HOT HOT HOT

Yesterday was the hottest day since we came up here. It was almost 80 degrees and sunny all day. We had our window unit air conditioner running all night. Friends arrived yesterday to stay for a week. Their free-standing 2 bedroom home at Harborview Place is very nice. I spoke about this time-share in a previous posting.

We toured around a little and went out to dinner at a place called DeMarco's, downtown on India Street. The food was very good and we had a nice bottle of wine. It was too dark in the restaurant by the time the main course came to take a photo. I ordered a pasta Bolognese and specified the noodles that were available in another dish on the menu. They call them "badly-cut" noodles and are the same ones you get when you order Ropa Vieja (old clothes) in a Cuban restaurant. The meat was a mixture of beef, pork, and veal. You can tell if a restaurant is going to be any good by the bread they bring to the table. If it is a slice of day old wonder bread, just get up and leave immediately. Last night they brought a nice basket of freshly baked focaccia bread and a flask of extra virgin olive oil. A good sign. The Bruschetta appetizer had large slices of portobello mushrooms. The wine was an ethnically-appropriate Chianti. I enjoyed dining at DeMarco's and I appreciated the half price deal that they have going on in June. But to be perfectly truthful, the Kitty and my son in law both cook better italian food. I think they should open up a place here and call it Marco and Mama's Meatball Emporium. I mean, you have to make a good living doing this...How much does a plate of noodles cost to make? Huh?

Speaking of things that would hit a home run here in Nantucket, how about a bowling alley?Admittedly this is not my idea but rather, it is a dream of a local investor who believes that this would be a great social alternative to just standing around in some bar all night. So, what do we think? Since the best Thai food on the Island is at the ice skating rink, maybe the best Italian food could be at the bowling alley.

Taxachusetts took a little slice out of me yesterday. I paid $50 for a sticker to put on the back of my car that allows me to park for an unlimited time in any 2 hour parking zone. Not the one hour zone. There are countless Civilian officers riding around on mountain bikes in uniforms that look like UPS delivery. "It's good to be brown," They are empowered to write parking tickets among other things like directing traffic. They mark your tire with a yellow chalk and then come back and give you a $25 ticket if you have not moved your car within the one or two hour time limit. You can satisfy the moving of the car requirement by moving your vehicle no less than 50 feet from it original parking space. So, if you are going to be downtown for any length of time....walk.