I did my best to have a good time while Finn was in Croatia, but really I was just very lonely without him and so so so so relieved and happy when he came home. And it seems like it was worth it, for him, nice photos of a nice holiday, nice for some...
But anyway, the film festival was on here for the week that he was away, so (once Svetislava and I figured out the cheaper options) we saw a few flicks. (At first glance, the useless schedule of screenings they publish in place of a catalogue had prices ranging between 25 and 45 euro, a wee bit steep for our budget.) Steve McQueen's Shame screened at one of the local, cheaper cinemas here on Venice proper and Svetislava and I went one evening after I made us a quick dinner of spaghetti and peas with a ricotta, anchovy, and egg carbonara-type mix. It was good, the film I mean (although the pasta was nice), not as harrowing as Hunger, but cringe-making all the same, for different reasons. The best day though was when we found out about the coupon system. On Friday we met out at Lido at 8am and headed straight to the cinema village, where we joined the que of fellow coupon retrievers. Coupons were handed out each morning to selected screenings that day. In the end we saw a documentary (about an Italian musician hanging out on a Navajo reservation in Arizona), went for a swim, and ate gelato all before work started at midday. Then we were straight back out that night for some more films, a few drinks, and a bit of action on the red carpet. The next evening Finn came home (thank goodness!). And the evening after that we had pencilled in to go to go to the open air cinema at San Polo which was going to be screening whichever film won the golden lion award, but that turned out to be Faust which they were only showing with Italian subtitles, so it was no use to us. Rabbit instead.
Rounding the corner of the Arsenale on our way home that Sunday evening, the canal to the entrance was full of lovely wooden sail boats with fantastic brightly painted sails. There was a prize giving ceremony going on for what had obviously been some kind of regatta. A pity to have missed seeing them sailing around the lagoon, it would've been a lovely sight. Who knows where they came from, I've never seen boats like this here before, we were lucky to catch the tail end of it.
(Although Finn was back, we were without our camera so Svetislava kindly loaned her phone for the purpose.)
That night, it being both Sunday and a celebratory homecoming evening, we decided it'd be nice to cook a bit of meat for a change. Meat has seemed entirely unappealing these past hot hot months, but on finding fresh rabbit, we were ready to make the shift into autumn cooking. Ever since a particularly delicious rabbit meal in Barcelona, I have (whenever in the possession of a nice bunny) always wanted to achieve a satisfying recreation. The Spanish rabbit was cooked in a spicy ratatouille-type sauce and served with oily potatoes. We came pretty close.
4 rabbit legs
1 small white onion
the green part of a leek (saving the white part for potatoes another night)
2 cloves of garlic
1 large dried chilli
a glass of red wine to de-glaze
1 red and 1 yellow capsicum
1 aubergine
a couple of bay leaves
a few tomatoes
You know how it goes. In the end the rabbit was meltingly delicious, served with soft polenta and a refreshing crisp salad. But we had to eat it with all the windows closed and the aircon on full blow, it really isn't quite autumn just yet.
(Again, no camera.)
That all seems like ages ago though. We have Michael here now. A friend! He's staying for 3 weeks in the apartment right next door to us (we share a landlord and an entranceway) - our luxury suite option. Autumn has arrived with him though, which is a bit stink. The Monday before he arrived Finn and I were out at Lido, lying on the rocks in the sun reading our books after a lovely swim, commenting to each other about how the summer felt like it would last forever. Or at least well long enough for Michael to get a good piece of it. But now it's less hot. The night he arrived we had hoped to have a welcoming barbecue out at Lido, but a wind came though and blew all the leaves off the trees and made us feel anxious, and luckily so as that night there was a bit of a storm. The next morning, a Monday, for the first time in months, it was cold. Aaaaarrrrrrr. So alarming! It was the first time in about three months that I've felt the need to wear leg coverings. Later in the day, out at the beach on the other side of the lagoon entrance from Lido, we still got hot enough to have a lovely Adriatic swim. It was ominous though - we even saw a waterspout out to sea - and the storm clouds rolled in from the east. Thunder boomed and lightening struck to our left (east) while the sun shone brightly above us and over to our right (west). Pretty dramatic. I have been so anxious about the summer ending. I simply loved the heat, all day and all night. Finn thinks I'm completely mad, but I just can't get enough of it. Thankfully the sun came back out fairly quickly and I feel much less bad about the drop in temperature.
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| Arriving at the two-weather beach. But oh my, what's that out to sea?! |
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| Waterspout - WOW! |
Whatever the weather, we are really excited about having Michael here keeping us company, and looking forward to some more good adventures. It'd be nice to get him to do a guest posting while he's here, I hope he agrees. And I hope he has photos of the discovery we made on our way to the beach - stay tuned for fruity revelations.
24 September 2011
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