a little Italy

Yesterday afternoon we were at the pool and saw a friend with her two year old nephew Enzo. He was the typical Italian flirt and charmed all the ladies. When Enzo and his mamma were leaving, she mentioned that they were going home to make meatballs and so I made the snap decision that we were, too. Luckily, per my post below about using the food we have, we had almost all the ingredients so it fit right into my new plan :)

Brett's brother Nick is now our upstairs neighbor and pretty much constant dinner companion so I told those guys that tonight is Italian night and that we should watch The Talented Mr. Ripley and salivate over the scenery and our supper. They had never even heard of this movie, one of my old favorites. I never get to pick the movie when those two are together. But I rattled off a really good, slightly racy quote from the movie and I think that impressed them, so they conceded. What is it with men and movie quotes?

Anyway while they were gone shopping I inspected the fridge and made an onion, garlic, mushroom and white wine sauté with veggies that needed to be eaten. The boys dove right into that with some bread when they were back from the market. Movie was of course great. Don't watch this if you have even the slightest travel bug. Do watch it if you think you were probably born in the wrong decade and are hugely nostalgic for printed dresses, streamlined cars, the days before spf warnings and a time when men wore collared shirts, not ironic tees.

not a plastic cup or playmate cooler is sight.

Did you guess that maybe I am one of those people? The nostalgic type? Last weekend we went to a show at the High Museum called the Allure of the Automobile. Absolutely amazing. I have always been a fan of old cars, wooden boats, Vespas, etc. I used to love to walk through the vintage car show in Ives Park in Potsdam and see the cool upholstery and shiny knobs, levers and rims. But the cars at this show were way beyond the '57 Chevy. A few were owned by Clark Gable, one was a Mercedes that was a birthday present to a 16 year old baroness named Gisela. It sat in storage in NYC for decades, she refused to sell it even when she ended up dying in squalor surrounded by numerous cats.

Sorry, that was a huge side note. Italian food is good. Tonight we are going out for an Italian date, courtesy of my lack of attention to detail.

I had purchased a couple restaurant gift certificates from one of those half off websites, thinking we could give them as gifts. But when they arrived Brett noticed they were not valid Thursday through Saturday, a dead giveaway that they were some kind of shady bargain.

So, basically I need to stop being so cheap. But the upside is we have to go to this place twice. Poor us. Ciao!