Lasagne!

Easter dinner was a treat this year, with our friends Kitty and Bob joining my mom and the three of us at our place. I made my signature lasagne, complemented by roast rack of lamb, risotto milanese and a few other side dishes. I prepare lasagne from an algorithm rather than a strict recipe. In a nutshell, (well, actually in a deep lasagne pan...) the idea is to use a different sauce, a different cheese and a different meat on each layer. For example, on the bottom there was ground beef, fontina cheese and an Alfredo sauce. Next up was Italian sausage, Gruyere cheese and pesto. I also incorporated sun dried tomatoes on this level. Continuing the ascent, a layer of sopresatta salami sliced thin with a fennel/red wine red sauce, asiago cheese and chopped miniature plum tomatoes. The whole thing was topped off with parmesan and more red sauce. It was delicious!

Afterwards, we took our youngest back to Berkeley, and then we decided to avoid the two hour drive home by staying overnight in San Francisco. We had reservations at the 15 room European style Hotel Boheme on Columbus, right in the heart of North Beach. It was a delightful room, with a bay window that opened and looked down on the sidewalk cafes of that part of the city. It was like being in Italy. We sat a our small table and sipped our complementary sherry as we watched the world go by.

As we were still full from our big afternoon repast, we simply had some appetizers at Ristorante Figaro, just down stairs. I was delighted to learn they had some Aperol, the aperetivo we had discovered in Venice but had been unable to find in the states. We sipped at our drinks and just enjoyed the ambience as we consumed our carpaccio and various cheeses. Our table was just inside the large open windows, so we got the advantages of sitting outside but the good fortune of being out of the wind.

It was a wonderful way to unwind from our very hectic week.