Mary's Dinner Club Stories - Italian Dinner

A very 'classic‘ dinner was enjoyed on Saturday…. After starting with the usual glass of sparkling wine and brief introductions we actually sat down early - a first! By 20:05 everyone had arrived – obviously lots of Germans and Austrians ;) as well as my lovely next-door neighbors who generally encounter very little traffic getting here.

The guest list included only two ‘newcomers’ this time with everybody else having been here at least once - some even having met before. We started off with antipasti - various vegetables marinated in homemade flavored olive oil and Italian herbs accompanied by freshly baked garlic buns - a newly discovered yeast dough that feels/kneads so wonderful I may have to be serving them with every single meal now.

When I cleared the table after the first course, some guests were actually concerned about where I was moving those buns - obviously they stayed and plates were topped up with more. After a bit of a break and a ‘reshuffling’ of seat numbers/seats, and the usual laughter about couples always ending up next to each other, everyone settled down for the main course of Bucatini with filet of pork in a creamy artichoke-white wine sauce and sautéed Swiss chard.

For some reason the silence that usually sets in when people are having dessert, came a course early this time - I guess it is the kind of food that needs to be savored. Obviously conversation soon got back to its ‘lively self’ – especially with one guest sharing fantastic stories about her time working in Central Africa. It’s only over the ricotta-lemon tart that we were all reminded that our current travelling destination was Italy - the lemon slices had been marinated in Limoncello liqueur.

And what a good trip it was. Grazie everybody! On the 24th the hostess shall be refueling on new ideas and we’ll meet again on Saturday, March 31st which happens to be Earth Day. We will do our bit and switch from electric to candle light for part of the evening so get ready for a romantic evening!

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