Sunday Dinner

Last year Alessandra, the elder of the two daughters of the family I’m living with, went to Mozambique for a month to stay with some missionaries, who are of the Servants of Mary, I think – at least that is the order of priests. At any rate, last night the sister who is the Superior General of the order in Mozambique came with a priest who is O.S.M. She is an African sister who spoke mostly Portuguese but also a little Italian and of course speaks the native language. The priest is Spanish, from La Mancha, but also speaks Portuguese and Italian. Alessandra speaks Spanish and a little Portuguese. Alas, at the dinner table we had Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and a little English spoken. Above all, it was a treat for me because I adore the Portuguese language. I could listen to it constantly – it has such an exotic yet understandable and melodic sound. I love it. …I remember once on the way home from SHU, late at night, my dad and I were at a rest stop, and there was a truck driver there who spoke Portuguese. It made my otherwise monotonous evening on the Turnpike to hear this guy say a few words.

At any rate, we spent nearly all day in the kitchen, and I learned a lot. I got up and took a shower, and then went with Alessandra to the grocery store, but we ended up having to go to two and still not get everything we needed – there was absolutely no basil to be found. I think it’s because they really don’t restock on Sundays, but at any rate, we got most of what we needed. We made:

• Pizzas: regular, with anchovies, with onions, with buffala and cherry tomatoes. The dough was made at home.
• Tiramisu
• Quiche with zucchini – and the secret was mascarpone cheese, which I must remember for future quiche making.
• Caprese salad, which is tomatoes and buffala mozzarella with basil, but since we didn’t have fresh basil, we used fresh parsley.

Additionally, there was prosciutto and speck that we forgot to serve, plus ice cream for dessert in addition to the tiramisu. Making everything was Alessandra, her boyfriend Andrea, Fulvia, and I helped out too. In the meantime, we also had time to watch a film, Sacre Cuore (Sacred Heart), but it wasn’t an overtly religious film. I almost forgot that for lunch, we had the famous Roman roasted chicken and potatoes. Amazing. The good news is that I don’t think I’ll be dying of hunger soon.