Well, maybe not just yet -- temps have been rather chilly of late and the wind has been a bit brutal. (Is that like a "bit pregnant" I wonder?) But the sun has been shining more often than not and it just looks like spring is hovering somewhere in the shadows waiting to leap out and surprise us with something cool like trees blossoming.
Naturally rain is predicted for the next two days. Well like they say, "April showers. . . " But the good news is the Spring 2008 dessert menu is out at Gracie's:
Anyway, it's been another grand week here in the Ocean State. Susie continues to develop her pastry skills and I continue to marvel at the wonders of the Internet.
Susan is now working up yet another series of trio desserts for later in the week: (1) chocolate mousse meringue baskets, (2) pecan praline ice cream sandwiches and (3) vanilla bavarois (Bavarian creme) lemon bites.
In addition, she continues working on perfecting things like Baked Alaska (the photo above shows some of her first versions), and of course testing new things. This week I think she's working on something involving macaroon ice cream sandwiches, and heaven knows what other delectable things she has got planned for the folks lucky enough to stop by Gracie's for dinner this week.
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| Matt and Cara working the line at Gracie's |
As for me I spend an unhealthy amount of my time in front of the computer screen. Between blogging and trying to empty our house of various trinkets and baubles, pushing them onto unsuspecting folks on Amazon and eBay, I'm pretty busy.
Otherwise the past week has been fairly routine: we enjoyed the wine flight at Gracie's last Wednesday. This time it was a staff member from the Savory Grape wine shop in East Greenwich who came by to show three of their favorites: a delicious Sauvignon blanc from northern California, a Bordeaux and a scrumptious Nero d'Avola from Sicily my favorite).
On Friday afternoon Dick and Dorothy came down, bringing their circular saw. No, they don't normally drive around with a major power tool in their car. Susie needed some cutting done, part of the ongoing work on organizing her studio at the back of the apartment. They stayed for dinner and the four of us ran a totally unscientific but tasty side-by-side taste test of pizzas from two different pizza shops in town. I picked up a pie from Fellini's on Wickenden and Dick drove over to Bob and Timmy's just off of Atwell's avenue on Federal Hill, and picked up one of their famous grilled pizzas.
The toppings on both were delicious but the crust on B & T's grilled pie was almost underdone; anyway it was very soggy. You can read more about that on my other blog, Dining in Providence.
So the time continues to fly by: we occasionally slip in and out of a moderate melancholia, longing for the feelings of ease and comfort of living in Siena or Paris (or even Florence for that matter). I don't know, maybe it just feels like home there. Strange, but there you have it.
The upside of living here is that Providence is really a great town. A small, but wonderful big city. We couldn't have made a better choice. The focus on food here is actually palpable and you can almost feel the energy that comes out of so many culinary imaginations firing at once.
And Gracie's. . . . Susie has found a home there to be sure. Everyone treats her so well and they give her incredible support -- and the opportunities for experimentation are endless.
Anyway, the wine flight this week is Rhode Island wines -- should be illuminating, don't you think? On Saturday we hope to see Martin Yan (of "Yan Can Cook") at Johnson & Wales University for a demo session of Chinese cooking. Afterwards we head off to Dick and Dorothy's for dinner.
Sunday I hope to slide over to the Saltwater Fishing show at the Rhode Island Convention Center downtown -- maybe pick up a couple of rods and reels or a boat or two -- at least shoot some photos for an upcoming article in Prime Time magazine (one of my ongoing gigs now).
It's nice living in the big city. Now if they would just fix the roads. . .
Wish you were here,
Steve
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