Dear friends and family,

In Paris for the holiday season with Michael, Jill and David Wild. The Wilds had kindly invited us to join them here several times, and we finally said, Why the heck not? Are we crazy? Who wouldn't have Christmas dinner prepared by Michael Wild (owner, along with partner Larry Goldman, of BayWolf Restaurant in Oakland), if given the chance?

Staying in an apartment, which friends of Michael and Jill stay in, on the Ile Saint-Louis. If you know Paris, you know it doesn't get more central than this. It's in the middle of everything, yet very quiet.


Flew into Paris CDG, took the train in, dropped our bags at the apartment, and then went to Michael, Jill and David's super comfy apartment for a light supper. What a total pleasure to be with welcoming friends in a foreign location.
Michael wanted it to be clear that he is renting this apartment and that is not his choice of art.

The next day, the morning of the 24th, Michael and David came by our little apartment with croissants and pastries, and we all took off for the most beautiful butchery to pick up our Xmas goose and other delights.

 Ciao, dear Friends and Family,

We've been walking for miles every day. Wandered into the Duomo one evening. It was beautiful and almost empty. Then a gathering of what turned out to be musicians, and a thrilling rehearsal.

They started with a beautifully sublime Italian carol, sung by a young tenor, then went on to Silent Night, and descended to White Christmas. We didn't like the direction they were heading and left before they (most likely) broke into Jingle Bells.


Almost didn't go to Pompeii. After Herculaneum, 2 days in the Archaeologic Museum, and hoofing it around Naples, we almost said to ourselves, been there, done that, but reason prevailed and on Sunday, the day before we were to leave, we again took the Circumvesuviana, this time to Pompeii.

Dear friends and family,

Have you ever made a decision that seemed to be your own and then later something caused you to wonder who's in charge here?


Our good friend, Lewis deSoto, just sent us a beautiful poem he had written last month, in November, about Herculaneum; a dream-like poem which had to do with chariots and long-ago crowds and the House of Augustales. This was about the same time that we (Don and I) had decided to switch the first part of our trip from Northern Spain to the area around Naples, so that we could go to Herculaneum, back to Pompeii, and also return to the wonderful Archaeologic Museum in Naples. The reason, we told ourselves, was so that we could see and gather the rich imagery here. In fact, a couple days ago I told Don that it was such a good idea to come to Naples, but then neither of us could quite remember whose idea it was. And now Lewis has sent us his poem written at the time "we" had our idea.


Anyway, we are having a wild and crazy time. Seeing amazingly beautiful things. It is so great that the Archaeologic Museum (where we have gone for 2 days in a row) allows photography. In fact, one of the museum guards opened up a closed-off room for us and allowed us to go in and photograph. It turns out that in that museum, at least, rooms and sections are often closed to the public not because they are being restored or reinstalled, but because there are not sufficient guards on hand.


We've had some requests for more food photos. Believe me, you will see plenty of those when we meet up with Michael, Jill and David Wild in Paris. But I do have some photos of some great food we've had at a restaurant next door to our wonderful hotel. The restaurant is L'Etto (you are charged by the weight of the food you serve yourself) and the hotel is Hotel Piazza Bellini, in an old palazzo which has been completely remodeled with wonderfully quiet rooms and radiant heating.

 As I mentioned, you serve yourself, so the food is not especially beautifully presented after we plonked it on our plates, but this is from L to R, and starting at 11:00 Risi e Bisi (risotto with peas), a salad with chick peas, roast potatoes, broccoli with pine nuts, Friarielli (a type of Broccoli Rabe, but more tender), chicken stuffed with something I can't remember, roasted eggplant, fried radicchio in the center, cauliflower dumplings, pasta with calamari. Everything was great. Maybe the pasta a tad too al dente for our taste, but that's so minor.


We went back a few days later, and I'll describe Don's plate, which is the closest: Starting at about 12:00 and going L to R: Fried radicchio, probably the best eggplant parmesan we've ever had (I took a larger portion), the broccoli rabe or Frarielli, pork in a very mild honey sauce, green beans, peas, gnocchi with pesto, pasta in tomato sauce, not sure what the salad is, broccoli. Again everything wonderful.

Happy Holidays from Napoli!

We were inspired to go to Napoli (before our holiday trip to Paris), which to me is a little like time traveling to a place and space I think of as an essence of Italy, the way Italy used to be before it became so cleaned up and touristic, so newly painted and pristine. Well, maybe Florence was never as gritty and disheveled as Naples (at least not in recent memory), but Florence, Rome and Venice were a lot more gritty and showed their smeared lipstick and their layers of peeling texture much more in the sixties. Napoli has its own charms and also has nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum. We convinced ourselves that we needed that rich imagery for our work and also elements for a possible wine label series (Imagery wine; Bob Nugent - thanks, Bob) and while we're at it enjoy some relative warmth, both temperature-wise and personality-wise. Neapolitans are so warm and friendly.

Hi everyone,