Tilapia Meuniere

July is really busy and I am nothing if not Her Majesty, the Queen of Procrastination (yes, kneel please), so here, on July 31st is this month's meat meal. I will not take any guff from people claiming that fish is not meat. Kristen doesn't eat it and it's terrifying to handle, so it fits both my criteria for meat.

I went with Tilapia Meuniere, adapted from the Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Sole Muniere. I had tilapia on hand and not sole, so there you go. The Contessa claimed it was a quick and easy meal and my girl Ina Garten has not let me down yet.

I had some mouthwatering photos to show you, but my camera card is being finicky. All I can tell you is, you brown up some butter, throw in some fish that has been salted and dredged in a flour mixture, and fry it up. When it's good and going, you add fresh lemon juice, and the juice and butter create this sauce that I cannot even describe in words. You'll have to imagine something sublime all on your own. I trust you to do it justice.

It's lemony and buttery and crazy delicious. And who would ever know if, in the privacy of my own home, I licked the plate?

Don't judge.

Idlewild

Well, I survived Idlewild. I survived it by shotgunning 143 ounces of liquids and dunking my head in the Storybook Forest water fountain, but I did indeed survive.


We started out in Storybook Forest, where Jules and I did our award winning impersonation of the Raggedy siblings.


Julia quickly decided that, fence or no fence, she was going to see that ceramic mouse up close.



Until Aunt Missy intervened and explained the importance of barriers...


...which Julia immediately forgot when we entered Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother's house, and she slipped under the chain and ran right up to feel the wolf's fangs.


She was a little frustrated when she couldn't pull Excalibur out of the stone, and I remember being incensed about that myself about three decades ago. *Note the "pirate's booty" she scored on the Good Ship Lollipop.


Hugs from a little pumpkin in the Big Pumpkin.


She had lots of fun climbing on the big blocks and jumping off of them.


Then we headed to the rides section where she wanted to ride "The Spiderman" with me. She admitted that she was scared, but she bravely rode it and we spun and spun and spun.


Riding the balloons with Mommy...


...and the big slide with Aunt Missy.


She loves the paratroopers...


...but not as much as the cotton candy.


After swimming for 5 hours (she loved the wave pool, BTW), we came back to her favorite ride:



Then Aunt Missy decided she was big enough to try the Rollo Coaster.



To my surprise, she came off the ride with a huge smile and immediately ran back to get in line again.



This is her pulling the reins to make her horse Maximus* slow down.

*See Tangled. No, really, see it. It's awesome.


After all the rides shut down, Jules squeezed in a whack-a-mole game and Aunt Missy won her a teddy bear.



And then, of course, we made a pressed penny.


Fun, fun, fun.

Very exciting, very cool.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

If you hear that someone died of heatstroke on the tilt-a-whirl, that was me.

So, I had planned to go to Idlewild today with Melis, Jen, and Jules. But this morning I looked at the weather forecast and saw it would be a high of 95.

Ninety five. Sweet fancy Moses.

So, of course I called Jen, thinking perhaps she might be reluctant to take Julia out in such heat. No dice. She argued the pool, the plentiful shade, and the excitement of her child who would be devastated if we didn't go. I considered bowing out of the trip, but then Jules wanted to get on the phone and talk to me. She asked me, in her wonderfully unique syntax...

Julia: You would like to come to Idlewild today?
Ali: Oh...
Julia: We can ride the rides!
Ali: Oh... Well.. Um... Okay.
Julia: Okay!

Oh guys, pray for me.

Sniffle

I haven't seen the final Harry Potter yet. Jen and I are planning to go when our schedules allow, so this gives me time to rewatch the first seven films. All this is to say, I'm sitting here watching Sorcerer's Stone and crying like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert.

When Hagrid gives Harry his birthday cake, when Harry sees his father's name on the Quidditch plaque, when Neville gets awarded his ten points for standing up to his friends... I am a sad, sad mess.

For pity's sake, get me some kleenex!

I'll be roaming about Salzburg dressed up in nothing but some old drapes and having a marvelous time.

So, the family and I are all set for our trip to Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna in September.

Things I have learned from the trip planning experience:

1. I could never be a travel agent.
2. Oktoberfest actually occurs in September.
3. In Germany, dogs are allowed in restaurants.

I am super excited for this trip. Being the crazy-organized planner that I am (I already have two Excel spreadsheets created for this trip--there will be more), I've got a list of stuff I want to do before we leave:

1. Find the perfect bag.

It has to be light but tough, small but roomy, and it must be in backpack form. I have walked all over a lot of different cities, and there's nothing like a backpack for keeping your shoulders from aching and your hands free for your camera. I have already purchased a small padlock to discourage pesky pickpockets, but I must find the bag!

2. Learn a bit of German so that I have a base to build upon when we get there.

This strategy served me well in Italy where, by the end of our trip, I had learned enough Italian to have a halting conversation with a local. (I was extremely fluent in ordering gelato.) Unfortunately, some evil person checked the level 1 German language CDs out of my local library three years ago and has yet to return them. I don't even want to contemplate that fine. On second thought, yes I do. I hope it's dreadful. I'm not about to go straight to level 2, so I'll need to figure something out. The only German I know is the little bit I picked up in the concentration camp scene in Band of Brothers.

3. Learn how to better use my Nikon.

There are going to be lots of amazing photography opportunities as we wander all over the Alps. I'd like to make the most of them.

4. Establish a packing plan that Rick Steves would, if not be proud of, at least not sneer at.

Mr. Steves is the guru of packing light. And by that I mean "travel for three months and live out of a small backpack." I'll never achieve that level of madness, but my dream is to be able to carry on my luggage for a Europe trip. Hopefully, this will be the time.

She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance.

I was in Pittsburgh tonight and I noticed that a movie theater there had a one-night-only 3D showing of the ballet Giselle. It was performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and broadcast to 160 theaters in the US, and I just happened to happen upon one of them. So, of course I had to check it out.

Let me just tell you, I was transported. Normally I hate 3D, but this 3D really helped create the illusion that you were actually in the Mariinsky Theatre and had scored a really great ticket. The entire cast was wonderful, but the ballerina who danced Giselle was something else entirely. She was otherworldly, almost supernatural. When she leapt into the air, you would swear she broke the bonds of gravity for a moment, so that she seemed to hang in the air a second longer than she should have. The effect was mesmerizing. It was like seeing her defy the laws of physics.

Wonderful. Wonderful.

Aces? Me too! Awesome.

Before I stumble into bed at 2:30 AM, I thought I'd let you know that Nicole and I just pulled a no-tricker in pinochle, in which we BOTH had aces.

And! We took last trick on a 9 of hearts lead. I cannot even tell you.

Awesome.