Welcome to my new reality! I loved my job at the Lynn University Library, but my position was eliminated, and after a remarkably short conversation with my husband, I am now officially retired. I even applied for Medicare—nothing says retired quite like that!
Adjusting to this new phase feels a little strange. I’ve spent my entire adult life being busy: working full time, raising a family, cooking, laundry, all the everyday things that fill a life. My husband retired a couple of years ago when his job was eliminated, so now we’re navigating this stage together. It’s a little ironic that we both retired because of layoffs, but that seems to be the way things go these days.
Since retiring, he’s kept himself occupied. He has always taken care of the house, and now he has even more time for it. He gardens, he hikes, and he’s taken on some of the chores I used to handle—grocery shopping, cleaning, and the like. We’ve always shared responsibilities, but he’s taken on more since leaving the workforce, and it’s been a good balance for both of us.
My first week of retirement was a mix of practical tasks and indulgent downtime. I applied for Medicare, completed my separation paperwork, and let friends and family know the news. I also relaxed, read a ton, and binge‑watched The Pitt—far gorier than my usual taste, but truly excellent. I understand the obsession and the awards now.
I’m not ready to give up my blog, so that will keep me busy too. We’ve also been planning for this stage of life ever since my husband retired, so we’re in good shape there. For years we considered moving to Portugal, but the constant changes to their immigration laws—and the general cooling toward American retirees across much of Europe—made us rethink things. So now our focus is on Panama.
We’ve booked a “relocation tour” for July and are hoping we love it as much as the thousands of expats already living there. There are some real advantages: it’s in the same time zone as my kids in New York; it’s only a five‑hour flight away; they use the U.S. dollar; and their electrical system matches ours, meaning my KitchenAid mixer and Cuisinart can come along. Most importantly, Panama genuinely welcomes American expats. Their Pensionado Visa offers immediate permanent residency to anyone over 18 with a guaranteed lifetime pension or annuity of at least $1,000 per month. It’s known for being easy to obtain and for the generous discounts it provides.
Panama is also considered relatively safe—ranked higher than the U.S. on the Global Peace Index—and offers excellent, affordable healthcare. Being close to the equator means consistent temperatures year‑round, and the area we’re most interested in is at a higher elevation, so it’s cooler than the beach towns. There are only two seasons, wet and dry, and after decades in Florida, an afternoon rain shower for half the year sounds perfectly manageable. No hurricanes, either. There are occasional mild earthquakes, which will be… interesting. I’ll know more after our trip.
For now, I’m excited. I’m happy. And I’m looking forward to whatever comes next!
And inflation-friendly recipes for how to make the most of them once you have them. Please let me know if you can’t access this or any recipes you may want.
Madyson Silvagnoli is handing out free scoops to kids in Western Massachusetts all summer long. Courtesy Madyson Silvagnoli / @maddytheicecreamlady_ on Instagram
No money, no problem. Kindness is always free.
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers
So long, Amazon! It’s been fun, but there’s something better happening right now. To be honest, very few of you click through to purchase books I recommend, but when you do, I earn a few cents. Literally. I don’t have any advertising on this site, no popups, no ads of any kind. I hate popups! I have a premium account with my host, WordPress, which I pay for to keep it that way. So that said, I get a tiny check a few times a year from Amazon that helps towards my out-of-pocket expenses here. But that’s about to change.
I am now a Bookshop.org affiliate! What is that, you might ask? It’s an online bookstore that actually hosts small, independent bookstores all over the country (maybe the world? I don’t know). Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores. And yes, I’ll earn a few cents, too. I’d much rather support a small business than a greedy behemoth like Amazon.
This will apply to print books for now. They do sell some ebooks and audiobooks, but I’m not quite ready to switch over because it is a very limited selection, especially the audiobooks, so I am still partial to Audible for those. That’s why I’m saying so long (for now), not goodbye, to Amazon.
As for the ebooks, they do not work on Kindles, and as far as I’m concerned, the Kindle is the gold standard in ebook readers. I know some people love their Kobo, and frankly, I’m not even sure what other ebook readers are out there, so maybe I’ll tiptoe into this and just add an additional link for ebooks for those of you who read on something besides the Kindle. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – is this something that would prompt you to purchase ebooks? Please let me know in the comments. Meanwhile, check out my new Bookshop.org store!
Outside of the book world, McFadden is Sara Cohen, a doctor who treats brain disorders. And though it looks like a disguise, she really does wear glasses. The hair is a wig, but only because “I have no idea how to style my hair,” she tells USA TODAY in a phone interview.
Why renting items like a drill or a blender doesn’t work, and how I figured out a better way to borrow and lend things that people need.
Technology isn’t great at monetizing your friends and neighbors. But it can help communities share more and buy less.
In 2021, a disabled parrot named Bruce made headlines worldwide for creating his own prosthetic beak. He didn’t stop there: Scientists reported on Monday that Bruce has now become the alpha male of his group.
We went to New York for my granddaughter’s second birthday, and because the whole family was there, we also had a baby naming for her. For the uninitiated/non-Jews, this is a ceremony where a baby girl is given her Hebrew name, while boys have a Bris (or Brit Milah), the ritual circumcision ceremony. It is usually done at a much earlier age, but with girls, it’s not unheard of to do it later.
This was especially meaningful to me as my granddaughter, Sylvie Maya, is named for my mother, Selma, and her maternal grandmother, Evvie. Jews name their children after deceased relatives, and it is an honor that is bestowed on the newborn. Modern Jews tend to use the first initial rather than the full name, and honestly, my mother would have been horrified if they gave her name, Selma, to a baby – she hated her name! It meant the world to me that my son and daughter-in-law chose to use the S and came up with such a beautiful name combining the names of both beloved grandmothers. Her middle name is for my mother-in-law, Maria, and another family member, Maxie, on my daughter-in-law’s side.
It is often difficult to pick a name because honoring one person means not honoring another. I know I would have been crushed if they had gone in a different direction, especially because my son and my mother were extremely close. As far as she was concerned, he could do no wrong, and she loved him beyond reason. In her last weeks of life, I realized that she was struggling to survive, and it dawned on me that she was waiting for Daniel to come home. He came for the weekend and spent most of it with her, went back home on Sunday, and she passed on Tuesday. I don’t think that was a coincidence.
I didn’t mean to wander into melancholy when this was a weekend we celebrated. It was lovely to see the mishpocha (clan) and to see my granddaughter blessed. Life is good!
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
As I write this, we have been at war with Iran for several weeks now. Americans have died, as well as many Iranians and others in the Middle East. The Trump administration has offered a variety of reasons for this war, or excursion, or whatever they are calling it today, but it is still not clear to me why we are doing this and what we hope to accomplish. Regime change seems to be at the heart of things, but we have proven over and over again that we are not successful at doing that. Iraq. Afghanistan. Vietnam.
Seth Meyers summarized it best for me: “The Trump administration has been clear from the beginning that the goal of the war is stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — or it’s about regime change, or it’s about freedom for the Iranian people, or it’s about destroying their ballistic missile factories, or it’s because Iran posed an imminent threat, or it’s because Israel made us do it, or it’s because this whole time Lindsey Graham has been a trickster god sent here to sow chaos by convincing Trump to go to war.”
There is no exit strategy, and no Congressional input. This president decides things on his own with his feeble, demented brain, and the Republican Congress and all the sycophants he has surrounded himself with just go along with it.
The mid-term elections are still months away, and I am looking forward to change. Major change. Trump is panicking because, as he has said, if Congress swings to the left, he will undoubtedly be impeached again, with very good reasons. One can only hope. Three more years of this president with unchecked power is incredibly alarming.
While this is not a political blog by any means, extraordinary times like these change my focus. I am reading to escape more than ever, but I cannot just bury my head in the sand and pretend everything is going great. It’s not. I can’t bring myself to read much more news beyond the headlines, and those scare the crap out of me.
To complicate things even further, Trump’s war with Iran is taking us on a fast path to a recession, and I have lived through enough of those to dread the days ahead. The fact that my retirement is not far off just adds to my fears.
I pray for peace and prosperity, but can’t count on it.
*Edwin Star recorded and released “War” in March, 1970. The song was an anti-Vietnam-war statementand is the soundtrack of my pacifism.
Book News
So much book news this month!
The New York Times has launched a readers’ advisory tool, of sorts. While their suggestions are okay (but definitely lean towards the more literary), it’s the personalized recommendations that I’m most curious about. I haven’t tried it yet, but if you do, I’d love to hear about your results. Thanks.
‘They had that democratic aspect to them where you can just find them anywhere and it always felt like it was the pick ’n’ mix candy-type store where there is something here for everyone.’ Photograph: John Mahler/Toronto Star/Getty Images
Education scholars say rigor, learning same as paper, stigma an unnecessary hurdle. “There is nothing wrong with audiobooks,” Seiter said. “There is no purity about reading words on a page.”
I concur, but it’s nice to see educators agree as well!
Food News
My own, personal food news! Last month, I was walking through Costco, and they had jars of Pisti Pistachio Cream on sale, so I snagged a jar. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but I love pistachio nuts, so I figured it was worth a shot. It’s sort of like a cross between peanut butter and Nutella, but strictly pistachio flavor. The consistency is sticky and goopy, but it is sweeter than just a plain nut butter. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, so I left it on the counter so I would see it and think about it. Eventually, I decided to make a chocolate cake and use it as the filling. Along the lines of the Dubai Chocolate craze, minus the kataifi.
We were having some friends over for dinner, so the perfect opportunity. These are very good friends, who I knew wouldn’t mind being my guinea pigs! The results were spectacular, even better than I hoped.
I made Easy Chocolate Cake from Yossy Arefi at the New York Times Cooking. While this recipe had a cup of coffee in the batter, I knew from making Beatty’s Chocolate cake that it wouldn’t give any coffee or mocha flavor, but just make the chocolate even more chocolaty. I also swapped out about a third of the cocoa powder for black cocoa, the secret ingredient in Oreos that gives any cake or cookie Oreo vibes in the chocolate department, never a bad thing!
Then I started researching ways to incorporate the pistachio cream into a cake filling, and didn’t find anything. There are tons of recipes for Dubai Chocolate cake or pistachio cake, but those recipes use nuts or pistachio paste, a different product. I looked at various peanut butter frosting recipes online, but I didn’t think they’d work because they all had a ton of added sugar, and the pistachio cream was already sweet. Then I looked for recipes for Nutella frosting, but also didn’t find anything that I thought would work without really diluting the pistachio flavor. I finally found a quasi-recipe online that basically whipped the Nutella, then beat in a few tablespoons of cream, and I thought that would probably work. It did! It lightened up the pistachio cream and the sweetness, didn’t really dilute the flavor, and made it easy to spread.
I didn’t want to make the frosting in the NYT cake recipe because it looked like it would be way too much since I wasn’t using it as a filling. So I went to my usual chocolate buttercream recipe from Beatty’s Chocolate Cake, courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, and just tweaked the frosting a bit. That recipe includes some instant coffee dissolved in a bit of water, but I knew that adding coffee would give it a slight mocha flavor, which I wanted to avoid. So I didn’t use the instant coffee powder and water, and just subbed 2 tsp. of heavy cream so the liquid proportion would still be correct. Baking is science, people!
Finally, I spent a little while zoning out and shelling pistachios while rewatching The West Wing for the millionth time, until I had what looked like about a cup. I just had the regular roasted, salted pistachios from Costco, but I wanted them to retain as much green color as possible, so I didn’t toast them. I chopped them up and sprinkled them on top for a garnish. (My daughter, the photographer/graphic artist, took the pictures of the outside of the cake; I took the one of the inside, a very different level of quality there.)
Amy Beethe, a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Children’s Nebraska, with her son True, whom she met when he was undergoing a heart catheterization in January 2022. She and her husband adopted him. (Courtesy of Amy Beethe)
A crew of movers boxed in the car of a suspect in an Amber Alert case, blocking in the suspect until police arrived.
A missing child sign about Kehlani Rogers, distributed by the Avondale Police Department. Kehlani’s age was initially mistakenly reported as 3. She is 2. (Avondale Police Department)
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
I am the most unathletic person you will ever meet, and it has only gotten worse (much, much worse) as I’ve aged. I’m klutzy, overweight, under-muscled, and uncoordinated. And despite that – or more likely, because of that, I am a big sports fan. I watch baseball (Go METS!), football (Go DOLPHINS! [ok it’s yet another rebuilding year]), college football (Go HURRICANES!) and hockey (Go PANTHERS [and sometimes Islanders]). I’m not much of a basketball fan, but if the Miami Heat or NY Knicks are in the playoffs, I’ll watch. I’ve taken an interest in the NY Liberty (even though they play basketball!) and there is a brand new Women’s Pro Baseball League starting up this summer with 4 teams (NY, Boston, LA, and San Francisco) that I’m very excited about – go NY! The inaugural season starts on August 1st, 2026 (my mom’s birthday, and she would have loved this!)
I haven’t checked out any flag football games, but I am definitely intrigued, especially as the NFL is putting its full weight (and $$$) behind it. I hope that someday the NFL will be flag football, but I don’t know if that will happen in my lifetime. The injuries are horrific and never-ending, and sometimes it is really difficult to watch. I don’t know how parents can watch their kids play; it would absolutely gut me.
But the Olympics! Every two years (summer games, winter games), and I am here for it. Still not a big fan of curling (this is more my speed), but the skiing and snowboarding keep me glued to the TV, along with most of the other winter games. It’s the skating that truly has my heart. Figure skating! Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov took the Gold with his amazing performance (sorry, Malinin!) American Alysa Liu was just incredible, taking home the Gold with her flawless performance (even more remarkable considering she had retired from competing at 16!)
I also watched the ice dancing, speed skating, and, of course, hockey. The USA women’s hockey team was phenomenal! As were the men, and that’s not always a given. It was the first gold medal for men’s hockey since 1980. Mike Eruzione, the captain of the legendary 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team, met with the 2026 U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey team during these Olympics. His advice? Leave everything on the ice. (There is a new Netflix documentary about that season, Miracle: The Boys of ’80, and it is really good.)
It was poetic justice at the end – Canadian Sam Bennett high-sticked Jack Hughes, breaking a few teeth, in the third period, but Hughes got his revenge when he scored the “golden goal” in overtime to take the Gold medal. His bloody smile said it all!
I would be remiss if I didn’t add how moving it was when the Americans held up Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey when they won – he was known as Johnny Hockey, and he and his brother were killed last year after being hit by a drunk driver – their parents were there to celebrate as well.
When the American men’s hockey team won Olympic gold for the first time in 46 years, they paid tribute to the late Gaudreau brothers. Peter Kneffel / Picture alliance via Getty Images
I signed up for Peacock just for the Olympics, and while I will not be renewing that service, it was well worth it. I’m sorry it’s over now, but I’m looking forward to the summer games next! Swimming, diving, and my fave, gymnastics, not to mention baseball’s coming back, softball, skateboarding, and new this next time around, lacrosse and Flag Football. Equestrian is fun, and so are archery and beach volleyball (are they still making the women wear teeny-tiny uniforms? I’m so over that.) Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the Olympics, too!
Book News
If you’re always listening to an audiobook, you’re not alone
(Washington Post illustration; iStock)
As audiobook listening explodes in popularity, some users can’t do a mindless chore without pressing play.
The Washington Post has an “Optimist” newsletter, and I love it – I need some optimism in my life. The news is a nightmare, day after day after day, so I look for the light and wanted to share.
A card Leah Glickman sent to family and friends, designed by her father, Don Glickman, who died on Nov. 11. (Leah Glickman)
“I’m here buddy,” Hugh Pinneo, 18, said to the struggling dog as he rescued him. “You’re scared, I’m scared, too.”
Bernard, a dog struggling to stay afloat in a pond in Chesapeake, Virginia., before Hugh Pinneo, 18, rescued him. (Hugh Pinneo)
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Comments Off on BookBitch Diary: March 1, 2026 | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
Information? Misinformation? Disinformation? Do you know what you are reading or seeing? When the government tells us we are not seeing what our own eyes are telling us we are seeing, when the official White House website takes down information they don’t like and puts up what basically amounts to propaganda, it is time to take a hard look at, well, what we are looking at. Let’s start with the trusty old Merriam-Webster dictionary and Thesaurus.com:
Information: Knowledge gained from investigation, study, or instruction Knowledge of a particular event or situation Synonyms: Data, Facts
Misinformation: Incorrect or misleading information Synonyms: inacurate, misconception
Disinformation: False information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth Synonyms: Treachery, propaganda, fake news
Information is good, but how do you know it when you see it? Is your uncle spreading misinformation or disinformation when he repeats what he heard on the news or on Facebook? Does it matter??
First things first: ask yourself, is this information reliable? Information is reliable when it is accurate and verifiable. How can you tell? It starts at the source. You want to find legitimate sources for information, like newspapers or journals. You access some journals online, but most are behind paywalls. This is where your library comes in – most public libraries have access to a variety of databases that they pay a lot of money for – take advantage of these, usually from the comfort of your web browser. You generally will need a library card to access these types of sources.
Another way to find reliable sources is by Googling – but not on Google’s homepage. Instead, try Google Scholar. The resources there will be much more relevant and trustworthy than just doing an internet search. You can also get your news from television, but just be aware that there is a difference between investigative journalism, both in print or online or on TV, and opinion programming, like the programs on Fox News or MSNow. While they may appear to be news, they are the opinions of the television hosts or networks you are watching, often backed up by misinformation at best, and disinformation at worst.
Good investigative journalism will extensively reference primary sources – experts in the field, eyewitnesses, and interviews (not a rehashing of someone else’s interview). Websites that are usually trustworthy use .gov. .edu, or .org instead of .com, although our current administration is breaking those long-held norms. Beware of clickbait news and AI-generated webpages, misinformation or disinformation, and pictures. Large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are designed to provide answers in natural language, not to generate meaningful information. Understanding who created an information source, what audience it was created for, and for what purpose gives you context for how you should (or shouldn’t) use it.
The CRAAP Test is a widely used tool for evaluating information sources, standing for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose; developed by librarian Sarah Blakeslee, it helps users assess if information is timely, suitable, from a credible source, factually correct, and unbiased, making it a key strategy for media literacy and research.
The SIFT method is a quick, four-step strategy (Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims) for evaluating online information, developed by Mike Caulfield, to determine credibility by focusing on the source and context rather than just the content itself, helping users spot misinformation, bias, and agenda quickly.
The SMART Check is particularly helpful when evaluating news stories. Determine if your news source is SMART (Source, Motivation, Authority, Relevancy/Reliability; Two-Source Test) before believing what is reported.
I hope this helps you determine what to believe when getting your news.
Note: I put this together based on a video one of my brilliant co-workers, Kat, created for our students.
In Finland, kids learn from preschool how to tell fact from fiction online—a lesson for life. [Here in the U.S., university librarians struggle to make students understand the difference between information, misinformation, and disinformation, and why AI isn’t the best way to learn anything.]
Book News
(Illustration by Alexis Arnold/The Washington Post; iStock)
Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.
By Aaron Schaffer, Will Oremus and Nitasha Tiku
In early 2024, executives at artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic ramped up an ambitious project they sought to keep quiet. “Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world,” an internal planning document unsealed in legal filings last week said. “We don’t want it to be known that we are working on this.”
Dimitris Economou outside of the Chantilly Regional Library in Northern Virginia, where he returned the book. (Courtesy of Dimitris Economou)
Dimitris Economou recently found a copy of the children’s book “Harry the Dirty Dog” on his dad’s bookshelf in Greece and realized it had been taken out from a Virginia library decades earlier.
Food News
The latest salad I’m obsessed with! I found it because we were swimming in pears, thanks to a Harry & David gift that arrived much sooner than expected. I’ve made it twice in the past couple of weeks, and can’t wait to make it again! It’s gorgeous, and if you can get everything on your fork – radicchio, pear, blue cheese, pomegranate seed – it is a perfect, delicious bite. (Plus I got to use the walnut oil that languishes in the back of my fridge! But olive oil is a good substitute.)
Jessica Rader wipes tears from her eyes as she receives a refurbished car in 2023. Students in Louisa County High School’s automotive technology program did the repairs. (Andrew Woolfolk/Louisa County Public Schools)
“Kids who never met me cared about me enough to put hard work into a vehicle to make sure myself and my kids were safe,” said Jessica Rader.
Forewarned is forearmed:
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Comments Off on BookBitch Diary: February 1, 2026 | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
This is the first year that I haven’t tried most of these recipes. The only one on the list that I love is the Porcini Ragu – that one is on repeat in my family, I make it about twice a month. (My husband hates chicken, so that eliminated probably half of these recipes.)
Takoyaki, an octopus, plays piano keys with its eight arms. (Mattias Krantz)
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Comments Off on BookBitch Diary: January 1, 2026 | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
I put together a list of my favorite reads this year. I created a top ten list, followed by some honorable mentions. There were so many great books in 2025 – not to mention the older books I also read – that my honorable mentions may be longer than my top ten. Sorry (not sorry!)
(Courtesy of 99designs by Vista) via The Washington Post
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
— “The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss
A corrupted children’s book can feel more jarring than a poisoned river hundreds of miles away.
That’s the impulse behind a sharp campaign launched by freelancers at 99designs, a graphic design platform. Their work draws attention to global warming and the UN Climate Conference taking place in Brazil.
This week, the firm released dystopian revisions of the iconic covers of six children’s stories as they might look in our ravaged future (details).
The Little Mermaid is swimming through a tire on a seabed littered with garbage. The only thing left of Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood is a single stump. And Mr. Badger and Ratty from “The Wind in the Willows” are wearing gas masks as they navigate a chemical swamp.
Patrick Llewellyn, CEO of 99designs, said in a statement, “By reimagining the children’s stories we all grew up with through a climate lens, they’ve created something that feels both familiar and urgent.”
Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins is my favorite poet, and here is one reason why.
Emilia D’Albero became the first ever American to win the Mondial du Fromage, a biennial event held in France and known in English as the Cheesemonger World Cup!
“Join Beef on his 30 minute 0.2 mile walk,” wrote the English bulldog’s owner, America Miranda.
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Comments Off on BookBitch Diary: December 1, 2025 | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
Last month, my husband and I went to Portugal on vacation. Normally, flights from our closest airports involve layovers, usually somewhere in Europe. The first time we went, we spent a few hours at the airport in Paris. When my husband took my daughter last year, they almost missed their connecting flight in Amsterdam (due to horrendous lines at customs, and by “lines,” my daughter explained, they really meant a mosh pit of humanity. They literally had to run through the airport to catch their flight. I am not a runner, to say the least. I have bursitis in the hip that was replaced several years ago, arthritis in my other hip and one knee. I’m not running anywhere. So my husband and I decided to beat the system. We got a great deal on nonstop airfare from New York City to Lisbon, and made that our “layover”. Cheap fares from South Florida to New York are abundant, and this trip involved us visiting all three New York City airports! (We flew into JFK, out of Newark to Portugal, and back into JFK, then out of LaGuardia to home.)
We stayed over one night on the way to Portugal, and two nights on the way home. It worked out perfectly, and unless we get a great deal on nonstop airfare to Portugal from Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach (highly unlikely) then this will be the way we travel from now on. My son and his family are in Brooklyn and I consider spending time with them to be the highlight of any trip, so win-win!
We had a great time in Portugal, ate some amazing food, met really lovely people, hit several museums (World of Wine and the Chocolate Experience museums were highlights) did a tour and tasting at Cockburn’s Port house across the Douro River from Porto in Vila Nova de Gaia, and a guided tour through the Douro River valley that included stops at two wineries, a farm to table lunch at one of the wineries, and a boat ride down the Douro as well.
We had to meet our winery tour group at a theater in downtown Porto. My husband and I are annoyingly early for everything, and this was no exception. I thought we’d grab a coffee at the cafe that Google Maps showed nearby, but it was closed – it looked like it had closed years ago. Then we saw what looked like a cafe across the street, which turned out to be the restaurant of a hotel. We stopped in the lobby and asked if we could get some coffee, but they weren’t open yet. They asked what we wanted, and my husband asked for an espresso, and I asked for a cappuccino. They asked us to wait in the lobby, and a few minutes later gave us our coffees in to-go cups, which I had not seen before in Portugal. When we asked how much it was, they wouldn’t take any money! He wouldn’t even take a tip (it’s not really a tipping culture there.) They said they couldn’t ring us up because they weren’t open, so it was on the house. I could never imagine something like that happening in America. Yet one more reason to love Portugal!
We did get to visit the Bom de Jesus do Monde, but due to the language miscommunication, we were dropped off at the top. We got really lucky that day – every year, all the firefighters in Portugal visit there and they run up all 572 steps with full gear. It was really something to see! They come with their families, and it’s a big celebration. We even saw some firefighters from other countries, like France and Spain. Some of them were definitely slowing down as they reached the summit, but most just flew up those steps. They are all timed, and there are speeches and awards. We took the funicular back down, and that was really cool – it runs on water! This funicular has been running since 1882, and still functions exactly the same way it did back then.
The new AirPods Pro 3 came out a few days before our trip, so we snagged a pair. These are amazing – they have something called Live Translations, which translates in real time, like at the UN! For now, they only translate French, German, Spanish (from Spain, there are differences), and Brazilian Portuguese. Even though European Portuguese is slightly different, they worked really well, and it was an incredible gift to have that ability.
There were some foods we were really looking forward to having again – the Pastel de Nata (a delicious custard tart,) the Francesinha sandwich, and all the fresh fish. I had read about a famous Portuguese clam dish called Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato, which roughly translates to clams with spiced butter, and it was one of the best things I ever ate. I also wanted to try Caldo Verde, the green soup that Portugal is famous for. We tried to find a restaurant that was known for the soup, but struck out. Instead, we went to a Petisco, the Portuguese equivalent of a tapas restaurant, and one of the specials that night was the soup. It seemed like every table was getting it, too, for good reason; it was so delicious! We had the best Francesinha in Braga – it is a big sandwich layered with different meats, topped with a fried egg smothered in melty cheese and sitting in a (usually very spicy, too spicy for me -I’m a wimp) flavorful sauce, only this one had just a bit of heat – it was incredible!
Top row: our to-go coffee; pastel de nata; a park near our hotel in Braga. Middle row: checking into our hotel in Gaia; a sign I loved at a Green Fair we wandered into; port tasting; Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato. Bottom row: Francesinha sandwich, fresh fish and the grill cooking it in front of a fabulous restaurant in Gaia
We had such a great time. The people are so nice, the food is amazing (and cheap!) and the lifestyle is perfectly suited to retirement, my goal. I can’t wait to retire there, but it is still a couple of years down the road.
Our next trip will be in July to Sicily, the land of the Alesi family. My husband is having a big birthday, and when I asked if he wanted a party or something, he said he wanted to take this trip with the family. I’m thrilled that my son and his family will be joining us, and my daughter, but sadly, his two sisters declined. If you have any suggestions about places to stay, please share! We need a large house, preferably with a pool, within walking distance of the beach.
If you’ve been thinking about trying out Audible, now is the perfect time – Amazon has an Audible Holiday Promotion! You get three months for $.99/month, and you can cancel at any time (and it’s easy to do). Check it out!
Here’s what you get:
Best-sellers & new releases: Choose one every month – from their entire catalog, yours to keep (Prime members get two with trial).
Thousands of included titles: Listen all you want to a growing collection of podcasts, audiobooks, and Audible Originals.
Exclusive deals and discounts: Save on all additional titles you want, plus access exclusive member sales and deals.
Mychal Threets, also known as Mychal the Librarian, on the set of the new “Reading Rainbow” series, holding one of the featured books, “No Cats In The Library,” by Lauren Emmons. (Embassy Row)
A cross-border landmark faces a restrictive new future
Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out, these hacks and recipes will up your cake game.
This was such an interesting article! If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to open a restaurant, especially in an expensive, super-competitive city like New York, or ever dreamed of opening your own restaurant, check this out!
How Francine the cat, a staple at a Richmond Lowe’s, ended up 85 miles away in another state. (And how Lowe’s corporate really went above and beyond to find her! Consider me a Lowe’s fan for sure.)
The Denardo family had already driven for 2 hours when they stopped for gas, and saw that Ray Ray the cat had come with them.
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Comments Off on BookBitch Diary: November 1, 2025 | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
Welcome to fall in Florida! Yes, we get pumpkins but no pumpkin patches. Not real ones, anyway. Some of the churches and schools create their own by bringing in truckloads of pumpkins and scattering them on the grass. They tend to charge a small fortune for them, too, as they use it as a fund raiser. We did that for years when my kids were little and were entrhalled with the pumpkin patch idea. Now that my kids are grown and my grandkids live in NY where they have real pumpkin patches, we generally pick up the biggest pumpkin we can find at Costco for anywhere from $6-8. Much better than the $25 and up we’ve paid in the past!
My husband loves carving pumpkins, and he has created some amazing jack-o-laterns!
Clockwise from top left: Daniel Tiger, Mickey Mouse, Classic, Grim Reaper, my grandson, Boo Cat
This month is a short but sweet diary entry, as I am in the midst of preparing for Rosh Hashanah and a trip to New York and then Portugal. We are spending the first night of Rosh Hashanah at home with my daughter, then flying to New York to spend the second night with my son and his family. The following day, we fly to Lisbon, then take the high-speed train to Braga for several days, where I hope to be able to see the Bom Jesus do Monte. There is a funicular to go up, then 573 steps to go down. This funicular is not like the one that crashed in Lisbon, although it is even older than that one. It is moved via water, so I’m excited to see that, too. I visited the rheumatologist yesterday and got a cortisone shot in my knee, so hopefully, I will be able to do it.
Bom Jesus do Monte
We are also going to the dentist for cleanings! We are planning to retire to Portugal, and after our first trip there, we are leaning towards living in Braga, so it seems like a good idea to check out the medical situation. We have heard great things about medical care there, and my husband had a really good experience at the dentist last year. He went for a checkup and cleaning, and part of the exam was a panoramic X-ray. He said they had the latest and greatest equipment, and he had the most thorough cleaning ever, including powerwashing out his mouth with some sort of solution he had never experienced before. They found a cavity and filled it, and told him he didn’t need all the additional work our dentist at home suggested. All of that for $110 – my dentist here gets $135 just for the cleaning, extra for X-rays, and certainly a lot more for a filling. I am also excited to check out the shopping, especially the mall and the outdoor markets.
Then we head to Porto for a few days. We are going on an all-day tour of some wineries along the Douro River, then taking a boat trip on the river. The next day, we are visiting a Port house in Gaia, an area on the river in Porto, for a tour, a tasting, and we get to see hoopers making barrels, which I’m very excited about. Then onto Lisbon, where we head back to New York for a couple of days to spend some more time with my family. There is a scheduled strike at the Lisbon airport the day we are leaving, so fingers crossed that we make that flight! Then, finally, home.
Hope you’re having a fun Labor Day! I am very glad to have the day, especially since I’m filling in for our Saturday librarian, so I will only have to work five days in a row instead of six. Yay Labor Day!
I hit a reading wall last week. As you all know, I read a lot, all the time. I usually have at least three books going at any time: the book I am reading during the day and into the evening, the book I am listening to, and another that I read when I go to bed. I generally read just a chapter or two in bed, so it takes a while to finish one of those books. Audiobooks have been great for me since my vision is going, and I’m glad I’ve finally found audiobooks that hold my attention. My daily reading includes the hour I am forced to take for lunch, so I get a lot of reading in. These are books that are generally not out yet; they are review copies or galleys, and depending on the book, I usually read 3-5 of these a week. But last week, every book I started, I put down again. I just couldn’t get into anything, and I blame Lucy Score!
I had stumbled upon the last book of her Blue Moon series, loved it, and went back and read the entire series. After that, nothing was appealing to me. I went to my library’s reading apps and found some older books by her that I hadn’t read, and that seemed to work. I read a standalone, Rock Bottom Girl, then I found the first book of the Benevolence series in Kindle Unlimited, and now I’m on the second book of that series. Reviews to follow!
I had put Julie Soto’s last book on hold at my library. I loved her first couple of books, but the new one is a romantasy, a genre that has taken over the romance industry, but I am not a fan. I’ve read a couple, and since her last book made my best books of the year list last year, and this new one has hit the NY Times bestseller list and is blowing up everywhere, I decided to give it a try. Well, it came in for me the other day, and I read the first couple of pages and closed it. I may go back to it if it is still available, but I am finishing the second Benevolence book, and there is a third, so maybe after that I’ll try again.
Have any of you ever run into this type of situation? Where every book you pick up, you put down because it isn’t holding your attention? I think it happened this time because Lucy Score, and also, I was listening to a book that I didn’t like. But it was on the LibraryReads list, and had great reviews, so I kept plugging along. Finally, at about the 75% point of the book, I put it down and started another audiobook instead. Hopefully, I’ll go back and finish it. It seems kind of silly to get that far in a book and not finish.
This seems to happen to me once every few years or so, and sometimes I get out of it by rereading an old favorite or reading something completely out of my usual genres, like romantasy. But this time, neither of those worked, and I’m hoping that I will get through my obsession with Lucy Score and be able to move on. All suggestions welcome!
I love Disney World. I went to Disneyland for the first time when I was fourteen years old. I was about eighteen when I went to Disney World for the first time, and I’ve been many times over the years. It keeps getting more and more expensive. I’m not the only one who noticed – check out this opinion piece in the New York Times. I
t made me feel so sad to read this. In 2023, we took my grandson at Christmas; in fact, we went to the Magic Kingdom on a drizzly Christmas Day, and it was great. He was not quite three years old yet, and maybe he won’t remember it, I don’t know. Now his sister is almost that age, so maybe we’ll go back next year when they both can enjoy it. I’d better start saving now – one day in the park, staying off-site at an Airbnb, meals, etc., all add up to a ridiculous amount of money. But I want to create those memories for my grandchildren, so that’s my choice.
I found this recipe in the NY Times Cooking App, Prosciutto and Melon Salad. Now that is a classic pairing, but this salad took it further than just wrapping wedges of melon with prosciutto. It put it on a bed of arugula mixed with a bit of fresh basil, added some lemon juice and olive oil, and fresh mozzarella.
I am allergic to melon, but I have an amazing mango tree, and I thought the flavors would work together, so I tried that. I was right, it worked beautifully. Then I started reading some of the comments, one of my favorite things about the NYT Cooking app, and I saw someone recommended skipping the lemon and using balsamic vinegar instead. Since I love balsamic, especially with fresh mozzarella and basil, I tried it, and that was the winner for me. My mango tree has stopped producing, but peaches and nectarines are fantastic right now, so I pivoted. I’ve been making this salad probably once a week all summer. If you’re vegetarian, skip the prosciutto. If you’re vegan, skip the cheese, too. Enjoy!
Good News
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Comments Off on BookBitch Diary: September 1, 2025 | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
Posted by Stacy Alesi 
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 