Am I late with the blog this morning!

I did not sleep well during the night. Made up for it by sleeping later this morning.

Another Syracuse win yesterday! Syracuse decimated St. John. It was expected, however. Syracuse was supposed to win and decisively. So no gloating involved.

The next game is against Georgetown next Wednesday. Supposed to be a test for Syracuse.

I watched the St. John game at the Sports Page Bar. Anna joined me. She is a trooper. Never saw a basketball game before 10 days ago. Now has seen three. I am not sure she is enjoying the experience. Tonight she will see her first American football game. Football in Italy and Europe is soccer. Anna has never seen our kind of football.

Two friends from previous years showed up to watch the game with me at the Sports Page Bar.

Marty. Marty lives near Syracuse. Comes to Key West during the season to work. He is a handy man.

Dan showed up. A nice guy. Runs a restaurant in Skeneatles. Dan is here for a month. He and his wife rented a house around the corner from Don’s Place. They were in Don’s the other night and visited with Kurt who was bartending. I had introduced them to Kurt at Aqua one evening last season.

It was good to have these two back. They will be joining me for the Georgetown game which I will be watching at John Lukas’ Big Ten Sports Bar. John’s turn.

The cupboard was really bare! A visit to Publix was in order.

Publix was strange. The same people normally do the same things all the time. The same job day in and day out.

Not yesterday. The man who stocks the yogurt and cheeses was at the other end of the store refilling the frozen food refrigerators. A man who has worked the checkout counter for years was bagging. All strange.

I spoke with several of the employees. The consensus was that as long as THEY pay me, I will work anywhere. I sensed a bit of unhappiness.

Dinner was an experience again last night. Why go out to eat! Anna is going crazy preparing northern Italian dishes for me.

Last night it was pasta with carbonata sauce. The sauce to die for!

Must tell you what was in it. Start with two teaspoons of virgin olive oil in the frying pan. Then take 1 slice of bacon. Cut away all the fat. Cut the remaining bacon into small cubes. Golden the bacon in the oil. Then remove the bacon. Two eggs. Yolks only. Whites went down the drain.

Then add to the frying pan grated parmesan cheese. Technically, a cheese made from sheep’s milk is to be used. However, Publix had none. Add two teaspoons of milk cream.

Then the grand finale. Add 1 teaspoon of the water the pasta was cooked in. Throw the golden bacon bits in. Add black pepper. Heat a bit further and pour over the pasta, which last night was pennes.

Wow! The taste! The texture! Yes, sauce can have a texture. Cannot be adequately described. I wish every one could enjoy it.

As a side dish, a whole sweet potato each. I know. All the carbs! But I have lost 5 pounds since Anna has been here. I suggested she buy sweet potatoes since they are purportedly healthier than white ones. Last night we had sweet potatoes.

Anna microwaved the potatoes. When she sliced them open after cooking, she was surprised that the potatoes were orange in color. In Italy, they are white. She has also spent time in Venezuela where she says they are white, also.

We are probably eating a hybrid sweet potato here in the U.S. Perhaps so colored to conform to Thanksgiving.

Super Bowl tonight! A big deal! I am going to watch it from the comfort of my home. A glass or two of gin and some Milanese food. No hamburgs or pizza for me tonight.

Anna has seen her first basketball games this trip. Tonight, her first American football game. Football is big in Italy and the rest of Europe. However, it is soccer which is called football by the Europeans.

Ten in the morning here. Overhead, gray. A light drizzle. If it does not clear in the next two hours, I suspect it will be like that all day.

Enjoy your Sunday! Enjoy the Super Bowl!

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