Last night, as I was about to go to bed, I found Bill’s flight on Dulles Airport’s Web site.  When I discovered his flight, he was somewhere over Kansas City.  I watched the flight until it landed at Dulles, then went to sleep.  When I woke up this morning, I found his departing flight to Frankfurt.  At about 5:00am local time, he was just off the coast of Ireland.  His plane was scheduled to land by 8:05am, but he got in about a half hour early.

He was at home by 8:30am, which was a nice improvement over our Stuttgart days.  When we were living near Stuttgart, it took about an hour to get to and from the airport.  We now live about 20 minutes from the Frankfurt Airport.  Not only did his bags not get lost, but he was able to get off the plane and come home, rather than connect in Frankfurt and fly to Stuttgart.

Needless to say, the dogs were delighted to see Bill!

Zane was actually the first to meet Bill at the door, but when we sat down to coffee, Arran had to get some snuggle time.  He came over and nudged his head under Bill’s arm for a hug.  I definitely wasn’t the only one missing Bill this week.

 

There wasn’t a lot of food left in the house, so we decided to have lunch at Little Italy.  It was our third visit there and I booked the reservation through OpenTable.de.  Our reservation was for 12:30pm, but we were a little early.  The friendly proprietor didn’t mind.  We were the first ones in the restaurant, but it was only a few minutes before the place started to fill up.  We proceeded to have a sumptuous 120 euro lunch that lasted about 90 minutes…

I started with a glass of prosecco… first alcohol in over a week.  I probably should have stuck with the bubbly, as this was very nice.

Then, the friendly proprietor sold me on the special appetizer he was selling.  He said it was the last one.  Basically, it was fresh ravioli stuffed with cheese, pistachio nuts, and lime.  It was delicious!

Bill went with the burrata, which is a northern Italian speciality.  Cherry tomatoes, sweet onions, balsamic vinegar, and very fresh, mild, “buttery” cheese…  I don’t even like cold cheese, but I will definitely eat burrata, which is the Italian word for butter.  That’s pretty much what it’s like.

I had a salmon filet with a side of pureed celery and a ginger butter slathered on top…  I paired it with a peachy white wine.  My guess is that it was pinot grigio, although I’m not certain.  

And Bill had the “Wolfbarsch”, aka sea bass.  The sea bass in Germany isn’t like the sea bass I’ve had in the States.  It’s not quite as decadent.  But his fish went beautifully with pureed aubergines and fresh peppers.

Finally, we had dessert.  I had a “colonel”, which was lime sorbet served with a bit of Absolut Vodka infused with lemons.  If I’d wanted to, I could have have mango or cassis sorbet.  The proprietor brought out the chilled bottle of vodka and poured it over the scoop of refreshing sorbet.  It was a bit cold outside for this, but I wanted to try a dessert I hadn’t yet had at Little Italy.  Bill had the best panna cotta ever.  The first time I had panna cotta, it was rich and creamy.  Every other time, it was like milky jello… firm and not creamy.  At Little Italy, the panna cotta was like it was the first time I ever had it… rich, creamy, buttery, and delicious.  Next time, if there isn’t an enticing special, I’m having that.  It came with Johannesbeer (red currant) puree and mangoes.

I finished up with a double espresso.

 

After lunch, we went to the commissary to get something for dinner tonight.  We were in and out of there quickly.

I usually like to try different places whenever I can, but Bill is understandably tired from his long journey and we have yet to be disappointed at Little Italy.  I think it’s going to become one of our go to local restaurants.  The food and service are always excellent, and like we did the first time we went there, we even chatted with a single lady sitting by herself.  She was intrigued by the burrata.

 

Hopefully, that will be the end of Bill’s TDY trips for awhile… or, at least I hope I can go with him on the next one.  I hate sitting at home alone all week.  I will admit, he was a sight for sore eyes.  And now that he’s back, he’ll probably want to rest his…