bolognese

I'm not sure that I mentioned it, but we're off to Italy in just under three months.  I think that three months from today (as this get posted), we'll be en route from Ischia to Bologna.  Hooray!  We've planned this for ages, and we're excited.  So it's appropriate that we went a little Italian tonight.

No, not the cocktails.  Those were the preamble.  A Don't Give Up the Ship for Van. 

A martini made with vermouth bianco for Conrad. 

An Alaska for me. 

A nice start to the evening even if I did dither for ages over what cocktail I wanted.

I spent time this afternoon making a bolognese according to a cookbook I know and like and trust.  Was it the best bolognese?  Nope.  Far from it.  But it was tasty enough with fettucine. 

I also made a caesar salad. 

No, not Italian at all, but typical of USian Italian restaurants.  Can I confess?  It was OK.  I made the dressing twice - my oils were, sorry to say, not rancid but not as good as they could be, and the first attempt was horribly bitter.  Ah well.  It was still a nice meal.  We opened a 2006 wine Conrad and I picked up when we were in Chianti in 2017,

and while it wasn't as big as we might have hoped, it had some nice age on it.

All in all, a good meal for the three of us.  The countdown to Italy continues!