Cleo

We were in Venice in September and we also ate at Taverna San Trovaso. We went for dinner and when we got there, the place was packed. A ton of people were waiting for tables. Luckily we had made a reservation and they seated us immediately. Not only was the pizza terrific, but I especially love a place that honors a reservation. Interesting comment about the horrible bread. Throughout our 2 week trip to Rome, Florence, Venice and Lake Garda, I kept thing that the lousy bread was my imagination. I wanted so much to love it. But it pretty much stunk. Of course we ate it anyway. We also really liked Osteria La Zucca. Did you get to eat there?

For about 8 summers, I went to a pretty hoity-toity sleepaway camp in Pennsylvania (remember Camp Mohawk in the movie "Meatballs"?). Every year there was this banquet at the end of the summer. The lights would go off in in the dining room, and waiters would come running through carrying trays of Flaming Baked Alaska. Sleepaway camp...those were the days!

Everyone in my family LOVES chocolate, and last year I made this Fudge Pecan Pie. It was amazing! And very easy...

Yeah, my husband and I were just talking about that. I can only imagine what the streets must have been like. Drivers and scooters barely stop at red lights when the traffic lights are working! By the way, with regard to the Vatican, in an earlier post, it was suggested to get to the Vatican Museum early. I forgot mention in my post above about our visit to the Vatican. We hired a private, licensed tour guide to take us there. He met us at our hotel at 7:30am, and we went straight to the Vatican Museum. He basically pays off the security guard to let us in right away (ahead of all of the groups and individuals). At exactly 8:00, we were inside and at 8:05 we were in the Sistine Chapel--with nobody else in there. It was amazing. But I really didn't know how amazing it was until after visiting the rest of the museum and we had to cut back through the Sistine Chapel to go on to St. Peter's--Sistine Chapel was wall to wall with tour groups. We spent about 3 hours in total with the guide. He's extremely knowledgable (he's actually an archeologist) and he speaks perfect English. It was pretty costly, but well worth it. I don't usually hire private guides, (the only other time I hired a private guide was in Beijing, China), but I really thought he was great. If anyone is interested, I can give you his name and e-mail address.

Tommy, My husband and I just got back from our first trip to Italy on Friday (gotta go back to work tomorrow! ). In exactly 2 weeks, we spent 5 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence, and 3 days in Venice. And for the last 2 days we picked up a car in Venice, drove to Lake Garda for a day and night (stopping in Verona for lunch and a quick visit) and then ended up in Milan (just stayed overnight and flew out in the morning). We took the Eurostar train (first class reserved tickets) from Rome to Florence (1 hour, 35 minutes) and then from Florence to Venice (almost 3 hours). It was super-easy. Driving in Milan was absolutely crazy. Traffic is unbelievably bad (and we are Manhattan residents), and the street signs are awful. I thought we were going to kill each other in the car! Anyway, my point is that Rome/Florence/Venice it totally doable in 2 weeks. Although I'm glad that we had the day in Lake Garda (it was beautiful and a great way to wind down), I would have loved to have another day in Florence. I felt like the 5 days in Rome and the 3 days Venice were appropriate. We did really want to go to other less touristy places in Italy, but I just decided that for our first Italy trip, this was a nice trip. And it was great! You can't go wrong!

The bagels at Bagel Buffet in Secaucus are excellent. On the large side and pretty tasty. I think there is another Bagel Buffet location in Hasbrouck Heights (I think that's the town?). In the big Pathmark shopping center on Route 17 around where it meets Route 80.

French fries, sushi, milk chocolate, perfectly ripe peaches and/or nectarines (for anyone in NY, I've been getting amazing peaches and nectarines at Fairway). On Sunday I had one of my all-time favorites which I haven't had in a while...fresh bagel with cream cheese, lox, perfectly ripe tomato slices and red onion. Heaven!

Yeah, mini beef hotdogs (although our wedding was far from kosher). My father-in-law grew up in an Orthodox home (but my husband was raised far from Orthodox), and when it came time to choose a location, my father-in-law requested that we have the wedding in a temple. My parents were like "yeah right, then we can't have shrimp". And since my in-laws didn't offer to contribute a penny to the wedding, you can see how seriously we took his request!

I had a great time at my wedding. We got married last August on a Saturday night at Tribeca Rooftop in Manhattan. From the moment we got engaged, we joked about how no matter where we got married, and no matter how formal the wedding was, we would have pigs in a blanket at the cocktail hour. A personal favorite of ours. So we spent tons of time planning the menu, mostly paying attention to the hors d'oeuvres (175 hungry Jews need lots of hors d'oeuvres!). But at the wedding neither my husband nor I ever even saw the pigs in a blanket. I know that they were there because I saw my father collecting them for my 5 year old niece (and himself)! The only food I tasted was immediately after the ceremony. We went to the bridal room to take a few minutes to ourselves, and the caterer had sent us in a platter of sushi. It was terrific. We inhaled it, and then once we went back into the reception, I never had another bite of food. People were lined up throughout the cocktail hour at the caviar bar. From what I heard at the brunch the next day, the caviar and smoked salmon were amazing, as were the baby lamb chops. A friend of mine is considering getting married at Tribeca Rooftop next year, and I hope she does so that we can be guests and eat the food!

I thought the exhibition was pretty dull overall. I had read only part of this thread before we went, and my expectations were not that high. But I completely forgot about the sculptures (and I didn't see them mentioned anywhere in the brochure--although my husband was holding it and I didn't look that carefully). Anyway, we entered (and left) the museum on the 81st Street side, so we were never even in the main rotunda. Now that I know where they are, I might have to stop back in. Luckily we live nearby. David Burke was there signing his book and giving out samples of his Gourmet Pops. We didn't even think that there was anything overly exciting in the store at the end of the exhibit. On a different note, we did really like the newly-refurbished Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. The place looks great!

My husband and I usually go out 2 times a week, I try to cook 3 nights a week (nothing too complicated) and we usually order in or bring in food the other 2 nights. Living in Manhattan, it's easy to be lazy. Too bad we can't have a barbecue!

My husband and I are planning to go to Morimoto over Memorial Day weekend. We live in Manhattan and have been to Nobu several times, so we are looking forward to visiting Morimoto. The only thing is that I couldn't get a reservation for Saturday night at a decent time. I got a reservation for Sunday night, but I'm wondering if it is a bad idea to go there on a Sunday night. Any thoughts on that? Also, can anyone recommend a good hotel? I guess in the $150 per night range. I came up with a $149 room rate at the Sofitel. Is it nice? Good location? I stayed at a Sofitel in Athens and it was amazing so I'm curious about the one in Philidelphia. Thanks in advance!

Don't know what the real name is, but it's at the 79th Street Boat Basin in Riverside Park. Two other places with lovely outdoor spaces are Bryant Park Grill and Barolo (on West Broadway). Unfortunately, both places have mediocre food. By the way, this is my first post on egullet!