Sunday, March 20, 2022

Getting settled in Florence. Takes several days. Apartment in good shape but in the middle of our living room are six cases of sparking wine from Planeta in Sicily. Not sure where we put it as all our wine storage places are full. Need our friend Paul to come to Florence again and organize everything.

The Aperol Spritz is the favorite drink of Florence. The ingredients, not including how you garnish, are a third each of sparking water, Aperol, and sparkling wine, generally an inexpensive Prosecco. There is only one Aperol.

The quality of the drink is a function of the quality of the sparkling wine. The Bristol in Paris uses Chandon, which is overkill. This wine I have shipped from Sicily, at a net cost of about euros 20, I think is better than expensive Prosecco. The cost of Prosecco can range from euros 5 to 75.

For those interested, I use a healthy slice of orange but first squeeze some orange juice in the drink. I use a tall glass and fill it with 7 or 8 ice cubes. Try it, you’ll like it -- particularly as the weather warms up. ———————————- Michigan surprised Tennessee. I am amazed. ——————————- The Marlins signed Jorge Soler who should give the team some badly needed offensive power. Do not be misled by the headline that it is a three-year, $36-million deal. It is really a one year deal, which gives Soler two options to get out. He wins no matter what because if he does well, he opts out and if he does not, he stays and gets a slug of money he does not deserve. As I have repeatedly said, most owners of baseball teams are not very smart when it comes to baseball. On the other hand, the made deal is better than no deal at all.. ————————— With our stock market closed for the weekend as, of course, it always is, I feel like the casino is closed. The volatility and risk in the stock market is not much less than the risk at the crap table. The dice do not change because the jobs report is worse or better than expected etc. etc. In others words, it is easier to measure my risk gambling in a casino than it is investing in the stock market.

Do not take what I just said as gospel. Do not write it on your economics exam if you have one. ——————————- Putin has bombed an art school. This man has to be dealt with and the sooner the better. My view is we have to call him out, arm Ukraine to the gills and hope Putin is not crazy enough to start a nuclear war. We are afraid of provoking him. Really? You mean what we have done so far has not provoked him, but giving Ukraine what it needs to really stop him will be the last straw? ——————————- Biden is going to Europe to meet with our allies. He has no plans to go to Ukraine. Would you want him to go? Has anyone from our country gone to Ukraine? Do we want anyone to go?

If really dangerous, send Cruz, Hawley, Johnson, Gaetz, and MTG. I am sure DeSantis and McCarthy would also love to go and come back with a solution. Do not begin to think my list is complete. I am just trying to make a point. ————————— We just returned from brunch at the Four Seasons. The picture already posted is with Stefano and Luca. We were there over three hours. Barbara thought it was the best food ever. For the first time, I consumed no alcohol because I am trying to shed some excess water weight. I loved every minute of it.

Outside people can wear masks or not, but inside the hotel masks are mandatory except when eating or drinking. Servers provided the food in the buffet lines. No one complained, no one did not comply.

Everyone must be fully vaccinated and boosted to work unlike in Florida where I had to cancel my partner Joe’s retirement party at Prime 112 because they could not guarantee the staff was safe. Actually, what I said is not accurate. Prime 112 cancelled me two weeks before the party because I demanded a fully vaccinated and boosted staff.

Once the owner got involved, all differences were amicably resolved but I still had to scurry around to obtain a new venue. We went to Barton G’s, which did a great job with a staff fully masked and vaccinated. —————————— The more I think about Deshaun Watson getting $230,000 of guaranteed money, the more absurd it is. How many women accused him of sexual harassment or worse? I think more . than 20.

Then I think back not that long ago to Al Franken. He was forced to resign as a United States Senator for what? I think he was accused of groping and forcibly kissing multiple women. He denied the allegations but it did not matter. Anyone see anything wrong with that picture? ——————- See you tomorrow. Market time tomorrow as we continue to get settled.