Ristorante Divin Peccato -- Rome, Italy -- 3 Stars

Earlier this month we went touring in Italy with our grandson Joshua. This is the first post from that trip and it is about the best restaurant we found in Rome -- Divin Peccato, which means the Divine Sin.

Divin Peccato is a restaurant/wine bar located near the Piazza Rovere on the St. Peter's side of the Tiber, across from the main part of town. It's quieter over there (where we stayed) and less crowded. We were wandering buy during the day and stuck our heads in, and the owner/chef offered us a taste of a wine just for saying hello -- that kind of friendliness sold us, so we made a reservation and went back.

Our hearts warmed further when we walked in and found the music being played was just the kind of jazz we loved -- Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and the like, provided a great background for the dinner. We also rather enjoyed the friendliness of the staff and also their good natured reaction when the incompetent electricity company (who were doing work near by) twice briefly cut the electricity to the restaurant.

But of course the real selling point was the food. We started with a well prepared fish platter with octopus, salmon and squid on it. Not that hard, rubbery squid and octopus we are always familiar with but instead the soft, well-prepared, tasty squid that sucks up the vinegar sauce perfectly. The highlight of the fish platter was a cod with garlic preparation that was "divine." And Josh enjoyed his fresh bruschetta too.

Our main courses were also good (though Josh didn't like his lamb, sadly). Paul had a bifsteak with a sweet balsamic sauce and Katy had the pasta with swordfish -- both simply prepared and well accompanied by the Riflessi wine we were served (a great bottle at just 13 euros). Paul closed out with cheese and we all had a happy evening. It is highly recommended.

Midnight in Paris -- 3 stars

We went to see Woody Allen's movie, "Midnight in Paris" at the Evanston Century cinema last night. I don't know about you, but for myself, I've pretty much given up on Woody Allen. But we wanted a date night out, and this seemed like a plausible choice. We're glad we did -- this was an entertaining and engaging movie.

First, a quick note about the Evanston Century. Why can't more movie theaters be like this. Clean, wide open spaces, big theater seating. Food beyond candy. What's not to like?

As for the movie -- again, what's not to like? [SPOILER ALERT -- stop here if you don't want to know why we liked it.]

This is a highly amusing fantasy set in Paris. Gil (Owen Wilson -- who we thought was a bit too faux cute here) and Inez are in Paris on the eve of their marriage along with Inez's stuffy parents and another couple (including the hilariously pedantic and snooty Paul). Gil is a Hollywood writer who wants to write novels instead and move to Paris. He is unhappy with the present and dreams that he could live in Paris during the 1920s.

And so he does. One evening as the clock strikes midnight, an old car pulls up and he is invited inside. So begins his adventure in the 1920s -- each night meeting new characters. With Gil, we find ourselves seeing an imagined F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway and many more (including an especially over the top Salvador Dali!).

But most of all, he meets Adrianne -- a model for and lover of Picasso, and falls in love with her. His growing love for her contrasts with the decline of his relationship with Inez, back in 2010. He is increasingly distracted in the "real" world, and finds himself talking to a young woman who sells antique records.

Oddly enough, however, Adrianne doesn't like 1920s Paris -- she'd rather live in the Belle Epoque of the 1890s, which, to her, is better than her present. Sure enough, as they grow closer, Gil and Adrianne find themselves moving further backward to Maxims, where they meet Degas, Gaugain and Lautrec. Adrianne wants to stay, but when Gaugain says that he wishes he could have lived during the Renaissance, Gil realizes that everyone pines for the past, but that the present is where life truly is.

Gil returns to 2010, dumps Inez and resolves to write a novel. In the final scene, he re-meets the antique record seller on a rainy bridge in modern Paris. They walk into the distance with a great clarinet tune playing in the background.

The movie was inventive and intellectually challenging without being too preachy or self-absorbed. It will stay with us for a while and is certainly worth watching.

Ruxbin Kitchen -- 2 1/2 stars

We went to Ruxbin Kitchen last night. It was our second visit to this small, interesting venue. We went the first time earlier this year with our friend Rodger. Last night, we took another friend Lin. We got a chance to taste the new "summer menu" this time so it was a diverse experience.

Ruxbin is located in a down an out area of town just west of the Chicago river on Ashland street. From the outside it actually looks like the restaurant is part of the local architecture -- the sign looks broken and you're surprised to find that there is even a restaurant to go to.

But the trip is worth it. Inside is a very small venue -- only 32 seats -- and they take no reservations. The kitchen, upstairs, is remarkably tiny. But the food they turn out is interesting.

We started with two salads that were a bit disappointing. Lin's pork belly salad had interesting textures and tastes, but she found that the pork belly itself was a bit too fatty. Katy had an apple and plum salad that was a pretty good arugula salad, but had modestly interesting tastes. The star of the appetizers was Paul's dish -- a cured smoked salmon that was garnished with a wonderful cardomon-honey yogurt and some tasty fruit slices.

The entrees were better. Lin had a pork loin -- she thought it was interesting but not as complex as she would have liked. The garnish of chickpeas and grilled peaches was better than the meat itself. Both Paul and Katy had the mussel bake -- with fine Prince Edward mussels in a coconut style broth that included some tasty tomatoes, corn and sausage.

The highlight of the meal was dessert. Katy and Lin shared a berry and shortbread concoction that they said was "intense" and "not cloying." A perfect end to a good meal.

One note: This is a BYOB bistro. We brought along a Goosecross Cellars 2008 Cabernet Franc. It was deep and tannic with a good depth of fruit. We recommend it highly -- so much so that Katy and Paul are members of their wine club.

Qunice in Evanston -- 3 stars

We've been in Evanston for 3 months now, and we had become convinced that there were no truly fine dining experiences in town. Sure, there were some very good ones that we've enjoyed (Koi and Chef's Station come to mind) but nothing upscale with a real sense of food adventure to it. Or so we thought.

Then, we went to Quince the other night. Quince is a small, very quiet little restaurant located in the Homstead Inn. It has maybe a dozen tables at most, with a very relaxed feel to it. We were glad we went.

The food was simply outstanding. Katy started with a spicy lamb ravioli that mixed in a little Serrano ham as well. Paul had a fascinating scallop dish that included yogurt, chorizo, and, of all things, kimchi. You wouldn't have thought either combination worked, but they both did.

For entrees, Katy had a venison that was perfectly cooked and garnished with a tasty eggplant and raisin mixture. Paul had the pork with some coconut sticky rice, papaya and chilies. Yum.

And it got better -- for desert, Katy had the Rhubarb Ravioli (honest -- rhubarb in a ravioli pastry) and Paul had a simple Jelly Roll (simple? Not -- brioche and apricot with coffee ice cream).

But what made the evening most of all was the quiet, competent, thoughtful service. We wanted a glass of prosecco to start. When it turns out that the last bottle had just been bought, we got a nice glass of Gruet Brut from New Mexico (of all places) on the house. We had two nice glasses of red wine as well -- a Portal del Montsant "Brunus" from Spain and an Endiku Cabernet from California.

So ... what's not to like? Very nice food, good portions (large enough to have a good taste but not overwhelming), good service and fine wine. We'll be going back before we leave Evanston.

Grand Canyon Day 3 -- To the Top

The call it "topping out" when you reach the top of the Grand Canyon (much like they call it "summitting" when you reach the peak of a mountain). On day 3, we began our hike to the top of the Canyon from Indian Gardens.

It was hard. Very hard. Fortunately, the weather had warmed appreciably, so the snow was mostly melted on the way out. But that didn't make it easier. It was 4 1/2 miles walking and 3000 feet of elevation. As you can see, that's a pretty steep climb.

The trip is nicely divided into 3 parts, with rest stops at the 3 mile mark (that is 3 miles from the end) and at the 1 1/2 mile mark. We slogged our way up the trail. I confess that this was much harder than I had anticipated. I think I was not in as good a shape as I had been when climbing in Peru and I was carrying quite a bit of pack weight. With just a mile or so to go, I "bonked." Actually felt light headed and out of breath. I sat down for a recovery, and that helped alot, but oh my.

What made matters worse is that we were passed on the route by one of the park rangers -- the same one who had done the lecture the night before. She started 2 hours after us and passed us, like nobody's business, going up at full steam. I wish I were younger.

On the other hand, nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a difficult adventure. We reached the top after 5 hours -- just in time for lunch and a beer. The beer had never tasted so good.

It was the adventure of a life time. The Rosenzweig Brothers Conquer the Canyon, or some such. I'll be bragging on it the rest of my life. Indeed, as I get older, the trip seems to have gotten easier -- now as I recall I ran barefoot; scaled the rock walls without ropes and caught a mountain lion with my bare hands. Or something like that.

Grand Canyon Day 2 -- The Easy Half

Having gone down to the bottom of the canyon in a single 9-mile day, our plan was to take two days to hike back out. The first day going up was going to be the easy day, and so it was. We went up only about 1500 feet and took only about 4 hours. Of course it wasn't a "piece of cake" walk -- we had to go back up the Devil's Corkscrew. And if you think going down was hard ... well, up was much more difficult. At least it was a sunnier and warmer day.

Actually, in some ways this day was the most enjoyable one of the whole trip, at least for me. When we got up to the camp at Indian Garden it was just lunch time. After another pleasant meal ... I took a nap. Jim and I went out and found a warm rock that was heated by the sun, and just lay down to relax. Jim listened to his tunes and I had a short snooze. Heaven.

Later that afternoon we went for a 3 mile walk, out to Plateau Point and back. It is amazing how easy it is to walk on flat ground (no hills) and without a 32 pound pack on your back! Plateau Point is a magnificent overlook, perched about 1500 feet above the Colorado River. Below is a short video I took from up on the plateau that gives a nice sense of the panorama.


After we got back to camp we had a pasta and pesto dinner and then we went to hear a Ranger talk on the "myths and mysteries" of the Canyon. The most notable of them was the story of a married couple that took a honeymoon ride down the Colorado River in the 1920s. They were last seen on the river just below where we were at Phantom Ranch. The boat was later found floating, but empty, down the river The wife disappeared, and the story goes that she might have killed here abusive new husband and walked out. But she was never seen again ... spooky.

That night was notable for only one thing -- how amazingly cold it was. Even though I wore 4 layers of clothing and was inside my sleeping bag (allegedly good down to 32 degrees) I actually woke myself up with my own shivering. Brrr ..... And it didn't help that the next day's climb would be much, much harder on little sleep.

Grand Canyon Day 1 -- From Blizzard to Beaches

Our first day began, as I've noted, in a blizzard at the top of the Canyon rim, after 10-15 inches of snowfall. Only some of the roads had been plowed, as we shouldered our packs and began the hike.

Our goal for the day was the Bright Angel campground, 9 miles away on the trail and roughly 4800 feet down. Down is a particularly hard direction to train for going in! You can do stair master for the uphill climb but nothing really prepares you for walking down hill, except, I guess, walking down hill. We discovered that there are two areas of the body particularly engaged when walking down hill that are a surprise for their involvement -- the hip flexors and the calves. Apparently, the calves are an important part of the downward flex of your ankle. I suppose we "knew" that in some intellectual sense, but that is very, very different from having your calves scream at you and tell you about it.

The snow on the trail went down roughly the first 2000 feet and about 3 miles into the walk. It wasn't just that the snow was bad -- it actually wasn't. But what was far worse was the oozing red mud. As the day got warmer and as we walked down toward a hotter part of the canyon, the snow started melting. And the melt mixed with the bright red dirt to form mud ... and mud puddles to go with them. You haven't truly "lived" until you've stepped in a mud puddle and felt the water ooze into your shoes and soak your socks.

After 3 hours we'd gotten half way down the canyon to a small oasis called Indian Gardens. More about that place tomorrow, as we stopped there to camp on the climb out. But after a quick and tasty lunch (it turns out that our guide, Ryan, is secretly a true cordon bleu chef -- not really, but he managed to do some pretty good things with very limited gear and food. Our first dinner -- ramen noodle stir fry with terriakyi sauce -- was really quite excellent) we resumed the downward hke

On the way down we passed through a part of the trail known as the Devil's Corkscrew. Now, you don't need to know anything at all more about this part of the trail to know that it isn't really the most fun place in the world. Its about 1 mile long and 1000 foot drop and the trail is basically plastered to a side wall of the canyon. It's 3-5 feet wide and on the open side there is .... nothing. Nothing at all but a downward drop. The pictures don't really do the trail justice, but they will have to do for a good description.

Once past the corkscrew we were almost home. Most of the way to the bottom and just a couple miles of walking to get there. But there was one more bridge to cross, so to speak. A real bridge, known as Silver Bridge. Unfortunately, the roadway on the bridge was not a solid road -- just a series of cross hatched steel ribs that you could see through. To be honest, I was more scared looking down through the steel to the raging river below than I was on the Corkscrew -- it's just the way my mind is wired I guess.

But we made it across and too the bottom, there to find ... another surprise ... sandy beaches on the banks of the Colorado River. Of course it was too cold to go swimming -- but the image of going from a blizzard to a beach in 1 day is pretty evocative.

We made camp at Bright Angel and set up the tents. After dinner, we walked over to the Cantina at Phantom Ranch -- a small bar where Jim and I drank a well-deserved lemonade and bought postcards to mail home. One "neat factoid" is that the mail is carted out from Phantom Ranch every day by mule -- one of only two postal stations in America still served by mule rather than by car or foot. When we were done, it was back to camp for a well-deserved rest.