Staycation, Part Deux

Here's a couple of shots of the harbor taken last week by my husband. There's someone enjoying an early autumn sail. Lots of boats have already been taken out for the winter. We always loved this time of year best since all the tourists have gone home and you can actually get to the launches with your boat. Plus the crisp fall weather makes everything look so pretty looking back to the shore. Leaf peeping at its best.

We hightailed it back to the Old Mill for lunch on Wednesday.

Good move. Another really wonderful lunch. The food was delicious and the scenery couldn't be beat. It was the last of the beautiful weather for the week so I'm happy we went back. We had clam chowder(New England)that was very good and different than the day before. Roger thought it was very much like mine and I'll take that compliment and run with it. We had the frito di mare and it was all so crisp and fresh you didn't taste any of the oil it was fried in. Crunchy and sweet scallops and shrimp and a big piece of flounder on a bed of super crisp skinny fries. Dessert was panna cottta for me and cheesecake for my boyfriend. I just read that the place was taken over a couple of years ago by a group of people including Greta Van Sustern of CNN. Greta wasn't there when we were-unless she's the fry cook and didn't feel presentable to meet us. Ah well, perhaps next time.

We awoke today to a real honest to goodness rain storm with wind and torrential rain. Haven't had any of that for a month. It's been very dry. This will bring down a hail of leaves from the still full trees and vines. The temperature has been nice and so cool in the evenings that it makes for good sleeping weather. Here's a last shot of the Macari Vineyards entrance.

I didn't really enjoy any staycation yesterday since I had to do laundry, grocery shopping and with the many tomatoes from out east, I made eggplant caponata. We had it over pasta last night. I didn't put salt into it but a large handful of chopped green olives added a little more flavor. This cooking without salt is a challenge. With fresh ingredients like those it did taste pretty good and I added some grated locatelli on mine.

Since the weather is not good for anything else, I will do some reading and sewing today. Picked up a copy of "The Duchess" the biography of the Duchess of Devonshire and am enjoying that-it's a good history fix but the writing is a little dry so far-can't wait to see the movie. There are some historical writers that somehow put a little more punch into the telling. Still, it's interesting and I'll stick with it.

Hope you have a good day. Talk to you tomorrow.