Christmas, and now on to the Antipodes

Christmas was relatively low key this year. We had a small round of parties, lots of fun, but not too tiring. The tree went up and came down early. The lights and the antique ornaments looked lovely. We are probably the only couple who use feather boas in place of beads around the tree, although there are a few Mardi Gras beads brought back from New Orleans, the place where we also bought the boas.

The highlight was the arrival of family: daughter Anne and husband Eric who spent a lovely three days with us. We cooked John's speciality for Christmas Eve, lasagne verde, a green lasagne, filled with prosciutto, parmesan, and béchamel sauce and a ragù made of broth, carrots, celery and spices. It's a medieval kind of recipe, probably written down in Bologna or Milano before the arrival of the tomato from the Americas changed Italian cuisine so completely in the 16th century. We started the meal with sautéed cherry tomatoes and peashoots. There were braised carrots with the lasagne and rainbow cake for dessert. We also munched on Thai holy basil cookies, with a passionfruit glaze.

We also did another speciality for Christmas, a goose, this time unstuffed but served with a dressing of a mixture of prunes, leeks and fennel. Roast potatoes as required by friend Mike, of course, and a plum pudding drenched in cognac and lighted for dessert. English custard to go with. We had started with brie from Normandy and a pâté de cerf (venison) et airelles (huckleberries) de Bretagne, acquired during a visit to Penvenan in Britanny. The wine was a Château Fleur Cardinale St Émilion Grand Cru 2004, which lived up to its label.

Then, after it was all over, we began packing. We leave for three weeks four days in New Zealand and Australia on January 2. The blog, of course, will keep you up to date on our travels. We arrive in Auckland on January 4 and will spend a few days on the north island before heading to the south island for wine tasting and train trips along the coast and over the Southern Alps. We are looking forward to learning more about Maori culture and enjoying what is supposed to be one of the "nicest" countries to visit in the world.

We will spend 11 days in New Zealand and then head off to visit friends in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, spending another 11 days in Australia before coming back to the States. This is our fourth trip to Australia but our first to New Zealand beyond Auckland airport, where John once changed planes.

Happy New Year

A Relatively Quiet Fall

It’s time to write up our Fall adventures. We have been home most of the time since the last I wrote, but have been busy with theater, friends and of course Thanskgiving.

Our only travel was a trip up to Craryville, New York, Arlington, Massachusetts and Bristol, Rhode Island to see friends, leaf-peep, and visit Anne and Eric in their new home. We did not do much in the way of restauranting, nor museums.

Our only significant “museum” experience was a day-trip to New Bedford, Massachusetts where we had thought to see the Whaling Museum but instead spent a couple of hours in the old Seaman’s Chapel, where Herman Melville had germinated ideas for Moby Dick. We finished off that day with lunch at Antonio’s, a Portuguese restaurant, which served magnificent quahogs on the half shelf to Ben and fresh grilled sardines to friend Elaine and me. A lovely lunch.

We quickly headed home at the end of this trip, and since then have been doing theater, and Opera Lafayette here in Washington. Among the shows: The Boy Detective Fails and The Hollow at Signature, both new pieces that we enjoyed; Side by Side by Sondheim, also at Signature, an art show at Longview Gallery with pieces by Amy Genser, which was worth a visit, and the show of Unbuilt Washington at the National Building Museum. That showed some of the monstrosities that were never built in Washington and how public pressure had saved our Capitol Hill neighborhood from freeway construction and avenues of offices.

Now on the Christmas.