I returned to the terrific peruvian/Italian restaurant in Boston’s north end last night for a happy occasion- our nephew Alex’s rehearsal dinner, a day before his wedding. The food was delicious – most noteably melt in your mouth steak in Skewers (even the Nebraskans in attendance – Alex’s bride is from Lincoln – were impressed) and a killer pisco sour ($16 splurge).
Our long wait to transfer planes in rainy Chicago was brightened by the nearness of our fav o’hare ding spot, torte, where we shared a spicy Cubano sandwich. I noticed one of the “local” food suppliers is kalona organic in Iowa. Also found an interesting looking vending machine option.
We had good Indian food at Priya near Troy, including onion badjis (which the restaurant called onion pakora) and dosa, a southern Indian crepe, plus more traditional fare like saag and shrimp tikka masala. Then onto Rays ice cream in royal oak where the kiddie scoop I got was just as enormous as the regular scoop. Not complaining.
We managed to put the flood aside and enjoy yet another spectacular day of weather –it was almost too hot. My few warm weather clothes are getting a workout while I have yet to use my down jacket, rain coat or umbrella.
As our hostel operators suggested, we drove from Bergen to Voss to Vik and then took the ferry to Helle and then drove through Sogndal, a bigger town, to this tiny village of Solvorn. En route, we stopped for lunch on the side of a two lane road running though a green valley with a road zigzagging up a mountain beside water crashing down some falls. Wow. In Vik, we stopped at a lovely old Stave church circa 1140, made of carved wood, with painted murals inside a rounded entrance.
Eplet Bed &Apple is a charming homey place. Our room is small but cheerful and has a spectacular view. There are mostly young people here , some from France, but also a Jewish family from central Pennsylvania. Two strange coincidences: we met a couple yesterday in Bergen from the Pennsylvania family’s town. Turns out it’s their dentist. And the mom of this family went to Grinnell for college.
We went down to the one business in town, a small cafe and store where they served surprisingly good Thai food, cooked by a Thai woman who usually cooks at a restaurant in Oslo. She is summering here. Another pleasant surprise: we can swim in the fjord. There are two little beaches and the water is not frigid. As dirck says, it kind of feels like we are in summer camp or Ithaca on vacation by the lake.
With subzero temps and icy snow on the ground, Christmas 2017 in Chicago was not conductive to outdoor activity, which is a big change from last Christmas when it was so pleasant we took our dog for a romp on the beach near my stepdaughter’s condo in Edgewater. But this year, we walked as much as we could tolerate, with help from two pairs of socks, down jackets, thick scarves covering our face from the nose downward.
We enjoyed well-deserved hot chocolate at The Wormhole, a bohemian coffee house in Wicker Park and made it about a block in the bitter cold to a little boutique for some post-Xmas sale shopping. At Night, we met my old friend Polly and her husband Jamie (who drove down and around from their home in Traverse City) for dinner at a favorite restaurant, Andy’s Thai Kitchen (the one in Edgewater, which is not only more convenient to where we stay but takes credit cards).
On Wednesday we talked ourselves into thinking it was slightly warmer (it wasn’t but the sky was brilliantly blue over the icy pale blue lake) and walked from my aunt’s apartment on Astor Street to Uniqlo on Michigan Avenue for some sale-priced winter gear and then to chaotic Eataly, the Italian food madhouse for some fresh prosciutto, mozzarella and fungi pizza, sitting at a high top table in the middle of a rush of shoppers. Our only other purchase was rustic bread with cranberries and apples, which made a delicious breakfast today. We kept walking, over the river to Revival Hall, a new food court/Hall in an old building. I’m told the poke place, the bbq place (smoke) and the Thai noodle place are good to try but we only had coffee and some too-sweet bakery goods. I was Intrigued by the”Detroit-style pizza” place, something this native Detroiter never heard of before. Dinner was with my dear aunt at one of her favorite places, Shaw’s for fresh fish, creamed spinach, hash browns and peppermint ice cream with hot fudge.
Today was cold and grey. We wandered a few blocks in Andersonville, shopping at Foursided and the bookstore, Women and Children First, and ending up eating at the nearby Middle East Bakery & Grocery after we learned that Edzo’s was closed (we drove all the way to Evanston, only to discover this). Now driving in the dark across Illinois. Fortunately it stopped snowing after the city of Peru. Our best meal was Emma’s fabulous homemade Korean brisket, roasted rosemary potatoes, collard greens and chocolate cake (with ground coffee but no flour)…not available to the public, sorry.
TakeBetsywithyou 