Restaurant Phoebe

My friend Alice and I had a lovely dinner, kvetching about the choice of schooling here, the dark cold winter, traveling with kids, the lot. We shared an appetizer of bruschetta: one eggplant with goat cheese, one oyster mushroom, and one tomato (You can probably tell I wasn't really paying attention, but they were all quite good). Alice had a pasta dish, something they were calling "panscotti"---a triangle ravioli filled with vegetables (I can't remember what, I didn't bring home a menu, and I didn't eat it). I had seared scallops with a potato leek cake and sauteed cabbage with this velvety vanilla sauce. We shared two desserts--something called "chocolate mousse creme brulee", which seemed to be a layer of vanilla custard, a layer of chocolate custard, and the really nicely done "brulee" crust. The other one was this disappointing apple crostata. The apple filling was nice, but the dough made up most of it and it was quite sandy and raw tasting. I couldn't even finish my portion of that. Oh well. I would go back, but I might go somewhere else for dessert. The service was warm and attentive...but not too attentive!

Today we're taking the kids to something in Montpelier called "Family Fun Day". Hopefully, it's not too chaotic.

There is a concern about flooding in Montpelier because of ice dams in the river (the Winooski) that runs through the city. There was a flood in 1992 that took everyone by surprise. The temperature is supposed to go up quite a bit this weekend (well, 40F) and there is a lot of snow.

One of the favorite play time activities lately is to play restaurant. Fiona asks me what I would like and she brings it out to me on a tray from the play kitchen. Sophia just starts bringing me random food items, but she will ask what I want to drink: "Juice?" (I say yes and drink it) "Water?" (repeat) "Juice?" She believes one should be well hydrated. Fiona will follow me around until I sign the check. She is the Chef and owner of the restaurant, and I am still her mother, but I don't live in the same state she does. Last time it was just that I was in Vermont and she was in New Hampshire. That's better than her being in Australia--she told me that I couldn't live there with her "because Australia is too scary".