no words

Just pastries brought in for my staff because we all need some care today.

quiet mornings

Perfect times for walks.  I've been loving having the sun rise earlier thanks to moving our clocks back, and I've been able to catch the sunrise or near to it a couple of times this week. 

Having a morning to myself to listen to music and walk alone with my thoughts is a little gift at a time where so much seems so fraught with anxiety.

let us not forget...

... that Olive is the sweetest, prettiest girl.

She'll be even fluffier after her salon appointment tomorrow, but I can't resist sharing her now.

liver!

I am pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but I am very much a fan of liver.  Love it.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  I mean, sure, if it's cooked poorly, then no, but isn't that true of pretty much anything?

Van and I had another date night yesterday. 

Well, date afternoon and night.  We took in Conclave (not as good a movie as I wanted it to be) and then headed to Smitty's where they serve up liver as a special the first weekend of the month.  Unlike the movie, the liver was as good as I wanted it to be, and so we were happy.

It's election week, Conrad is out of town, there won't be a lot of amazing adventures to document on here.  I shall try to get at least a few short ones posted, though.  Onward with November!

Rossoblu

Conrad left for Philadelphia yesterday morning, and Van and I decided to have ourselves a date night in DTLA.  

Or the Arts District or somewhere adjacent to that.  Rossoblu was his pick of places, and I was glad of it - I’d heard about it for some time, and it had made the LA Times top 101 list in the past.  Better still, as Van informed me, its specialty was Italian food from Bologna.  Hooray!

I’m not an expert on Bologna after all of four nights there in September, but I’m not sure I saw how the menu was especially Bolognese.  Yes, there were recognizably Bologna things - the tortellini en brodo

that Van and I shared was one such dish.  But otherwise, maybe?  No matter.  It was good food.  A cocktail to start

with different wines to follow for me, and then we shared a series of four dishes:  stracciatella with apple, pear, and squash;

the tortellini; a breaded pork chop with prosciutto and Parmesan;

and a marvel of a buttermilk panna cotta.

Verdict:  great food and worth going back.  The service was nice enough but not as attentive as it should have been, but ah well.  A cool space, likely too loud for Conrad.  But yes, I would enjoy it again, given the opportunity, and explore other items on their menu.

green gold

If you look at our history of cocktails on here, a particular cocktail shows up time and again:  the Last Word.  Our house cocktail, so to speak.  And an essential ingredient is green chartreuse.

There was once a time when we could wander into Everson Royce and grab a bottle easily any time, or so it seemed.  Over time it became less likely we would find a bottle, and then it seemed that other stores we tried no longer had it.  A worldwide shortage, articles proclaimed, and we were left to wonder what to drink if we had none.

I’ve been hunting it down online regularly, keeping a stock on hand.  It’s a little ridiculous, I know.  But here we go, green gold on our bar.  This should keep us in cocktails for some time to come!

Swimming. Again.

First post of November, and it's a short swimming one.  2500 yards today, so an increase from previous swims.  I won't say improvement.

I weighed myself this morning for the first time in ages, and, well, hmmm.  Not good.  So, expect more swimming posts!

before and after

Last post of the month, and it's another bloody swimming one.  Sigh.

Before the swim, and despite the smile/smirk (you decide), I really wasn't in the mood.  You know, some days you want to make your decaf and relax into the work day.  But I knew it would be good for me.  So I went.

2000 yards.  Better than zero, better than recently, so far below what I should be capable of.  Ah well.

Happy October that was, everyone.  May November bring new adventures and better swims!