Cocktail Plan

Sorry that I didn’t blog yesterday – I was going to post some pictures but never got around to it. Monday evening Travalon and I took Rodney for a walk along the Yahara, seeing lots of what Prairie Man tells us is wild indigo. The river was really beautiful in the waning light. Then we went to the Nau-Ti-Gal because Travalon wants to try all their cocktails, and he has a plan: one cocktail each Monday night. There are exactly as many on the menu as there are Mondays left in the summer. We sat on their back patio with Rodney, but it was loud because apparently there was a private party going on, with a keg, and they were playing rap music that was even too hardcore for me. Or maybe it just wasn’t good hardcore rap; I don’t like Tupac Shakur because of all his swearing, but in spite of it because he’s got such mad rhyming skills.

Last night Travalon and I went to Liliana’s for their special menu: the theme was strawberries this week. Actually, Travalon got the catfish, which is his favorite thing on the menu. I made the mistake of getting the matching flight of wine too, which was way more wine than I needed. The first course was a pecan and strawberry salad with a pinot grigio. The second course was tilapia with grilled asparagus, herb mashed potatoes, and strawberry chutney, paired with a merlot. The dessert (which I split with Travalon, since I was stuffed by then) was grilled pound cake with whipped cream and strawberries, paired with a brut champagne. Good thing Travalon was driving, because I was pretty tipsy after that, even though the waiter had assured me that the wine servings were very small, not standard size. Anyway, everything was really good.

Today as I was taking my usual rosary walk at lunchtime, I went a different route and felt weirdly unwelcome. It started with a chained-up dog who barked ferociously at me as I passed by, then a squirrel practically ran into me, and then when I passed some bushes, several birds chirped loudly and then flew out at me. It was the strangest thing – I don’t usually disturb animals with my mere presence. Why today?  

Famous Hat