Birthdays are like a sack of olives...

Some years are black and some are green, but they all get mushed into oil in the end.

This one began with some flaming, liquor-filled Mexican wrestling heads

And some other lovelies

Then down to Tuscany for actual picking

To make lots of this:

With some energetic helpers

One of whom was also having a birthday

And so there was lots of cooking

Festive cooking

Also, tasteful cards from across the sea.

Not a bad way to age.

Eataly in NYC

Just had lunch at the new Eataly in NY, which is startling similar to the Torinese one--basically an enormous upscale Ikea for Italian food. Row after row of pasta, cheese, meat, vegetables, fish, salami, wine, beer, etc. This can be both a good and a bad thing. Everything looked really delicious, and I had some nice paccheri al sugo di mare. They have imported not just the food, but the wait staff, so everything is molto authentic. On the other hand: it's a giant food Ikea. Big, bulging, consumerist. And unlike Ikea, it's pretty expensive.Can you be a giant food court cum supermarket cum design emporium AND be an exemplar of the slow food way? Can you do this 6000 miles away from the source? I think not.

Governance Dance

Academic writing can be turgid. Academic presentations can destroy the soul. So I fully endorse this new approach to presenting academic knowledge.

Need to start working on my routine for presentation in Princeton on Tuesday! I'm thinking something like this:

Babies

There were a lot of them this summer! Fortunately, all disarmingly adorable.

First, there were the twin bundles of terror.

Then there was the cherubic F. Sweet and gentle--unless you get between her and a slab of meat or an M+M.

They do, it must be said, make life difficult sometimes. Like when they throw your camera behind the bench. Or when you want to go to a bar. Or walk anywhere. Or eat at a reasonable hour. Or sleep. But it is a testament to their cuteness and loveability that we still like them. Bring them on, I say. What could possibly go wrong?

Weddings

Bumper crop this year. Duties all around. Fortunately, I actually enjoyed all of them immensely. In part because I approve of the matchings, in part because they were in great places, in part because they had a critical quota of cool people to hang out with.

More pics to follow once the official ones are released, but in the meantime, here's a few I could snap between my various responsibilities.

Karen as Stag.

Karen with a phallic balloon sculpture

Taiwanese lion dancing

Taiwanese lawyer dancing

Wedding guests through the looking glass

Maine, Vermont, California

Three nice states, three different experiences.

Maine: visiting 'rents on remote island for Mom's 60th Bday.

Gorgeous setting in which to death-march.

Puzzles

Buoys

Good old-fashioned fun

Vermont: Wedding Anniversary Extraganza. Water-skiing, bbqing, good company

Chickens on parade

Sweaty square dancing!

California. Wedding of K+W, plus a little side visit to MM, pictured here in her natural position:

Everyone had a good time except the deer that ran in front of our car and left this dent on the hood:

Sport

Four major sporting events:

1. Bicycle rickshaw circumnavigation of Isle au Haut (involuntary).

2) Water-skiing for the first time. More fun than anticipated!

3. Clay pigeon shooting. Moderate expectations, satisfactorily met.

4. Riding. Or, more accurately, being led around Richmond Park on a lead. Not thrilling, but quite enjoyable at a 4:1 champagne bottle to person ratio.

New York

Doesn't really feel like I've left, but still got to act like a tourist by showing around two first-time New Yorkers and two former visitors.

Did a lot of the usual stuff. Walked around. Saw the things one should see. Ate the things one should eat.

Had some good times in the usual faves, with the usual faves.

Introduced the Sicilian gastronomes to some culinary hotspots:

Sometimes one takes New York for granted. But then you remember:

Things I ate

There were many diverse culinary influences these last few weeks, as is right and proper. A sample:

Divine torellini in cream sauce, painstakingly handcrafted by a small army of PORNO!stars

A fruit tart of Byzantine complexity, and not too bad tasting, but unfortunately based on a plum compote from the garden, bitter, like all the fruits of that earth (e.g. Marcella).

Maine lobster! Good and fresh. Here being served in the traditional style by a local lobsterman.

While I technically didn't eat anything at this establishment, I was intrigued by the menu, though it was for some reason off-putting to the other passengers in the car.

Another Maine establishment I did not get to sample, sadly.

San Franciscan enchiladas, a whole big plate of them drenched in mole. Still digesting this one.

Marreman miscellany

Besides organizing PORNO!, setting up for PORNO!, and recovering from PORNO!, there were plenty of other Tuscan romps.

Lots of hangin' with the various peeps

The Lake of Acesa (sp?) is always calm and refreshing...

...and wild...

But nature was tamed once a vital tool was acquired and unleashed upon the rebellious grasses:

At the end it all felt a bit short. That was, before the epic land journey back to London (via Brescia) that was accomplished, miraculously, without the use of train tickets. Below, some happy passengers joyously await the arrival of their delayed train: