Dinner at Julie's/Olivia, Ithaca

Friday 21 March
H: Good Friday and Purim (or "Hide in the Basement" as it was known in the shtetl).
Feeling somewhat desperate, I invited myself over to Julie's for dinner. She was kind enough to throw together a bash of Kathy (sans Russel, alas), her sister Monica (who besides putting together these huge trade fairs, had spent a year on the SS Norway—the old SS France—as Entertainment Director, sailing around the Caribbean and staging shows, which sounds close to godzone job) and her dad, who had been a SeaBee in the war. We had a great time nattering about everything (including politics, religion, and sex) over a fine figure of a spinach lasagna, chicken bosoms baked with mushroom, and a palate-clearing salad. Kathy, in honor of Purim, brought a wonderfully moist "Jewish Apple Cake"—not so much Jew, as Jewish, since it was made with oil (not butter) and parve for all occasions (well, except Passover, when things get weird).
Holt discovered yet another reason to miss Barbara, in that he had to moderate his alcohol consumption, since he was driving home alone. The word "sip" rather than "swig" took on new significance.

B: After a day of brainstorming, Ehud took Kathy and Barbara out to dinner at Olivia in Ithaca.

Olivia is nice because it's close to Kathy's house, it makes a point of serving locally-produced foods, and has usable wifi (UNLIKE CORNELL UNIVERSITY). It's not so nice because it offers tip calculations of 18, 20, and 22% on the check; service was okay, but not better than 15% okay.

Barbara ordered a starter of skewered grilled (and slightly burnt) shrimp, propped on one nice (unburnt) scallop in a pool of smooth white bean purée with swirls of red pepper sauce. To keep with the local theme, we had Standing Stone Vidal, from Seneca Lake.

Her main course was local beefsteak (quite flavorful, though it should have been trimmed better) with chive butter, a heap of rosemary french fries, and grilled thin asparagus. Along with it went another local wine, a Cabernet Franc.

The verdict on Olivia was basically good, though it had a few kinks.