jpalbny

Me three. All for naught. I still had to go to Grandma's house to get my RDA of delicious chemicals.

The cheese-wiz comments were very funny to wake up to this morning! I don't use that stuff either. If anyone's interested, here's the duck ragu recipe: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pappardelle-with-duck-ragu-curtis-stone

In case we hadn't eaten enough this past weekend... I decided to make duck ragu for dinner. The real version, not the quick version with ground meat that they serve in LT these days! In preparation, we ate a light breakfast and skipped lunch. It's not a difficult recipe but it takes time. Skinned duck legs get seared in olive oil. Then sautée some shallots, carrots, garlic, prosciutto, thyme, and rosemary in a bit of the leftover fat. The recipe calls for celery too, but Chris won't allow that in the house. 😉 Once softened, add wine and porcini mushroom powder. Reduce, then add broth. I used homemade duck broth which I make in the instant pot after I cook a duck, and keep in the freezer for just such an occasion. Plop the seared legs into the mixture and braise in the oven as long as you can tolerate. We left the house for an hour to walk around the block so the smell wouldn't tempt us to eat it too soon! Remove the legs and let cool while the sauce cooks down a bit more. Then shred the meat with forks and fingers, and add to the sauce, along with Pecorino Romano. Here I deviated from the recipe, and also added some gremolata. Chopped parsley, lemon zest, freshly grated garlic, and a bit of anchovy paste. As if it wasn't rich enough... I didn't have pappardelle, but tagliatelle was an OK substitute. Mix the pasta into the sauce, with the gremolata, and toss with some pasta water until the texture is just right before serving with a tasty red. Before the final finish of more grated Pecorino. It was worth the relatively minor effort. It did help that I have homemade broth available in the freezer. And the gremolata paid dividends. It really brightened the dish up considerably.

Yes ridiculous! I saw a piece of nondescript flank steak in the supermarket today as a markdown, sell by date today, for $9.99/#. Regular price was $13.99. For flank steak? Nuts.

It was! My favorite for that dish.

Jazz, we did do the Cliff Walk but nothing higher than that. There was supposed to be a tower at Brenton Point SP but we didn't find it.

It was actually just a 1-1/4 pounder. After the heavy appetizers we didn't want to try and eat a larger one just before bed. The wine selection last night was a Vermentino di Sardegna. Always a nice choice with seafood. We were impressed with the wine and cocktail lists at the three restaurants we chose for lunch and dinner. Our hotel's restaurant had the smallest wine list but it still wasn't bad, and their cocktail menu was great. *** Today we slept in until 8 and had a lighter breakfast at the hotel. We had made an early lunch reservation so we could metabolize the wine before leaving for the drive home. It was a bit more cloudy than yesterday but warmer. The view from our window was still nice. Then we grabbed our car and did a drive around the Southwestern part of Aquidneck Island (the island that Newport is located on). First we stopped at King Park for the Rochambeau statue, commemorating the arrival of the French troops to aid in the American Revolution. From here we went to Fort Adams State Park. Nice view from the docks there. There's a 2+ mile loop around the Bay. Since we only did about 25000 steps yesterday, we went for it. Christmas decorations still out in February? The Eisenhower House. Apparently DDE's summer house. On the other side of the Bay, there were a bunch of people "sailing" remote-controlled boats. No naval battles being waged, though. Now further on to Brenton Point SP. There's a monument here to the Golden Age of Portuguese Navigation and Exploration. The coast looks desolate. Our Audi looks lonely. But it's pretty here. From here we completed the loop on Ocean Drive and headed back through town to Goat Island. We probably could have walked here from the hotel but it was easier to drive since we already had the car. The island itself wasn't too exciting but there was a nice view of the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge that we had driven over on Friday night. There's a hotel on the North end of the Island. And a tiny lighthouse. There was also a skating rink! That would have been fun. Back to the hotel where we parked and got ready for lunch. It was a 15-minute walk. Because we hadn't walked enough yet. But we rewarded ourselves with more aperitifs... "Newport Stormy" on the left - dark rum, floated on ginger beer and lime juice. It seems that I have developed a sudden taste for ginger beer? Chris's "Yachtie Pants" had Gin, Aperol, and lemonade. They went well with a duck and lobster quesadilla. Decadent! Scallops and gnocchi for Chris. Boring steak frites for me. But cooked bleeding rare. And absolutely delicious! Luckily they had half bottles on the menu. And we each found one that would go with our mains! After that we went back to the hotel for a bit to rest up and metabolize before driving home. I almost fell asleep but managed not to. After some coffee, we packed up and checked out a little before 3:00. Traffic on the Mass Pike was absolutely flying! I found a pair of fellow New Yorkers who were going 90+ and followed them most of the way. Chris kept Waze open and we didn't have to stop so we made excellent time. Even with a stop for gas as we left Newport, we were home in well under 3 hours. Yay for crazy drivers! Thankfully we have tomorrow off to do some grocery shopping, and change the water in the aquarium. Then we have to start thinking about packing for our trip to Indonesia - we leave in less than 2 weeks!

I actually didn't take many food pix so far. Last night we had a late dinner at 9:15 at The Mooring Seaford Kitchen, on the marina. First though, we had apéritifs at our hotel bar. On the left is a "Dark Magic" with Cachaça, bourbon, blood orange liquor, lime juice, and ginger beer. Chris's drink was a "Dinghy" with Malfy Rosa gin, rosato wine, soda, and sparkling rosé. We were well primed for dinner! We started with an Alsatian tarte flambée and a "bag of donuts" which was lobster fritters fried like donut holes. For the main course, lobster of course! Suitably stuffed to the gills, we walked home and snoozed well. Unfortunately, Chris will now be expecting apéritifs at home. Will have to see what I can do!

Seems like a good weekend to travel! We went to Newport RI last night after work. We had a nice dinner after we arrived. We even had some food too! Today we wandered the town. My belle with a bell. Then we did the full length of the Cliff Walk. Gorgeous weather and scenery! Even though it was in the low 30sF, the sun felt warm and we didn't need gloves unless the wind was blowing. We had a late lunch at a wine bar. A charcuterie plate and some hot soup hit the spot. Found a Blaufränkish-Zweigelt blend from Austria which went well. Now relaxing before dinner. Home tomorrow but this has been a fun getaway so far.

Looks like an itinerary off the beaten path. We have been to Sitka, and have visited Misty Fjord on an excursion from a cruise ship. Both enjoyable. The other places look small and I bet the experience will be very different from a traditional Alaska cruise. I bet you won't find a Diamonds International at every stop!

Park Hyatt is really nice but the prices will make your eyes water. Last time, we stayed there for points which was much more pleasant. As an added bonus it's an easy flat walk to/from the airport train.

M, you are a prolific blogger! I can't keep up. Haven't finished my blog from April of last year and never bothered starting one from the Finland trip. Can I hire you to finish them for me? I use Tripit to keep track of our crazy itineraries. But I don't use SS air so I have to use a different website called "check your own d*** flights" to keep track. Just kidding; I have them organized in the FlyDelta app (or KLM/AF if I use those lines).

M, I never had anything like that and I was definitely that age in the (early) 70s. In fact my favorite place to ride was in my grandparent's station wagon. The front seat was a bench seat which had an armrest in the middle so I'd sit on that, between them, so I could see where we were going! Seatbelt? What was that? And don't get me started about riding in the back of the pickup truck...

Hope your recovery is uneventful and rapid, Que. M, maybe they put ex-lax in that cake?

That's pretty! We saw some similar trees in Northern Finland and were impressed with the beauty of all that snow.

Don't you mean last millennium?

My sister and nephew were just in Perth maybe 2-3 days ago for the World Marathon challenge. They waited until afternoon to start the race so the temperatures were more favorable.

Have fun! We're on wind in June of this year. We are a little more sentimental about Cloud over Wind but we do love them both. Like your trip, ours has some ports where there are a choice of structured excursions that you book ahead of time, and some where it's just zodiacs or hikes that they arrange when you get there. I will second Port Power's advice; these won't be limited capacity and they will make sure that everyone has a chance to do what they choose in these spots. At most, if there's a choice between either a hike or a zodiac ride for example, they might ask you to sign up for what you want to do the night before. That's so they know how they need to split up the naturalists and zodiac drivers, how many they need, etc. But if you can't sign up in advance it's a pretty sure bet that you don't need to.

Davey is a professional. I could only hope to grow up and cook as well as that! I did make sous vide halibut over wilted spinach with confit garlic last night though. I even shared some with Chris!

M, at minus 40 it doesn't matter... As you know, -40 F and C are the same! Reminds me of a February trip to Québec a few years ago. We were outside touring the fort in those temps!

Sounds like one quote is advertising and the other is the slightly less misleading "fine print"

Stumble, it's very fortunate that our wives don't participate in CC!

Strange? No, but different and not tailored to classic American tastes. I posted a week's worth of menus from the September 2021 sailing on my blog. I was perfectly happy with the food. Things may be different on a charter such as Smithsonian or Tauck.

Thinking about Ponant? We have our second cruise coming up with them in March and we will have free laundry. I assume it's send out but I'm sure someone who knows will answer.

I'll reserve your loungers while you're out.