roar!

Friday Night Fish-Fry and Brewery Tour

In Milwaukee now, home of the famous tradition: Friday Night Fish-Fry! The lovely Anna took us to the Lake Shore Brewery for Fish-Fry and a Brewery Tour!


The Happy Crew awaits the delivery of deep-fried goodness!


The Fish!


Yay plates of deep-fried goodness!


Uhh... there was a polka band, and uhhh... Anna made me do it!


Yet another picture of me and Anna dancing together.



Afterwards we went to Leon's for frozen custard, which is like ice cream, but with egg.



Ahh, butter pecan...

NY-Ohio

After leaving Beth's on Tuesday, we started the long, long, loooong drive through the length of New York State. It looked a lot like this for much of the time:

We were surrounded on all sides by corn. And occasionally there were dilapidated barns:

Once we were in Ohio, the skies cleared, and we decided to stop for some Roadfood for dinner. In good midwestern style, it was 5pm. The White Turkey Drive-In is an institution in Conneaut, Ohio. The on-the-ground directions in the book are non-existant, and of course our Rand-McNally atlas doesn't exactly have a city map of Conneaut, so our first step was to find the place. After driving from the highway to Lake Erie and back by the historic train depot, we gave up and called. A chipper, high-school cheerleader answered, and gave us one-step-at-a-time directions, promising to "stay with us" until we made it. ("OK, are you headed toward the lake?" "Um, yes" [we weren't]. "OK, so, you'll have to turn around." "oh, ok... [believable pause] Done." "Have you passed a Big K?" "Sure." [we hadn't] "OK, well, we're on the other street, so you'll have to make a left until you see a mobil station." "...Great. Fine, we're there..." and so on.)

It was kind of miraculous that we made it at all, actually.

The White Turkey Drive-In is a summer-only ... drive-in ... with stools at the counter and picnic tables around the back. They're schtick is a "secret-recipe" turkey, sort of like a juicy pulled-turkey sandwich, as well as root beer and tons of types of ice cream fountain drinks.



And cheerleaders.



Matt got a Turkey Sandwich and I got the "Large Marge," which is a turkey sandwich plus cheese and bacon. Because really, what can't be improved by the addition of cheese and bacon? And I got a root beer float, which was made with a huge swirl of soft-serv vanilla, and bubbled over the frosted mug when I stirred. It is unclear what the process of turkey preparation is, but according to the menu, the owners and 8 workers spent all of January preparing 8,000 pounds of turkey for consumption during the 2007 season.



We spent more time finding the place than scarfing down our turkey sandwiches, but we were satisfied that we'd experienced a bit of Americana by the time we'd left. The main street, decorated at intervals with flags, lead us back to I-90.



And as the sun set, the tops of the corn were illuminated by the horizontal light, and the white farmhouses glowed orange, a bald eagle kept pace with the car for a split second, and then veered left, out of sight.



No shit.

Pics!

Me in Hyde Park, during our 18 hours in London. We had ice cream.



While we were in Washington, DC, we went to the Smithsonian. Actually, we went and had a nice lunch in the National Gallery and thought while we were there we'd see some stuff. The Nat Gal was pretty empty but Natural History was really, really crowded. Though I did muscle my way in to see my jewels, temporarily on display ;). I always thought that if this was mine, I'd replace the turquoise with something faceted. I mean, the turquoise really doesn't go, does it?



And me, in a crystal structure. Matt says it's salt. Really, if I were to be in a crystal structure, do you think I'd choose salt??



And then I cut Jim's hair, because it was an emergency and also the 4th of July, so his usual Supercuts or whatever wasn't open.


It was only an improvement, believe me.

And Pete took us on a tour - here's us on the little diamond marker that used to be the point-from-which all map calculations were based, directly below the capitol dome and atrium.



And all the states have statues of important people, so here's me with Will Rogers.



And the best part - we got to ride the train!



And here's the first frame from the Road Trip - Leaving Hamilton, VA!

Syracuse-Ithaca-Albany

Like those hot wheels that you click backwards to build up enough wind to zip across the table, we have gone east before our push west. We arrived in Albany in the middle of a storm which brought down trees and powerlines - and we made sure not to park *under* a tree, seeing the back-end of a silver SUV totally crushed beneath several thousand pounds of tree just before arriving at Beth's house. We were awakened during the night by the sound of the city's wood-chippers cleaning up the streets. (The storm did NOT stop us from going to get soft-serv ice cream with sprinkles after dinner, though we had to go to Beth's second-choice store because the first had no power and was closed.)

Before arriving in Albany we made a stop in Ithaca, which was sort of a waste simply because it was so hot and humid that it made for a really unpleasant visit. But we got Hot Truck Pizza Subs based on a recommendation from "Roadfood," a book loaned to us before our trip, which were very good. (Though I must admit, just about the last thing you want on a hot humid day is a hot truck pizza sub.)

Next up, pictures!

Manolo on the Lawyer Shoes

Oh my.

Road Trip, Mark III

You'd think we'd have had enough of this cross-country thing, but here we go...

We began our adventure with a few weeks in Washington, DC and surrounding areas. Highlights included Pete's tour of the Capitol, the Williams-Sonoma and J Crew outlet, mexican food at Abi's, and Matt's mom's magical biscuits (they just appear when you arrive for tea...). Hopefully I'll have a picture or two up soon.

Yesterday our drive began once we managed to stuff the car with all the junk we'd been storing, plus a brand new X-Box 360 that was a wedding gift from Matt's friend Dave. (Thanks Dave. No really, thanks. If Matt never finishes his dissertation now, it's on you.) Driving northward we accidentally happened upon the Gettysburg battlefield while searching for a McDonalds - traffic was heavy with reenactors and slack-jawed amateur historians, so the over-educated grad students turned back and made for the next exit. Yeah, we're those people - seriously, you can see it from Google Earth if you really want to. Passing rolling countryside over rolling countryside, we made our destination by dinner, which was the house of our hosts' Middle Eastern parents, so we were greeted by a bone-in leg of lamb, potatoes, stuffed grape leaves, salad, broccoli, carrots, green beans (I think), rice, and probably something else I'm forgetting, with Kanafi (sp?) for dessert (which is mostly cheese, and orange rind). Eat, eat. Are you finished?! Don't you want some more lamb?

So now we're in Syracuse, tomorrow to Albany to visit Beth. Yay!

Grad School is Hard, Part II

After our fabulous Rome wedding and honeymoon on the Amalfi coast (pictures of which can be found here, we took the overnight train to Geneva to visit Matt's aunt and uncle. (We were almost foiled by a country-wide taxi strike in Italy... that part wasn't very fun.) Now we are about to head up to their chalet in the French Alps, and then Matt and I are driving down to Provence for a few days before returning to the chalet, meeting back up with Matt's family, going back to Geneva and then flying back to the US shortly thereafter.

We'll be here.

:)

wedding!

matt and amelia's wedding(s)

Korncrake!

Mein Gott, how I longed to slap him, to shout at him, “Flee this place, young man, before the academy eats your soul!” But, it was already too late, the boy had given himself over to it, and any spark he may once have had had already been leeched away by the stultifing inanities of the “life of the mind”.

Please, please go read the fabulous, hilarious antics of Herr Professor von Korncrake, friend of the esteemed Manolo.

PS getting married friday!!! See Anna's blog for Rome pictures!

Yay, I'm a llama again! Hooray! ... Wait.

Matt and I are back in Rome for the final 6 weeks or-so of our time here. Classes with Reggie wrap up next week (though I may stop going earlier - busy for the, what was that again?)

We are hoping to go through and do some of the things in Rome we've been wanting/meaning to do but haven't yet - it's funny to us to say things like, oh right, we'd better get back to that rare book store and buy that print - we only have six weeks left. :)

Medieval Academy Antics

For now, I direct you to my friend Anna's post concerning the medieval academy meeting and a marvelous picture of us there. :)

At the moment, I'm back in Rome, though, alas, without my luggage...

BERKELS!

I have made it (finally!) to Berkeley to pick up my fabulous dress! YAY! I have had a terrible cold, lost my voice, gave a paper at a conference, been to Toronto, and now I am back for the first time since August in Berkeley-berkeley... the air is so much cleaner here than in Rome!

We have Dragon*Con, and the Belgians...?

check out this article from the nytimes

Belgium was probably a pretty civilized place in the Middle Ages, actually.

neat article

Street Performance by "Greatest Violinist in America" goes ignored at L'Enfant Plaza

PRINCESS HAIR

I'M A PRINCESS PRETTY PRETTY PRINCESS!!!!!

I just got the best haircut EVER from the exceedingly talented Rick at Noi Salon and and and he curled it and I looked fabulous like a princess and today its STILL LOOKS GREAT.

I have therefore scrapped all of my convenient and inexpensive hair and makeup plans with "Francesco" through the hotel and rescheduled all wedding hair and makeup with him and his partners at twice the price.

PRINCESS PRINCESS PRINCESS!!!!!!

What should you study?

Your Learning Style: Personal and Passionate

You are very flexible and curious about the world. Human understanding is very important to you. You Should Study: Anthropology Architecture Art Art history Art therapy Classics Counseling Foreign Languages and Literature International Studies Linguistics Literature Psychology Sociology Teaching

What Should You Study?

Damnit. Where did I go wrong? (How is art therapy like classics??)

my special rome links

buy museum and exhibit tickets!
do yoga!
get your hair done!
go to church!
go to the salon!
get your nails done!
get your local info!
eat gelato! (or here!)
go to the library!
go running!
buy salami!
be romantic! (hint hint...)
try gran caffe!
learn Latin!
get married!

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

Matt and I have decided to incorporate some traditional Italian music into our special day. Please go here and listen to some samples!



This will go so well with our big spaghetti and meatballs reception! With the bottles of chianti wrapped in raffia and the red and white checkered tablecloths.

(Oh. dear. lord. Thanks Anna.)

Pompeii

To remind you occasionally that we ARE actually in Rome, here are some pictures from our latest excursion, to Pompeii!


This is one of the gates of the city. Outside is the necropolis, which has quite a number of large chamber tombs and such that look like mini-temples.


This is the creepy thing everyone has to see, from the "Garden of the Fleeing." That is, as excavations were taking place, the head archeologist noticed strange-shaped holes in the ash/dirt/deposits of time/pumice stone, and on a hunch had them filled with plaster and dug around them. Sure enough, they represented places where the bodies of unlucky Pompeians had been buried and then burned away by the heat of the ash, but not before the ash had cooled around them to leave an impression.


Many buildings are quite well preserved. Pompeii was covered with ash and rock, not lava, but most of the buildings are still recognizable, with many frescos. We saw a bakery, a brothel, several houses, food shops, theaters, and temples.


This is the forum. No, those mountains are not Vesuvius - it's in the other direction. Too cloudy to see.


And these were all in a huge makeshift warehouse - obviously they haven't figured out what to do with them. Pompeians were drinkers, obviously. (See the little guy kneeling? Creepy.)

Another reason to become a lawyer

Finally, some press time for medievalists!

I love Tolkien, I really do. But when Kalamazoo is in the same article as Dragon*Con...

(Thanks for the link Dad)

Two, count them TWO totally hot bridesmaids!

I must pass on the exquisitely worded sentence from The Manolo, whose witty banter never ceases to make me laugh...

As we all know, historically, the typical dress of the bridesmaid employed such undermining tactics as the over abundance of rump-enlargening ruffles, and the strategically misplaced, bust-minimizing wickety-wack, to make the attendants look faintly (if not explicity) ridiculous.

I thought it appropriate to share with the happy news that BOTH of my wonderful friends are actually able to come, and that we chose (yes, we all chose together) the very beautiful (and very on sale) Sophia from J Crew, which last season was offered in pink quartz:


Which I've asked them to pair with gold sandals.

In fact, I believe this dress is so lovely that I got it for myself in the long version (for that uhhhh.... other ceremony thing which is not the real wedding), which I plan to pair with gold shoes as well:

Cynthia Rowley Trilogy from Zappos

Weddings are fun when they come with shoes!

I love the alphabet

Look! when I'm alphabetized I come first! (In the links, that is.)

p.s. bitches

Oh PS - no, I'm fine, really - crazy ladies who come by your outdoor table at a restaurant asking for money and end up tipping over your bottle of wine, breaking your glass and brandishing it at you with raised fists? Totally normal. Happens all the time, judging by the total nonchalance of the waiter and all the passers by (who, incidentally, were busy comforting the crazy lady). Well loro sono stranieri indeed. All we got was a "mi dispiace." Not even a new glass, either. Bitches.

pretty!!

If I ever have any doubts about why I need to give up on academia, I just go to the Anthropologie website... seriously, imagine giving my conference paper in those! no one would even be listening to me - we'd all be looking at my beautiful shoes!

The New Democracy of Extravagance

I love it.

“a bastardized aesthetic derived from Victoriana and filtered through the lens of the romance novel and the Disney cartoon.”
- quoted in this article from New York Times, snipped from a new book called "One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding."

I think mine is more Childe Harold + Audrey Hepburn.



A ruin--yet what a ruin! from its mass
Walls, palaces, half-cities have been rear'd
Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass,
And marvel where the spoil could have appear'd.
Hath it indeed been plunder'd, or but clear'd?
Alas, developed, opens the decay,
When the colossal fabric's form is near'd:
It will not bear the brightness of the day,
Which streams too much on all--years--man--have reft away.

But when the rising moon, begins to climb
Its topmost arch, and gently pauses there;
When the stars twinkle through the loops of time,
And the low night-breeze waves along the air
The garland forest, which the grey walls wear,
Like laurels on the bald first Caesar's head;
When the light shines serene but doth not glare;
Then in this magic circle raise the dead:
Heroes have trod this spot--'tis on their dust ye tread.

"While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
And when Rome falls--the World." From our own land
Thus spake the pilgrims oe'r this mighty wall
In Saxon times, which we are wont to call
Ancient; and these three mortal things are still
On their foundations, and unalter'd all;
Rome and her Ruin past Redemption's skill,
The World, the same wide den--of thieves or what ye will.
-Cantos CXLIII-CXLV, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1818)



And I'm totally wearing a tiara, too.

Favorite things when I was 8 (1988)

Favorite color: pink
Favorite books: 50 Famous Fairy Stories, Baby Sitters Club
Favorite movies: The Last Unicorn, The Magic of Herself the Elf, Willow
Favorite TV shows: Jem and the Holograms ("truly outrageous!"), Thudercats, She-Ra, Saturday morning cartoons
Favorite toys: My Little Pony
Favorite outfit: pink sweatshirt with sparkle-glitter leopard on it, hair up in ponytail on the side
Favorite foods: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, french toast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, doritos
Favorite activity: sleepovers!

hmmm... has that much really changed?

I feel like kidneys should come with a warning

ARG. Sometimes Italy can be so truly awful! (Or perhaps offal...!) OK, so we go to the restaurant now occupying the location which was formerly Il Primoli. Antipasto della casa - fine, lots of bowls of different veggies in marinades and such. Fun, whatever. I'm speaking Italian with the waiter, understanding things, everything is going well. Then I order for a secondi Lamb with Roast Potatoes. The menu says this in three languages - Agnello con Patate Arroste, Lamb with Roast Potatoes, and whatever it is in German. I ask them to split it for the two of us. We end up each with an unidentifiable bony chunk - I cut into what looks like the only piece of real meat and it is, no shit, a kidney. I mean like, it's a cross section from an anatomy book, but cooked (incidentally, overcooked) and on my plate. With a tuby ureter attached, oh yes. That, with the bones and some stringly lower back meat, comes to 15 euro, please. Thanks.

crying... so... funny...

http://shoeblogs.com/wordpress/2007/02/16/manolo-the-columnist-68/



Perhaps the Manolo would like to advise also the young fabulous scholar-medievalist what to wear to the tweedy conference in April before she sprints off to the school of the law?

the latest on the food front...

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/371089

And on the Marcella front - a few to avoid, actually - the risotto alba style, pg. 255, is a lot of work for not a lot of payout. takes forever and tastes a lot like... rice with ground beef. Also, the Farmer's wife's fresh pear tart I found too sweet - she should have a note (of course it seems obvious now) that you should taste your pears and calibrate the sugar accordingly - but she calls for 1 cup! I would've put in 1/4. and if it needs an "active act of sabatoge" to ruin it, well, then we have a terrorist counter-top Italian oven...


More of an over glorified toaster oven, really.

The Pear Tart looked nice...


but it was really not cooked through in the center. browned on top but not cooked through. Marcella had no indication of what "doneness" was...

But our little oven did manage to make a very nice roast chicken...! (Nigella's recipe, not Marcella's - my Marcella disappointments have led me into the arms of Nigella again...)



And just to show that we are also enjoying the city - a great picture of Castel San Angelo...

short update

a few nights ago - the Tomato Sauce with Chopped Vegetables (pg. 153) is stupidly tasty - I wouldn't have thought because the veg to tomato ratio is so skewed - there's barely enough tomato to bind it together. But the carrot makes it sweet and the celery becomes melty with a slight crunch. I thought I wouldn't like it because I don't like celery - you can't even taste it except that it lends a certain je ne sais quoi to the sauce. On fusilli so that the spirals can pick up the veg chunks.

Last night, just fusilli with jarred "red pesto" (pesto rosso) which has sundried tomatoes as its first ingredient instead of basil. It's a nice change from regular pesto but we both prefer the green stuff. This tasted a lot like olives - strange, since there were no olives IN it - but there you go.

My cold came back at the beginning of the week but it's almost gone again - soon we shall actually be well enough to start going to see things again! (maybe!)

Domestic Goddess or Italian Mama??

While awaiting my Nigella cookbooks I turned back to my old standby, Marcella Hazan. As I was going through picking recipes I began to realize, slowly but surely, that Italian food uses the exact same 12-15 ingredients for every recipe, but in different combinations. And, in fact, those are the only ingredients you can buy at the market. No wonder Italians only eat Italian food! Having bought these 12 ingredients, I now have everything on hand to make 12 different types of pasta, 4 risottos, three crespelle, three frittata, and to accompany any meat that I buy. How about that??? (ingredients: carrots, celery, dried mushrooms, cream, prociutto, pancetta, eggs, parmesean cheese, romano cheese, wine, onions, butter, garlic, olive oil, and obviously pasta of different types and also arborio rice ... ok so more like 15 or so, and this assumes you have a rosemary plant and a sage plant handy, like I do.)

So obviously I have challenged myself to go through and try all the Marcella recipes that I haven't yet, without repeating until I'm done. I started with an old favorite, Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter (pg. 152) which is so simple anyone could do it and I usually just make that. But then I branched out...


And I made spaghetti carbonara (pg. 202)! Who knew that it was tossed with a raw egg? It was very delicious - and I made it not without some trepidation, as it is purportedly Matt's favorite pasta dish which he no longer orders at restaurants becuase it's never good enough. He liked it. :)


Here we have ravioli with lemon and cheese (bought at the local fresh pasta store) with burro oro e salvia (pg. 192) - golden butter and sage sauce, which we had with chicken with rosemary and white wine (pg. 329).


Honestly, I've never had it cook up this well - the chickens here must be extra fatty. Or maybe Marcella's recipes only work in Italy?


Last night I made fettucini with pesto, green beans and potatoes (pg. 177) - ok I bought the pesto (basil is not in season) but also quite simple and delicious.

So... when I come back and they have to let out the wedding dress more, this is why.

La Saga del Pacco

Il Mio Pacco! Sei arrivato! FINALEMENTE!!!

Er, it's a good thing you weren't fragile, pacco.

A week and four delivery attempts later, two phone calls, and a patient war against our conspiring building administrator has finally yielded fruit. My pacco, containing my books, research from last semester, and most importantly my NIGELLA COOKBOOKS has finally arrived!

Lo, how could it have taken so long?? Well, let me explain... the building supervisor is highly offended by either my name or penmanship, and also by stickers of any kind. Thus every attempt to put our names on the mailbox was ripped down the next day, nay, within a few hours... Likewise, the package deliveryman's notes were roughly scratched down before we had the chance to even see them... Matt, suspecting that the yellow shreds outside our building's gate might be an attempt at communication, and knowing that Italians are both half-hearted and lazy, searched the sidewalk beneath our gate and found, lo...



Not a lot, but enough to get our kind secretary at the Italian school to call and beg that the package be delivered again.

But yea, the package gods were still not appeased by our efforts, and the building administrator still conspired to keep my books parted from me. Finally (after a phonecall with our landlord) he typed up a label that said MATTHEW SARGENT AMELIA-BONEGO. Correct enough, perhaps, but enough to confound the simple postman, who alas, not seeing the little sticky note Matt had placed nearby with the correct names (which had been summarily ripped down prior), went away again.

One final phone call, and a final day of holding vigil at home, skipping class, peeing with the bathroom door open to be sure and hear the buzzer should it ring, the gods smiled, and allowed that the package be delivered.

Reggie in the news

clicca qui!

Rome in January...

...is GREEN!

The forum, from the Capitoline hill.

And again, with the Arch of Septimus Severus.

The Palatine Hill and Circus Maximus from the Aventine. (we were heading toward the baths of caracalla.)

Pictures of the apartment soon, I promise. First we have to take down our laundry!

frowny face

DIS MANIBUS
SPRINKLES CATTUS AMATUS
TE ELEGI SOMNICULOSUM
NUNC DORMIS MELIUS
VIX.ANN.XVI
(heres faciendum curavit)

:(

[translation: my kitty died]

Ciao Lissa and Dave!

 

Wow! So it's been nearly 5 years since I've seen Lissa, and here we are! Lissa and Dave came through this weekend and we met up on Saturday. First we went to the wine bar Cul de Sac, which is "Rome's first wine bar" (how do you measure that, anyway?) in the Piazza Pasquino, home of Rome's famous "talking statue" Pasquino (these days covered with bad poetry and socialist manifestos). A bottle of chianti classico and a cheese/meat plate later, we went to dinner at Grotto del Teatro di Pompeo with Dave's parents, a restaurant built in Pompey's theater (which no longer exists, but all the buildings are built in a semi-circle over the original plan). Our meal was fabulous - we started with antipasti, sun dried tomatoes, eggplant about three different ways (grilled, marinated, and breaded), fritatta, zucchini, red peppers, and giant balls of fresh mozzerella di buffala. By the time our pasta dishes came, we were pretty much stuffed. Lissa really got the best thing, which was risotto di fiori di zucca... very tasty. My tortellini con crema was better last summer, and Matt's pasta and beans was ... pasta and beans. Eh. :) We were so full that we couldn't bear to order any secondi. We were going to split a few desserts, but the waitress wasn't content that a party of six should only order 3, so she brought six. ;) millefoglie, two types of custard, two plates of creme brulee, and tiramisu. Half of our group barely made it past the pantheon to see it all lit up.

I had wanted to meet up with them again yesterday but I have this bad cold right now and I haven't left the house. boo...! But I hope you had a great time Lissa! See you soon, maybe! (Not another 5 years!)