Trying a New (to Us) Restaurant, FIL Injured, Trellises Put Up

May 15, 2025

Today (Thursday, May 15), Bruce drove me to PT. While I was in PT, Bruce tried to call his dad. He got the answering machine twice.

Bruce decided to hang out in the lobby while my physical therapist had me do various exercises.

Afterwards, we went to lunch at Ricatoni’s Italian Grill in downtown Florence, AL.

Homemade bread rolls came out first, with a plate containing a mix of olive oil, basil, garlic and salt. Delicious!

Bruce ordered the calamari for an appetizer. The exterior was crispy and crunchy while the interior was tender and juicy. It was an excellent appetizer.

I ordered the Pizza Margherita with a Caesar salad. Bruce ordered the shrimp spiedino with a Caesar salad.

Bruce and I had a slight difference of opinion on the Caesar salads. I thought it was very good, but Bruce thought it was excellent.

Bruce was absolutely thrilled with the shrimp spiedino. He ordered the lunch portion, which was plenty. I had never heard of shrimp spiedino before, so some of you may have not heard of it as well.

From the menu’s description of shrimp spiedino: shrimp brushed in olive oil, breaded with seasoned breadcrumbs, grilled then topped with lemon butter sauce. Served with tagliatelle piace pellerossa. From the menu’s description of tagliatelle piace pellets: fresh tagliatelle pasta in a sauce of crushed tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil.

I was surprised to see whole cloves of garlic in the sauce. Bruce assured me the garlic cloves were soft and melted in his mouth, with a very mellow garlic flavor. The shrimp were perfectly cooked. Bruce gave me a small taste. I didn’t notice the breadcrumbs, but the shrimp was delicious.

My pizza was cooked in a wood fired oven. The crust was bubbled and crisp. Perfect! The cheese was generous and gooey. Lovely! There was just the right amount of tomato on the pizza. Yummy! I would’ve like just a tad more basil, but I love basil, so the more the better.

We didn’t try any dessert. We were just the right amount of full.

Our server provided excellent service. It was a great experience. We’ll be delighted to go back.

After we got home, Bruce received a text from his sister. His dad had fallen, hit his head and was in the hospital. My father-in-law had a brain bleed, smaller than the one he had last year. My father-in-law was in the hospital yesterday, but the family was not notified until today. Bruce’s sisters or Bruce are to be notified if something happens to my father-in-law. We don’t understand why no one was notified the day he was admitted. The family got more information on what had happened. My FIL was cleaning the pool deck, slipped and fell, hitting his head on the concrete. He cut his face, so he drove to the fire station to get patched up. The firemen called an ambulance and he was transported to the hospital. He is in intensive care. Apparently, he is in good spirits and feeling good enough to make jokes. I hope he will be okay.

Outside was 85 degrees and muggy today. With all the rain we’ve been having, the humidity is at 83%. It was very uncomfortable after last week’s cool and rainy weather.

It cooled down later in the late afternoon, so we took advantage of the somewhat cooler temperature to build and put up two trellises.

I tied the peas to the netting. Notice how fast the potatoes are growing in the potato towers in the background.

We are going to add another trellis for the pole beans and cucumbers. The tomatoes are going to be tied up along a string.

I harvested salad greens, some green onion leaves and a handful of sugar snap peas. I used the harvest to make a salad for supper. I dressed the salad and added some fried pancetta. It made a simple, yet very satisfying supper.

For most of the lettuce, I harvested the outer leaves, leaving the rest to continue to grow. I am not sure how long the lettuce will last now that the heat has arrived, but maybe I’ll get lucky and get a couple more harvests. The weather app is predicting cooler days starting on Tuesday next week. I hope it is right.

Here’s a picture of Nox, that I took this morning before leaving for PT. She was looking at Bruce.