Weekend Trip to Milan

Last weekend, a bunch of us took Amtrak to Milan, NY, to spend the weekend at another friend's country house. It's a beautiful old house from the 1700s with gorgeous wooden beams that are held together with those wood pegs rather than screws. It has wide planked wooden floors and an excellent fireplace.

We arrive on Friday bearing some wine and lots of food for the meals throughout the weekend. The first thing we did was light the fire. Then, we opened a bottle of wine and relaxed in front of the fire with Terry's dog, Larry. After that we had a lovely pasta primavera and some Italian truffle cheese that Andrew brought.

The next morning, Terry woke us up by playing Van Halen's "Jump" loudly on the stereo and knocking around some pans in the kitchen while making us cinnoman apple pancakes. Reluctantly, we crawled out of our beds lured by the scent of the pancakes and the brewing coffee. There was real maple syrup and lots of butter. It was magnificent. Afterwards, we spent some more time in front of the fire and felt that we deserved a mimosa.

As soon as we finished cleaning up from breakfast, it was time to start lunch. Andrew made a giant spinach tart, with a much fancier name. It was scrumptious. Once that was made, Terry left to make lemon sugar cookies for our dessert. A glass of wine or two later, it was time for dinner. Andrew and Jeff made marinated pork loin on the BBQ with brussel sprouts and fingerling potatoes. YUM.

We were stuffed, but there was still some time for dancing to some old timey music in the kitchen. Later, after some more quality couch/fire time, we made lemon sugar cookie ice cream sandwiches. (Everyone except for me!) We talked some more and then turned in for the night.

The next day, it was time to clean up the house and get ready to leave. In between washing and changing sheets, we fixed ourselves a huge banquet of leftovers. Everything tasted even better the next day. Andrew dressed it up a little and tossed a delicious salad with a light and refreshing lemon and olive oil dressing. Then, we cleaned all the dishes and mopped the floors.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the train and back to the city. Andrew and I had "business class" tickets, which doesn't really mean anything. It only cost $12 to upgrade and it didn't get you one thing! Plus, all the business people are angry, so it wasn't as fun as we thought it would be.