December 16, dinner. By accident, Network World orders a really good cheese board, with real Parmigiano, a nice St. Andre, some good goat cheese, and a very tasty goat blue. The usual pepper crap cheese was there as well, but if you ate from the wedges, you ate well indeed. With a glass of very cheap Chardonnay.
December 17, breakfast. At Washington National (Reagan) Airport, the "old" terminal which I haven't been in for years. A moderately bad scone and a pretty bad cappuccino from the "Euro Cafè" which was not.
December 17, lunch. Aboard flight from Minneapolis to Tucson, I had the cheese omelet (not bad, actually), the potatoes (lots of garlic, but needed salt), and the sausage (average). The raspberry brioche was not very good---essentially a very eggy dough with raspberry jam injected in it so it was quite damp inside. Fruit plate was actually huge.
December 17, lunch. Chicken rice soup at Rigo's in South Tucson. With Jan. Good soup; nice flavor and not too tomatoey of a taste (despite what it looks like).
December 17, snack. One of Christine's Prescription-only Brownies. Dangerously chocolatey.
December 17, dinner. Appetizer of Caprese salad at Vero Amore with Russ Magnuson and Jan. These guys make their own mozzarella, and while it's not perfect, it's way better than most.
December 17, dinner. We split two pizzas and a calzone. This is the Capricciosa, a pizza with prosciutto (doh), mozarella, carciofi, funghi, and olivi. At Vero Amore in Tucson with Russ and Jan.
December 17, dinner. I had some of this calzone, which is filled with tomato sauce, prosciutto, ricotta, and mozarella.
December 17, dinner. Last pizza we shared, a quattro formaggi, with gorgonzola, parmesan, and two kinds of home-made mozarella (normal and smoked). Good!
December 17, dessert. At Vero Amore in Tucson with Russ and Jan. The three of us split this "chocolate chip cookie" which is baked in a small skillet, and covered with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Cakey, and good.
December 18, breakfast. The usual, and a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.
December 18, lunch. A half sandwich, pastrami and corned beef, at Vito and Shlomo's deli. WIth Craig Rich and Jan in Tucson. A very good sandwich. The slaw and fries were ordinary. A note: we ate outside, a nice luxury in Tucson this late in the year!
December 18, snack. Some chocolate covered and caramel corn from a Harry and David's basket sent over by the Mu Dynamics guys. Thanks Tom!
December 18, dinner. Joe's home-made Turkey and Rice soup. With parmesan on top and some little toast rounds. I tried putting crispy turkey bacon in it, but frankly that was a total waste of time and turkey bacon is an abomination in the first place. Now, maybe *real* bacon, that would have been good. At home with Jan.
December 18, dessert. Some truffles (not all four, OK? Like one for me and one for Jan) from Harry and David's via Mu Dynamics.
December 19, breakfast. The usual, and a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice courtesy of Jan. At home in Tucson.
December 19, lunch. The fish special at Chuy's in Tucson. Fried fish fillets, some fries, and a good cole slaw. Honest food, even if the fish could have used some more seasoning. With Jan.
December 19, snack. A chocolate covered espresso bean.
December 19, dessert. No dinner, but Penn State Creamery (courtesy of the State College Commune) ice cream is on the menu.
December 20, breakfast. A piece of leftover pizza from Vero Amore.
December 20, lunch. We went to "Jimmy John's" for lunch, which was a big mistake. This is a place that doesn't give you what you want ("you can have any cheese you want, so long as it's Provolone...") and what it does give you is not all that good. I think that this was designed to be just like Subway, only different, which makes it just as bad as Subway, only different. I had the tuna-fish sandwich and decided that there was really no aspect of this sandwich which was exceptional.
December 20, dinner. Chicken soup at El Charro. With Jan and Mom.
December 20, dessert. Penn State Creamery Raspberry Fudge ice cream. At home, with Jan. Thanks Craig & John!
December 21, breakfast. The usual.
December 21, dinner. Joel's Chicken Noodle soup, at Barbara's with Don, Barbara, Jan, Dale, and Mom. Very good soup; could have used a bit more broth so the ratio of broth-to-chicken was higher. I think that this was almost a stew, but it was delicious in any case. On the little plate are some frozen spanakopita things that Barbara popped in the oven, and in the glass is a 2001 Turley ZInfandel.
December 21, first dessert. One of our own custom-made dark chocolate almond clusters. We made these for Jan's dad's birthday to replace the junky ones that come from the Price Club. It's all in the chocolate and boy was this good chocolate.
December 21, second dessert. A macadamia nut-and-bad-chocolate cluster from the Price Club. Urgh. What a waste of expensive nuts.
December 21, third dessert. Pumpkin pie and whipped cream. At Don & Barbara's, with the whole family.
December 22, breakfast. The usual, plus a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.