Feste Time

After several weekends of travel, Martello e Trofie Wife decided to take this last one before Passover easy. Friday night was dedicated to a feste (party; wherein we made the faux pas of bringing the offending Bolognese Lambrusco) for a departing colleague, which gave Trofie Wife (after she reluctantly agreed to leave the house after 11 p.m.) an opportunity to meet more of Martello's co-workers. I admitted that they were a fun bunch, although the mix of English and Italian was a bit dizzying/disarming (while most people speak a mix of both, some Italians and some estrani (well, mostly Trofie Wife) don't have much to offer conversationally in their subordinate language.

We finally made it out late on another rainy Saturday just in time to hit IKEA for a tavola pieghevole (folding table) so Trofie Wife could work and read outside on the rare ocassion when the sun is actually shining! Once finished with the furniture shopping, we went to town at the Swedish market, picking up a bunch of salmon-related products and other assorted treats, including a small portion of reindeer salami (sorry, Rudolph), whose purchase proved that Trofie Wife didn't fall too far from the paternal tree when it comes to culinary curiosity (disappointingly, it did sorta just taste like beef). We returned home to watch Wall*E, which we had managed to miss in both the English- and Italian-language theatres. What a great flick! (I greatly enjoy imitating the robots, especially when dancing with appliances in the kitchen.)

The weekend was rounded out with another feste, a late potluck brunch at the home of another one of Martello's co-workers. As this extremely international group sat around the table conversing in English, Italian, and food (and later moving on to badminton and a pre-downpour stroll), I felt as though I were in a scene out of a slow-paced, subtitled film, sitting in a lovely European backyard, sipping wine and eating cake (including our quickly-conceived and well-received salt-specked chocolate chip cookies (er "biscuits"); someone even requested the recipe!) and discussing all matter of things intellectual and otherwise (yes, I know I sound both snobby and dorky). Our lives felt, and continue to feel, very charmed.

Baci e gelato,

Martello e Trofie Wife