We ate the other half of yesterday's frittata and I mapped out another day of walking routes for Jullion. He would essentially be making a figure-8 or infinity symbol by heading over to Piazza San Marco and making his way down toward the Arsenale to the Naval Museum and into the Giardini at the southeast end of the city, the tail of fish-shaped city. Coming back he would follow the northside of the city, stopping at San Francesco delle Vigne and the Basilica of SS Giovanni e Paolo (but no George and Ringo...) across the Rialto and to the Santa Croce churches of S. Giacomo dell' Orio, S. Nicolo da Tolentino and back to Dorsoduro to S. Pantalon. That should keep him busy for a few hours.
I made my way to Giudecca to escort Mamma to church while her son slept off the night shift. We went shopping to restock the fridge then she did some mending while I read on my kindle. I started a pot of puttanesca sauce for pasta at lunch and put together a chicken caesar-type salad for us. Marco got up and got ready to go to work, wolfing down the meal and stumbling out the door. I'm glad I am able to spend time with Mamma since he's pretty much working around the clock until after Carnevale finishes in two weeks. He wasn't even going to be able to catch a nap later on: working 1 to 9 at the Europa and then 10 to 6am at the Centauro for someone else. At least at the Centauro he would have the opportunity to grab a few winks on the cot in the office after the guests came back for the evening. Hopefully. What a crap situation other people always leave for him.
I helped Mamma finish the laundry by ironing, as she feels everything must be starched in her world. This is at odds with the fact that everyone must use a lot of fabric softener because the water in Venice is very hard – you also have to add “anti-calcare” powders to the machine to prevent calcium deposits causing it to break. So we add softeners and then starch the hell out of things? I'm surprised they don't walk around constantly scratching themselves. I'm such a fan of softer fabrics and comfy knits. I don't like to buy clothes where I would need to iron or starch because quite frankly, I'm lazy, but I can't get away from using fabric softener here as much as I don't like it. At least the softener I have at my house isn't overly perfumed.
Made way back across the water to Dorsoduro and picked up a few more items at the store for the meal tonight. Me and four guys for dinner, how lucky am I? The menu is an marinaded antipasto mix, roasted butternut squash soup, prosciutto-wrapped florentine chicken and my wilted balsamic spinach salad. Lots of flavors and amazing smells in my kitchen.
Jullion set the table and the guests arrived to eat at 6:30, which is on the early side of dinner over here, but we wanted them to be able to get back to the restaurant for the remainder of their dinner service. They brought two bottles of wine and a big dish of tiramisu. So full of yum! They were making the happy mouth noises of people who were definitely enjoying themselves so I was happy. Safwat asked me to share the recipe for the soup so I wrote it down for him, of course in cups and tablespoons and not grams and liters. He's a smart man so he can figure out conversions. They went on their way and were all back at the Dona Onesta by 8pm. Success!
Jullion and I went out for a walk to Campo Santa Margherita as a last hurrah for him. He was flying out in the morning. We stopped at a cafe and had a couple of beers while listening to busking musicians play in the square. I would be starting a new tour tomorrow so I needed to get a full night of rest.
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