Day 7, Italy

Today, the WHOLE family came out to a restaurant somewhere out in the countryside, outside of Casorzo (busy metropolis, that!) and that gave us the chance to finally put some food in our tummies--Yeah right! More accurately, this mid-day meal allowed us to continue our feasting streak... 72 consecutive hours in Italy with uninterrupted eating. Altogether we were a party of 18, and all the "kids" sat at one end of the very long table. That would be the third generation cousins: me, Laura, Marco, Matteo, Eduardo, and Claudia. I think it'll be a miracle, but a very cool one indeed, if we all end up staying in touch so we can have reunions when we're in our nineties! I'm also really excited because these cousins of mine have had recent contact with our cousins in Australia, so I'm hoping to meet up with them someday too.

I think I've eaten a lot of raw meat on this trip. Here's something I thought I'd never put into my mouth: very thinly sliced cow tongue. My very kind cousin, Laura, was able to tell me what it was before I took a bite, but after it was already on my plate. So I decided I'd give it a try, just to be fair to the tongue. But while I was chewing that first bite, I noticed the tiny little tastebuds all along the sliced edge of the meat... And so I handed off the rest to Marco. But anyway, can't say I didn't try.

After this very long meal at the very long table, Francesca, Ines, Gramma, and I took a little trip to Marina's house to see her and her ailing parents, Maria and Luigi. So now I have really met all of the relatives there are to meet here... the living ones, the ones who are struggling to be alive, and even the ones who rest at the cemetery now.

Then, of course, it was time for dinner. So we came back to Francesca's house, and Ines and Maria Rita and Ornella and Carlo were all there. This is where I learned that in Italy, there's no such thing as "just soup". We were promised that after eating SO much all weekend, we would have "just soup" for dinner tonight. Ok, so first, the plate of cold sliced meats, prosciutto, salami, etc. And THEN came the soup, as promised. With breadsticks, directly on the table, of course. And then just when I thought we were in the clear, except for maybe some chocolates or something, Francesca comes back into the dining room with a small roast on a plate-- but like a whole roast! And green beans. And then after all that, she brought out some cooked sugary pears for dessert. And some kind of a peach torte that Ines made. By the time I'd gotten through all of this, I could barely even remember the soup-- and this meal was supposed to be "just soup"!! But hey, at least the only tastebuds involved with this meal were my own.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Prague, so we get to experience a whole new language, culture, climate, landscape, everything. I'm starting to notice what an ambitious plan Gramma and I had created for this trip. Three completely different countries, about eight different operas, visits to ALL of our relatives in Italy. She's doing fine, except for all the eating, but nothing she won't recover from in a day or two. The restaurants in Prague won't be getting much of our business!