didn’t eat until some ridiculous hour of the evening. (This was compounded by the fact that I was trying to document my first attempt at really cooking Thanksgiving dinner by taking lots of photos while cooking.)

I now leave you with pictures while I go off to start my somewhat better planned meal for this year.

Basic Cranberry Sauce

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Completed dinner (with edamame and mashed potatoes)

Amaretto Apple Crisp with Pistachio Gelato

1. paul and john
treemiesters
balloonhands
noo wayy
laughing
most of our way
through the monotony
and when that doesn’t work
i’m locked into the bathroom
singing beulah land

2. burning walnuts
for the pesto
twice

3. sheet tray of potatoes
450 degrees
meets bare arm
shock of heat
pink patching and spreading across skin

4. the undeniable
mathematical
and scientific approach
to poetry
including charts and
computations

5. how quick
sun slips
stopping
halfway there
to fetch bike light
from bag
to be seen
in the thick dark

6. the poem
that killed
the whole room
with sister in the last stanza
i don’t need to tell you
what she’s doing
in the doorway
at the rescue missison

7. this is not a love affair
but i am tortured and passionate

8. the essay
that refuses
to write itself

9. gelato for dinner
kitchen laughter for dessert

10. scalloped hanky
of so many feathers
tucked into
back right pocket

A part alfresco dining cafe, part air-conditioned gelateria, Gusttimo di Roma is situated in the heart of the city at the the newest shopping megamall of Singapore, ION Orchard.

My first impression was – wow, there are SO many flavours to choose from!

Strawberry, Mint and Dark Chocolate

So the first time I went there, I had Strawberry (Fragola), Mint (Menta), and Dark Chocolate (Cioccolato). It was so hard to choose; there were TONS of flavours, ranging from the wacky ones (Black Rice?!) to the classic (Plain Yoghurt). Having been to Italy and possibly eaten my weight’s worth in gelato over the 5 days I was there (okay fine, I probably exaggerate, but it was at least like 4 scoops a day or something), I wasn’t really expecting a fantastic experience. Because hey, what can beat gelato in Italy, right?

And drumroll…… yeah, it couldn’t beat Italy’s fresh, creamy, tongue-orgasm gelatos. But, I do think that it is pretty good for Singapore standards (compared to all the other gelatos here), and that I would definitely go back there for more. And at S$5.90 for 3 pretty generous scoops of gelato, I think that’s quite reasonable. Though if you’re a small eater, that might be a problem because that’s the smallest size available.

But anyway, I’ve digressed enough, and on to the taste.

White Wine, Tiramisu and Mango

The gelato was rich and flavourful – the Mango especially, was delicious – it had the taste of fresh mangoes and was not too sweet or powdery, the way synthetic mango syrups tend to be. The White Wine and Tiramisu were absolutely satisfying as well, creamy and true to its flavour, which made me savour these tastes in my mouth. It was like an explosion of icy cold heaven. But anyway, for the Strawberry, Mint and Dark Chocolate, the latter 2 were yummy but very normal, and the strawberry was… kind of strange.

The nice counter staff also let me taste a whole range of flavours and was really helpful, as I couldn’t decide which flavour to choose. I must say, Black Rice actually tastes much better than it sounds, and on the opposite end, Pecans+Brownie doesn’t taste as good as it sounds.

But anyway, it’s worth a try. And the outdoor atmosphere is pretty nice too – good for a chill, relaxing session with friends, over some gelato, or coffee!

I’ll probably go back sometime for more gelato, or perhaps, try the food.

———————————————————-

Gusttimmo di Roma
2 Orchard Road
#1-15 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9380
Website: http://www.gusttimo.com.sg/

Despite the fact that i do appreciate good food, there are certain things that stand out the most.

As of late my top picks of a good merienda would be:

1. BLT sandwich from The Sandwich Guy. Aside from being affordable and value for money (just look at the innards of the sandwich!), it is also healthy and freshly made.

2. Mixing it up a little for my second favorite, goes to the very sweet and perfect gelato from Caramia, this pistachio flavored gelato hails from the owners of restaurant chain, Amici, who then branched out to have its own free standing ice cream bar to showcase all things Gelato.

(you can opt to consume it on a belgian cone, bowl or ice cream glass)

3. I have profess my love for juicy, beefy burgers! Specially if its one that is made from quality meat and cooked just perfect– grilled, this spot is earned by Brother’s Burger.

Just look at the patties and you’ll be lost for words. The amount of beef and calories in this serving will last you for a day so at P150/$3.50 is well worth it.

my only two cents is that, having a lot of customers and serving them doesn’t end on just providing a good meal, it also mean that they’ll provide a conducive haven to devour this little babies of a burger!

4. Being the one who was raised on the suburbs, i do appreciate a good kakanin (native delicacy) or filipino food that will make you nostalgic say… (ahh, this taste like home!). Very much like that of the Kutsinta. A specialty food that hails from the filipino love for rice.

5. Lastly, this is an all time favorite which everybody loves so i had to squeeze in albeit no need further affirmation as this had already garnered such a reputation for a good merienda (snack) treat for anyone.

But this one is not your regular run off the mill doughnut (donut?) as this is locally produced by an atenean and first served, tried and tested by the atenean before making it known as it is today as the elusive Cello’s doughnuts.

nowadays this can be found on major campuses in the Metro (Ateneo and De La Salle) and has its own brick and mortar store at the sky dome of SM North Edsa.

There you have it, my top picks as of the moment, as a preferential option to what pleases me at this time.

I know, there are still a lot uncovered to say the least, but you get the idea that eating good food not only makes you happy and stomach-filled but also appeals to your senses, enticing you to release and just for a while take a break and leave your encumbrances behind.

Ciao

Paolo

X tutti quelli che pur avendo letto le istruzioni del microonde non riescono mai a riscaldare la pietanza o la riscaldano a tal punto da farla esplodere in mille pezzi o peggio liquefare, come nel caso di questo povero gelato ,ahimé capitato nelle mani di una papera un pò troppo frizzantina..

C'era una volta un gelato

gelato
coconut and double chocolate
three teacups
three spoons
plus pecans set afloat
on dateboats
with orange zest and 3spice mix
making room
for three pairs of feet
under the covers

Estoy escribiendo este post sentado en el escritorio del salón de clases mientras mis estudiantes realizan su examen final. Este semestre se fue muy rápido y a decir verdad no se exactamente qué pasó.

Dicen que el tiempo se pasa rápido cuando la estas pasando bien. No se, pero no creo haberla pasado bien en este semestre. Tampoco es que me haya ido mal pero simple y sencillamente, repito no me la pasé mal pero tampoco supe qué pasó.

Espero y que mis estudiantes no lean este post, y si lo hacen, pues me disculpo publicamente por cómo la hayan pasado en mi curso.

En estos días he ocupado mi tiempo en el proyecto de Bálsamo, y el Francofón. Ambos podcasts me absorben al menos un par de horas cada uno, sin embargo, los disfruto a cada uno de los dos y mucho. Alguien me dijo que siempre andaba metido en lo de comunicación y a me puse a pensar si no era ya el momento de darle un giro a mi carrera. No se que responder en este momento, pero son varias las circunstancias que me hacen pensar y ¿por qué no? Ya el tiempo dirá.

Punto y aparte.
___

Aquí les dejo una foto al azar, de esas que se van quedando rezagadas en el disco duro y que es bueno ponerlas en contexto ahora que me acuerdo del motivo. Por ejemplo, esta de una lata de helado. El helado es para mi uno de los postres mas deliciosos que existen. Esperen, hay postres malos? En fin, esta marca en particular es de las más ricas que uno puede encontrar en el súper. (Ojalá y me patrocinaran).

Punto y aparte.
___

Esta foto es para platicarles que curiosamente, en los últimos meses de mi vida me ha ocurrido de forma frecuente que cuando volteo a ver la hora en un reloj digital casi siempre marca las 11:11 o la 1:11, o las 5:55. Qué significará eso? Aparentemente no soy el único a quien le pasa. Por ejemplo Rodrigo y Gabriela decidieron llamar a su último disco 11:11. Será que sí soy Jesús y les estoy diciendo la hora en que el mundo se va a acabar?

Otro punto y aparte.
___

En estos días recién instalé en mi Compu dos sistemas operativos y Snow Leopard y Karmic Koala. Para mis amigos no nerdos les comento que el primeros es para Mac y el segundo es software libre del mundo de Linux. Ambos me han gustado mucho, no sabría cual recomendarles, lo que si se es que he invertido mucho tiempo en aprender de ellos. Sobre todo de Linux. Ahora creo que ha llegado el momento de decidirme por uno solo de ellos y es en verdad una pregunta difícil. Pero ¿por qué quedarse con uno de ellos solamente? Bueno, la verdad es que consumen mucho tiempo en dejarlos al gusto de uno y termino por no hacer algo que sea productivo.

Se que he descuidado este blog, por ejemplo. Pero aquí estoy de regreso, preparando un lindo cierre de año. De hecho, ya debería estar pensando en la lista de lo mejor del 2009. Por lo pronto, les dejo un videíto de lo que para mi hasta hoy ha sido el evento del año: Los Modeselektor. El video es de buena calidad, pero el audio no. Mi punto es que quiero que vean un gramo del evento de esa noche.

Y ustedes en qué andan?

Questa vignetta è per il concorso Ponle Cara al Cambio Climatico promosso da Inspiraction, una specie di Peacelink spagnolo

Mi raccomando: votate per sdrummelo!! hehehe

I’m really enjoying the packaging for Gelati Sky, whose package design was featured at TheDieline.com. No doubt about it, the packaging features notable icons/images you associate with Italy. It’s a lovely way to reflect the product, don’t you think?

I’ll let you in on a little secret point out something completely obvious: I’m a creature of habit. I love tradition and sameness. It’s the other reason I have oatmeal and yogurt every morning, the first reason being it’s so good. I find making any sort of decision a burden and constantly second guess myself. Like yesterday, I asked myself “why do you want to run 10 miles in the pseudo-cold with no tv to watch?” What did it matter? The thing was that I did want to run it. Sometimes I wish I were on some sort of training plan or something to use as an excuse. Well that’s my confession of the day. So tell me, are you a creature of habit, too?

Well regardless I jumped in some running shorts and grabbed pre-run fuel.

1 Lightlife Breakfast Sausage Link

I’ve decided that I love fake meat. This stuff is my new obsession. I could never give up real meat for it, because I think they’re two very separate things. But that doesn’t stop me from loving them both. Do Tofurky’s go half off after Thanksgiving? Because if so I am buying out the freezer.

For my run I made a playlist with a ton of energetic playlists of mine and my Christmas tunes. It was a bit spastic between Lady Gaga and Bing Crosby, but kept me going for the whole 10.1 miles at 8:00 pace. I suppose in a way everytime I passed my house(all 8 times before stopping) I was deciding to keep going, but I tried to block out the fact that home was right there and kept going like I was far from the finish line. After showering we sat down to Sunday lunch.

Caramel Mustard Tofu, Acorn Squash With Full Fat Voskos, Brussel Sprouts Orange Zevia

On the one hand, I decided not to have the chicken that was roasted for dinner. On the other hand, hearing about Food Inc. has taught me that paying for most supermarket chicken is like paying for corn and fat and I’ve chosen a lifestyle that’s removed that as a food option. Thankfully I brought home enough tofu to feed a vegetarian army and cracked open the caramel mustard dip I brought for Thanksgiving. ‘Twas delightful. The acorn squash with yogurt was sooooo nice and creamy. And brussels are just one of my favorite vegetables ever! So overall it was a saved meal.

It’s definitely a habit of mine to want to finish all my homework for the next day as soon as possible. So I had no trouble sticking around long enough to finish translating Latin, and then plan on having The Aeneid read in the car. My throat was also feeling a bit sore, so I made a very “adult” decision:

Elan's Vanilla Frozen Yogurt And Giovanni's White Chocolate Cranberry Gelato

This totally soothed my throat. And it was a very adult(and tasty) decision to throw the frozen yogurt in there, too, if you ask me. What would I do without probiotics? For one I’m guessing my morning routine would not be so… routine. On the way down we made a pit-stop at Whole Foods. The Silk Nog, which I specifically requested we have at home so I could steal it for my dorm, I forgot in the fridge. Good going, self. Also, I kind of got jealous of the chicken at lunch and wanted some of my own since it was 1/2 off this week. After that, we got back to campus right before it was dark and unloaded everything(which wasn’t that much since I’m only back for 2 days). Eventually, my taste buds made this amazing decision for me.

Banana Oatmeal With Cookie Dough Peanut Butter And Kashi Dark Chocolate Cookie

Seriously, I think I should patent and charge royalties on this bowl–it was that good. I was sent a sample of chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter. Funnily enough, I already had a full jar which I’ve almost gone through so I am well acquainted with the flavor. Still I hadn’t made a review in the new format so I had this bowl to “remind me” of how it was and give a good and honest review. Here’s another confession: when I add a whole wheat cookie on top, I usually only do about 3/4 the regular amount of oats. How many whole grains does a fella need?

There are certainly some decisions I’m happy to make as an adult(or whatever I am). Like the decision that I have some awesome food/leftovers and could eat in my dorm in my PJ’s listening to yet more Christmas music and translating Greek.

Deli Roasted Chicken, Veggie Melange, Microwaved Sweet Potato

I was definitely practicing for Thanksgiving with this one. The deli man gave me a bit too much meat but not enough to separate into two meals so I just let myself go at it. I love my sweet potatoes; why do people mash these up? Then you miss all the crispy crisp skin

I watched a bit of the American Music Awards but wasn’t too enthralled. It felt a little all over the place and while my love of music genres is wide it’s not quite that big to be entertained by it all. I thought Kelly Clarkson’s performance was really good, though. She’s just an awesome person with a very healthy attitude and by far the best thing to come from American Idol. Eventually I made something I haven’t had in a while.

Greek Yogurt With Cherry Butter And Dried Cherries Topped With Cherry Dark Chocolate And Vanilla Sugar

A gourmet yogurt mess. I forget how good these are. I’ll give you a clue, though: I don’t really make decisions on things like this or my oatmeal concoctions because most I’ve made before and are just resurrections of recipes. If you go back a few weeks, I’m positive you’ll find an identical mess. My current favorite oatmeal “recipe”(like you can’t already tell) is pumpkin oatmeal with butter toffee peanut butter and a vegan pumpkin molasses cookie crumble–genius. I then decided not that I don’t want oatmeal but that I wanted something simpler.

Chocolate Vitatop With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter, Carrot Ginger Muffin Top With Chocolate Sunflower Butter

Much easier I love the butter toffee with the vitatop if you haven’t noticed. And the sunflower butter worked well on the muffin though it’s so thick! It was almost impossible to spread. I do have one HUGE decision coming up: what to place in my next Naturally Nutty order. Clearly I need to plan on buying more at once because I’m almost out of butter toffee and this will be my 4th order from them.

I watched the end of the American Music Awards. Way to go, Taylor Swift, yet again! She’s just a rockstar now; I hope she doesn’t get too big for us country lovers who remember “Tim McGraw”. Did anybody else see Adam Lamberts hyped up preformance? That was pretty much porn. And I blame it for why I got an awful nights sleep. When I got up, I was craving something cookie-esque.

Spooky S'mores Z-Bar

That hit the spot, and also worked as my pre-run fuel. The run I’d rather not mention but I will. I really wanted to tie my distance PR of 15 miles and have that be the long run of the week. I felt like I had the energy and form, but annoying bathroom issues kept coming up. I never have these on the roads, just the treadmill, which makes it all the more frustrating. Instead of pushing myself to God knows what length, I decided 12 was enough to satisfy me and stopped then 1:36:44. After showering, I also decided that my “standard” breakfast of matchy-matchy oatmeal with a flavored yogurt was not what I needed today. What I needed was to shove my soul in a bowl.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With White Chocolate Raspberry Peanut Butter, Strawberry Frosting, And My Mojamix

My soul started with the standard 40gram oat blend, then mixed with 3/4 cup pumpkin(my soul really likes pumpkin), and topped with a double dose of strawberry frosting, a new nut butter I’m sampling for P.B.Loco(how did my soul know to want something it’s never had? intriguing), and my Mojamix(which would make sense since I designed it) which had an unusually high amount of chia seeds this time compared to when I last had it. Will my soul be poured into a bowl more often? Probably, but it will also probably change from time to time so who knows what it will look like.

It feels silly to have had to gone home this weekend for the retirement party, now back to campus for 4 classes between today and tomorrow, only to go back for Thanksgiving tomorrow afternoon. Such is life, I suppose. I’ll reiterate the question of the day: Are you a creature of habit?

I arrived in Trieste a bit confused. The map in my book made me think that Trieste was in Slovenia and not Italy. I wandered around trying to find a suitable spot for me to swim. I asked a passerby in broken Spanish where the beach was, thankfully she understood and pointed me in the direction of the swimming area.

Greek warship

I got to a small organized area with changing rooms, lounge chairs and such. It was 3.50 Euro to get in and use their facility. Having taken a train all the way from Venice I wasn’t going to let 3.50 Euro get in my way of taking a dip.

After I changed, I realized that the area wasn’t a beach or even a shore line. It was a series of concrete docks and patios. There were various areas to jump off of and into the roped off swimming area. There were tons of excited children jumping off the docks, and I of course joined them. I love jumping off things!

I swam around for a bit and discovered two diving boards. Both were already elevated high above the water because of their relative position on the high docks. On top of that one was also a high dive with a nice big fall in store for whoever decided to climb up the slippery steps. Figuring that I better jump off the high one I ran up the steps and had an exhilarating time plunging into the sea.

After a great time of swimming and diving I laid out on the upper patio and probably fell asleep for a while. Taking a cold shower without soap, I considered myself “clean” and changed into my street clothes and headed out toward the train station looking for a grocery store.

The town was beautiful! There were hardly any tourists present as I strolled through. I certainly felt like I was off the beaten path a bit, which I enjoy.

I found a grocery store and got myself a bag of croissants, a can of tuna fish (in water), a package of cheese, and a box of wine which I had to get because it was only 0.89 Euro! I headed toward the train station and got my schedule for my journey to Rome and then headed back outside onto a park bench. I have become more and more accustomed to dining on a park bench.

Today I was in a beautiful park in Italy and certainly not alone. There were several other clearly either homeless and or mentally unstable joining me in the park. Some of them eyed me with curiosity and stared while others accepted me as “one of their own” and let me be. Due to my lack of personal hygiene over the past several days, the added spunk of salt water in my hair and my ever growing aptly named “homeless guy- beard” I was not bothered.

Because I had not eaten much over the last few days my box of 0.89 Euro wine started to kick in rather early. I staggered back to the train station chuckling at myself along the way, trying not to lean against the walls too much. I headed for the convenience store inside the train station and although I knew it was a bad idea at the time I still decided to buy a gigantic bag of potato chips, and 500 grams, roughly  a quarter of a gallon, of gelato.

Giant bag of potato chips

I picked a seat among others waiting for the train and started eating my chips, wine and cherry swirl ice cream. I ate the entire thing in about 20 minutes. When I was almost done I really realized that it was a terrible idea for me to eat the entire thing. Once I finished it I swore off buying 500g containers of ice cream… for a while.

Before I got on the train, I made sure to brush my teeth in the bathroom and try to “freshen up” a bit. It is at this point in Italy that I realized that my Italian journey was going to be absolutely insane. I had no couch surfers for my stay in Italy except my last night. Most all of the Italians on couch surfing were male and had only requested to have female visitors, of the small percentage that I could stay with, many were either busy or on vacation themselves. Being cheap, I knew I wasn’t going to spring for a hostel or hotel or anything like that, so I tried to plan my journeys at night and far enough away that I could sleep on the train ride.

Over the next few days in Italy I had a very hectic schedule of taking a train from one town to another to another to connect to a train to get to someplace else. Most of the time I didn’t really know where I was, I had to take pictures of the town I was heading toward on the schedule sheets so I could remember. I found myself in all sorts of places over the next few days.

King Missile

That’s a quote from “Cheesecake Truck” by King Missile and one that ran through my head all night last night a I made a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanks giving. If you know the song, you might agree that John S. Hall sounds like he has a mouthful of cheesecake, thus perpetuating the wanting of and deliciousness of cheesecakes.

I, for one, have never been very fond of cheesecake, although I’ll eat a piece of chocolate cheesecake. If a dessert doesn’t have chocolate in it I don’t really see the point of eating any. But anyway, I had to make this pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving, like I said and it wasn’t very eventful or anything. I just left the oven on for about 8 hours because the cream cheese wouldn’t soften and instead of turning it off and on again, I just left it going. I’ll have to sell 4,000 cheesecakes to pay for my energy bill this month.

Anyway, I have no idea if this IS a very delicious cheesecake, since, like I said I don’t really care about cheesecake, and also, I can’t eat it til Thanksgiving day, if I even eat it at all. So I can’t recommend this cheesecake one way or the other. All I can do is post pictures of the making of the cheesecake and the semi-final product…..on Thanksgiving day I’ll top it with chocolate   There’s no real point to this. I just didn’t know what else to write today.

The crust –Almonds, graham crackers, butter and brown shug

The wet ingredients

Cream cheese. No coincidence that it resembles a fat body.

Cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and ginger–the stuff that makes it yummy.

Me waiting for the goddamn cream cheese to soften

The final product

I’LL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT TURNED OUT.

Il “Pulcinella d’Argento” è stato assegnato a Francesco Mastroianni della gelateria “Il Cantagalli” di Lamezia. Mentre Raffaele Cuomo, proprietario con il fratello Liberato della gelateria “Gabriele” di Vico Equense, sulla Costiera sorrentina, s’è aggiudicato il Concorso “Nuove idee per un gusto gelato”, organizzato dal comitato gelatieri campani nell’ambito della 44ma edizione dell’Exposudhotel di Napoli.
Il gusto “antichi sapori” di Mastroianni è fatto con latte, panna, zucchero, destrosio, fichi secchi, noci e tuorli d’uovo.
Il concorso internazionale, alla terza edizione premia il gusto inedito dell’anno, valorizzando la creatività del gelatiere e la qualità del prodotto artigianale. Il presidente del Comitato gelatieri campani, Ferdinando Buonocore, ha consegnato a Raffaele Cuomo il “Pulcinella d’Oro” per il gusto “ricotta al passito e fichi caramellati” (latte, panna, zucchero, destrosio, ricotta, passito di falanghina, fichi del Cilento). Terzo classificato un gelataio di Casoria, nell’hinterland partenopeo.
I premi sono andati ai gusti più particolari e raffinati tra i tanti in gara.

are viv + i?
“bonjour mon ami…” from southern france!

 using “rick steves’ provence & the french riviera guidebook“ (a.k.a. our “other” bible in southern france), vivien outlined a tour de southern france via our avis rental car: an opel. definitely a different experience for me… cause when i vacation, i tend to stay in one hotel/location for the duration of the stay and take a taxi. the long, windy and scenic roads from town to town were pretty fun to drive.

bonjour from hotel negresco in nice! le'g+v...

not knowing what to expect for the city driving/parking conditions, it was crazy and stressful! the streets were SO narrow and often-times one-way and it was shared by cars, bicyclists, scooters, cats and dogs all at the same time! in most intersections, they had these roundabouts that were a bit confusing as well… and just required you to pretty much close your eye and jump into the circle of death and drive around until you find the right road to get off to! you just had to pay attention to the many arrowed signs and pray you chose the right one!

when in doubt... always head toward "centre ville"...

total distance driven: 1234km = 766.772 miles
total spent on diesel: €106 euros = $158.73 USD
total number of swear words dropped: 11 “mutha F-bombs” :|

thank the Lord that there were so many things to ease my driving stress… paellas, poissons and pâtisseries, oh my! 

the places:

- paris

then a short flight to provence (southeastern region in france on the mediterranean, adjacent to italy):
- marseille
- aix en provence:  a happening place where one can enjoy people watching and modern shopping all while checking out some great museums dedicated to van gogh + cezanne.

fountain de la rotunde in the city center...

night time stroll down aix en provence's city center...

- arles:  van gogh called this place home for some time. here is where we also experienced “le mistral” for the first time. passing through the valleys of the rhone and durance rivers, the wind that blew through the streets and the open courtyards were UNREAL! there were times when i opened our rental car doors and really believed the door would rip off from the sheer strength of the mistral!
- st. remy:  great cafés and even greater chocolates! (and van gogh committed himself to an insane asylum in this city).
- les baux

home of "château des baux"... a fortified castle built in the 10th century. one of the most beautiful historic castle/site in france!

- avignon:  we stayed inside the walls of this once fortified city. it is well known for its “palais des papes” (palace of the popes), where several popes and antipopes lived from the early 14th to early 15th centuries and “pont-saint bénézet” (bridge of st. bénézet).

a historical palace (which became the residence of the popes) in avignon, it's one of the largest and most important medieval gothic buildings in europe.

- orange:  seeing the theatre was seriously humbling. since we went kinda late in the tourist season, it was pretty much empty when we got there. and to enter this incredible structure… and taking the site all in gave me goosebumps + chills. to imagine what it must’ve been like in the past when it was filled to capacity and full of energy! the funniest part, was this lone cat that i had to take a picture of… so patiently sitting/waiting in seat 65 for some show to begin. hey andy, can this pic be submitted to http://icanhascheezburger.com/?

théâtre antique d'orange (“ancient theatre of orange”) an ancient roman theatre...

this cat (assigned seat 65) was patiently awaiting for the start of the show...

- vaison la romaine
- isla sur la sorgue
- rousillion
- pont du gard (one of the many landmarks in the provence region that is on unesco’s world heritage list).  and man… when you see this structure it’s truly awe-inspiring. so beautiful, so rich in historic worth… and still standing after all these years! makes me realize how young any of the structures we might have in the u.s.

pont du gard... if it was warmer we would have jumped from the bridge and swam!

- nîmes

the temple of diane...

the pg-version of the matador in front on the arènes de nîmes (thanks to viv + rick steves' guidebook!)

the maison carrée, currently under renovation...

BONUS PIC:

arènes de nîmes' lone matador under the spotlight...

- uzes
- cassis:  a small, quaint seaside port city… it’s referred to as “the poor man’s st. tropez“. this place was definitely my fav! if i go back, i’d stay here longer for sure. the vibe in this place was so nice and relaxed! and after being in the larger cities of aix en provence, arles and avignon, coming here was a great change of pace. the restaurants and shops near the water and the ocean view were breath-taking. cassis is also known for their  magnificent ”calanques” (see picture below). when we return to southern france in the future, we hope to spend more time here so we can charter a boat to the callanque en vau and spend the day on the beach (pictured below viv) and swim the crystal clear waters! t+t, bring your snorkel, mask + fins and join us… oui oui!

everyone in france rode bikes!

view of the boat moor from a local cassis cafe...

waterfront view of cassis

after an aftenoon coffee + gelato, a stroll to the beachfront does a soul good!

i scream, you scream, we all scream for gelato!

after hiking 1.5 hours we arrived to callanque en vau. your own private beach!

and then off to côte d’azur (a.k.a. “the french riviera“):
- cannes
- monaco:  i have NEVER seen so many maseratis, bentleys, rolls royces, and aston martins in my life. i thought viv + i would get shot for driving our rental opel through here.

the casino monte carlo... where true ballaz go to play! there's an admission fee just to get in and gamble!

- eze village
- nice: definitely a tourist mecca. they had an incredible open market on most mornings which looked like pike place market times 10. and the beachfront here was off the chart. seeing the ocean’s color at sunset almost looked fake. viv + i visited the marc chagall biblical museum (prior to going, i had never heard of this artist and after visiting, i am now a HUGE fan of his work) and saw his 12 paintings depicting various stories from genesis + exodus of the old testament (he also has 5 paintings inspired by song of songs). all i could do was just stand speechless and be mesmerized as i looked at each of the paintings. you could literally spend hours looking at each drawing. so much was conveyed through these paintings (the user of shapes and amazing colors)… a reminder to keep being creative and explore how art and faith intersects in my life.

upon entrance of the marc chagall biblical museum... this is your initial view!

viv mesmerized by the "noah and the rainbow" painting by chagall...

sunset in nice = SO nice!

- villafranche

au revoir (for now)…

for more reading:
- where in the world… (part 2)
- where in the world… (part 1)

Nona — Italian for ninth — is a modest enoteca/osteria/ristorante in Granville (home to our rival school, Denison University).  Located right on the “main drag” of the town, Nona offers a small portal back to Toscana with an Italian/English menu, the feel of an authentic Italian enoteca and a wine list that includes the famous Brunello di Montalcino and other DOCG wines.

The service was excellent and friendly, the atmosphere muted but warm and bustling and the food was life-saving.  To start my roommate ordered the vegetable soup which made her eyes roll back in her head and for me the braised fennel with blood orange vinegar infused onions.  Ummm ok so that all rocked pretty hard but then came our primi: for my roommate, the Sundried Tomato and Asiago Ravioli with Arugula pesto and Toasted Almond Butter and for me, the spinach and ricotta tortellini with ragu — TO DIE FOR.  All the pasta is done in-house so the freshness can’t really be beat.

For the dolci, we split a gorgeous flaky pastry nest of roasted apples and balsamic gelato.  Whatever, we basically had a roommate date but we had so much fun and you could not have slapped the grins off our face.  I think our waitress thought we were slightly insane because we gushed at every special she told us about but whatever.

We were planning to go to Eppie’s, but that fell through because it was late and Eppie’s was closed. That was probably my fault because I was supposed to plan this, and I thought that Eppie’s was open but apparently not. However, since we were already downtown and it was late and we didn’t want to go anywhere bar-ish, we ended up at Christian’s!!! Except, we weren’t satisfied with just Christian’s, so  half of us went next door to get some Marco and Luca’s dumplings and the other half of us got Chinese takeout.

Spicy Chicken Pizza

I have actually never been to Christian’s before this. I know. I know. I’m a terrible person because Christian’s Pizza is such a Cville classic. But I can redeem myself because I LOVED CHRISTIAN’S!! I prefer pizza with really thin, crisp crusts over the thick, deep dish kind and Christian’s does the thin and crispy the best.  Plus they’ve got toppings that are interesting and different from the usual pepperoni and cheese.  I got a slice of Spicy Chicken Pizza, which was really spicy. Yay! I love spicy.

Dumplings!

Vegetable Hot Bun

Marco and Luca’s Noodle Shop is a family-owned restaurant that is extremely popular in Charlottesville and especially with college students because it’s really cheap. The menu has only around 6 items. They have dumplings, hot buns of either meat or vegetables, 2 types of noodles, and hot sour soup. What is so special about this place is their dipping sauce for the dumplings. It’s amazing!! It’s the perfect balance of savory, sweet, and spicy. Every time I go, I get 2 orders of dumplings and a vegetable hot bun. It’s awesome.

Pumpkin Gelato

After stuffing our faces, we decided to get even more food: dessert! At Splendora’s!! Splendora’s is a gelato place downtown that is consistently lovely and delicious. They have at least 30 different flavors ranging from the classic chocolate or cookies and cream to the more adventurous amaretto and blood orange. This time, I got pumpkin, which was a seasonal flavor. I loved it! Another one of my favorites is Gianduia. You must try that if you go to Splendora’s!

Everyone's Gelato

cool pic of DC's hand snatching away his gelato

Never thought I’d say this, but I’m getting sick of spaghetti. I broke my five-day pasta streak last night. I had to. Between chocolate croissants for breakfast every morning, Caprese panini for lunch and pasta every night, my body was going into carbohydrate shock. Yesterday afternoon, I came down with a terrible stomachache and decided enough was enough. Or as the Italians say, “basta.”

For last night’s Il Pavone dinner, I considered going light with a bowl of soup and a salad, until I saw the steaks being delivered to the diners seated to my right. Remembering that I hadn’t eaten meat since Germany, I decided I probably could use a good dose of protein and iron. Tagliata, or sliced steak, topped with mushrooms sounded like just the ticket. Patrick’s colleague was also in a red meat frame of mind and ordered from the steak portion of the menu as well, but when our plates arrived, we couldn’t tell whose was whose.

One plate arrived hot and sizzling, like an Italian fajita platter, slices of steak topped with arugula and big shavings of parmesan. The other dish was a big hunk of meat with a mushroomy-peppercorn sauce. Hubby’s friend and I were both a little confused. I thought I had ordered my meat topped with mushrooms; he thought he’d ordered his topped with peppers. We traded plates, but still couldn’t figure out whether or not we were actually eating the correct order. In the end, we just split them down the middle and everyone was happy. I don’t even remember what hubby ordered, I was so into the beef. At least, I assume it was beef. If it wasn’t, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know about it.

The sizzling platter was delicious and the parmesan lent a touch of richness. And I always forget how much I like arugula until I get it on something in a restaurant. (Note to self: seek out arugula at Indy supermarkets.) The peppercorn sauce on the other steak was really spicy with crunchy whole roasted peppercorns that added a good amount of heat without blowing your head off. The steak was really on the rare side and though I’m more of a medium-well girl, it was so good I didn’t care. With a generous mixed veggie salad to round things out, the only carbs I ingested for the whole meal were a few bites of the toddler’s breadsticks.

My plan today was to try to see Michaelangelo’s “The Last Supper.” The original painting is housed in a church here called Santa Maria Della Grazie. The only hangup is, you’re supposed to make a reservation for a viewing. Weeks in advance. Hmph. The concierge here at the hotel gave me hope, however, that we might be able to just show up, wait on line and snag an unused reservation for one of the daily no-shows. I got directions, found out which tram line to take, and the toddler and I set out.

In typical Italian fashion, everything ends up taking MUCH longer than you think it’s going to, and you can’t ever count on anything to run efficiently or on time. We stood at the tram stop waiting patiently while the old step-up model trams that we can’t get the stroller onto passed us by again and again. After an hour, I gave up. Ever the little trooper, the toddler hung in there without too much complaining. Maybe we’ll try again another day. Or maybe not.

Changing gears, we hopped on the tram going away from the inner city and rode it to the Cimitero Maggiore (cemetery) at the other end of the line. It was a beautiful blue-sky day, and I figured it would be a good place to let the kid run free for awhile.

This cemetery has to be the most elaborately decorated resting place I’ve ever seen. The entrance is marked with huge stone gates and lined with half a dozen flower stands. Once through the entry, the graves and mausoleums are adorned with arresting statues depicting all manner of Catholic verses — the crucified Jesus laying across Mary Magdalene, life-size angels, Jesus gathering lambs. There are also stained glass inlays in marble headstones, whole series of family portraits atop the graves, and TONS of fresh flowers everywhere. This place is so scrupulously maintained, I didn’t see any browned or dried-out blooms at all. It was so peaceful and super interesting to stroll around, and we only covered a very small section near the front.

The toddler kept wanting to stop and rearrange the rock borders and then he tripped and fell straight into a muddy puddle, so I corralled him back into the stroller amid violent protest. We started walking toward the hotel, on the lookout for a little cafe we could duck into for a quick lunch, but nothing really jumped out at me and we were cutting into the toddler’s nap by that point, so we just continued on all the way back. I grabbed a fairly decent prepackaged salad at the supermarket along the way to eat in the room.

We planned to meet up with hubby downtown by the Duomo when he finished up with his trade show for the day, so I decided to try a new approach to get the toddler to eat something other than crackers and cheese. Some might call it an act of desperation. We went to McDonald’s.

I quickly discovered the Mickey D’s in the Duomo piazza is home to ALL sorts of humanity. I ordered a Happy Meal for the toddler, grabbed a stool in the back of the restaurant and hoped for the best. Alas, he only wanted to eat the fries. I did manage to get a fruit cup and some yogurt down his throat as well. I’m really going to have my work cut out getting his diet back on track once we get home.

We still had an hour or so to kill before hubby was due to meet us, so we went strolling around the shopping district yet again. There are some absolutely beautiful old buildings here. I’d love to go on a guided tour to learn more about the city and its colorful history, but don’t think I’ll get the opportunity before we leave next week.

Hubby made it through the metro, we reconvened and meandered over to a place I’d spotted just off the piazza. Most of the dining establishments in the general Duomo area seem to be total tourist traps, and Merchanti Caffe was no exception. After eating high on the hog and easy on the wallet at Il Pavone all week, the meal we had tonight honestly outraged me.

Hubby ordered his standard pizza salami, a good-sized pie to be fair, and I ordered the risotto con funghi (rice with mushrooms). We also had one beer and one rather stingy but delicious glass of wine. Our total bill: around 50 euros. That’s like 70 bucks or so. For 50 euros, three of us could easily have stuffed ourselves senseless at Il Pavone. With drinks.

My plate of risotto could have been a side dish. It was not a lot of food. There was no bread, no salad, no nothing else. Just a scoop of risotto. For 13 euros. My glass of wine cost about the same. NOT good value. To give you a comparison, I saw a sidewalk chalkboard outside a cafe near our hotel advertising a lunch consisting of a first course (pasta), second course (meat or fish), bread, 1/4 liter of house wine AND coffee all for a mere 9 euros.

I finished my risotto (quickly) and was still starving, but I wasn’t about to order anything else there at those prices. The waiters were very nice to us and I guess you pay for the ambiance, but I didn’t feel it was worth what we paid at all.

After settling the tab, hubby chased the toddler while I thought about picking up a sandwich or dessert elsewhere. If I’d known I was only going to get a small plate or rice and a few shrooms, I would have eaten the rest of the rejected Happy Meal earlier! As it was, I used the occasion as an excuse to wander back to the unbelievably beautiful gelato counter I’d found on previous excursions.

ah, gelato!!!

I got a medium cone, which could have easily passed for a large in my book, and three good scoops of my choice of gelato flavors to fill it. After much difficult consideration, I opted for the chocolate fondant, milky vanilla and creamy walnut versions. It was the mother ice cream cone and, at three euros, almost totally alleviated the bad feelings from my overpriced dinner.

As soon as I got back to hubby and the toddler, the two of them immediately commandeered my cone and I was relegated to sharing. No matter, I was finally full about halfway through.

Mandola's Italian Restaurant

So, breakfast and chocolate are at the top my favorite foods list. Something that is not too far behind is good Italian food.

The chains are good (Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill), but a few months ago, I was introduced to Mandolas, a little Italian Market which also has a restaurant in it.

Located in the Triangle, down Guadalupe, Mandola’s is easy accessible by car or bus (1L/1M).

The menu boasts authenticate Italian cusine, and the best thing is, it doesn’t leave you feeling like you ate a lot of food. The portions are a little pricey, but can also last two meals, if necessary.

What’s even better than the restaurant, is the bakery (you knew it was coming) which has chocolate cake, cannoli, and gelato. The restaurant is amazing.

Two thumbs up!

Today Esteban and I went to a lecture by German painter Charlene Von Heyl who was speaking at the USC Grad Art Department.  Charlene was witty, humorous, and an artist who inspired me to get in the studio and just MAKE.

Having just returned from three months of making work on a prairie Charlene joked, yet sincerely told her audience that SHE WAS NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT PAINTING.

Her large-scale works are spontaneous but not. abstract but not. subjects but not. Basically, a great big contradiction of sorts that woo the viewer with it’s compelling mysteries.

I fancied her drawings and collages the most.

After the 2-hr lecture, 4 of us met up with my best friend, dancer, Kupono Aweau, who has been on tour with the hit t.v. show So You Think You Can Dance. After a few months on the road, the dance force has returned to where they started, here in L.A.  I squeezed a quick gelato moment in before Kupono leaves for San Diego tomorrow to continue the dance tour.

We enjoyed the funkiest of flavors at Scoops, a one-of-a-kind gelateria on heliotrope and a place girls make their boyfriends treat them to after a bad fight :/

Est and I had the olive oil+salty white chocolate, Kupono had his mango+zinfandel+lychee combo, former Miss Hawaii sisters, Jonelle and Ashley Layfield also had their choice of flavors.  Jonelle mixed cofee, coconut, rum, and brown bread, while Ashley went with the chocolate mollasses which when eaten tasted exactly like a ranch or as she put it “saddle”.  The tastes were right-on, and we enjoyed our individual amalgamations very much so.

Today was good. mmm.

Spent Rememberance Day with an old friend, we went for karaoke, had kimchi noodles and gelato!