We used our
Forno Osteria gift card on Friday. I had a Limonata that was very much on the sweet side. We shared the Fritto Misto, an appetizer of Zucchini fritters and assorted mushrooms. At $13.00, I find this to be overpriced for the portion size. For our entree, we shared the Pappa al Pomodoro, which was crushed tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and smashed bread. We weren't sure what to expect of this one, but for a bowl of what looks like thick spaghetti sauce, it was actually really tasty. In some strange way, it kind of reminded me of an upscale On-Cor Veal Parmigiana, but I probably shouldn't have admitted that in public. ;-) Dessert has been very 'miss' during every other visit here, but we actually had a 'hit' with the Raspberry Tart. Simple, but very light and flavorful.
On Saturday as we headed out to breakfast, I saw that I had a voicemail from my cousin, Bethann. As I was in the middle of listening to it, she called again. Her mom had been in the hospital for several days prior, and she had been keeping me apprised of the situation. It turns out that she had taken a turn for the worse, and things were not looking good. She was trying to get a hold of my parents so they could meet her up at the hospital, but she hadn't been able to reach them on their home line. I tried my dad's cell phone and was able to reach him and relay the message, and I let Beth know they'd be heading over. I had been debating going up the day before, and of course now I wish I had just gone, but you never know just how quickly things can end up changing.
We stopped at
Pleasantry for breakfast where I had the avocado, radish, red onion, and cured egg yolk toast, while Francisco had the herbed goat cheese, lavender honey, and salt & pepper pecan toast. Both were such unique takes on toast, and both were delicious. The bread was lightly toasted and very soft in the middle.
Obviously, the family news put a damper in my spirits, so we just kind of wandered around a bit and stopped at the
City Flea, since this was within walking distance of the restaurant. We got some
Dojo Gelato and some fries from
Harvest Mobile Cuisine before the rain moved in and my fries got soggy on the walk back to the car. This urban flea market was pretty neat though, and I'd love to check it out again!
After stopping at Meijer, Francisco began preparing
Goat Cheese ice cream with red cherries, and I got the text from Beth right at 2:00 my time. Two small words but such a big impact: "she's gone." My heart was aching so much for my best cousin who had just lost her mom, and I just wish I had been there to give her a big hug. I know she had people there for her - her fiancee was there, her brother, my parents, etc., but I wish I had been there, too. Living so far from people you care about can be very tough. :(
We usually don't venture out much on Sundays, but the weather was too perfect to pass up, so we headed down to
Doe Run Lake.
There were some mishaps. Francisco asked after the fact, "what's your success rate with kayaking? 50%?". As he got the kayak set up, I stepped in a slick patch of mud that landed me flat on my butt, scraping the skin off the side of my toe. It was so slick, I couldn't even get back up without scooting over to the grass. I think two other people ended up falling in that same spot, so that was just dangerous.
As we were kayaking, a spider crawled across my leg, and I let out a blood-curdling scream. Apparently, I screamed so loud, a couple on the shore pulled out their binoculars to peer over at us and make sure I wasn't being murdered. I reassured them that it was "just a spider!" But this thing was LARGE. Long legs and some really sizable FANGS. He crawled under the lip of the kayak, and I was having a heck of a time maneuvering to get in there and get him off the boat. I finally got him. Not sure if you can make out the fangs, but I included my hand for a size reference.
We saw lots of turtles and some herons, but I tell ya, everytime I don't bring the good camera, I regret it.
As we pulled up to the boat ramp, we tried to avoid crashing into some little kid hanging out at the edge, so Francisco half-fell out of the boat when he went to exit since he was on the very edge of the ramp. Almost immediately, a panicked look came over his face as he thought he had just lost his iPhone. Thankfully, it was still tucked in the back of the kayak, but this was a reminder to always put everything in the waterproof bag when exiting the boat!!
We picked up some Mac's pizza for lunch, and let me tell you, this might be my new fave pizza place - full review coming hopefully soon!
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