All Trabajo and No Juego...

It's not that I haven't been thinking about you- it's that I have been taking care of other business, which has left me too drained to be inspired in the kitchen. I do have plans, though! I recently reunited with my oldest childhood friend, Amelia. I am happy to report that she is a foodie, an Italian foodie, living in Rome. She has even given me a recipe-- Fettuccine ai Funghi Porcini! I will have it tested and posted by the end of the weekend. This is my first real Italian recipe, and I can't wait to try it.

In the meantime, how about a funny story? Two Saturdays ago, we had a guy, I'll call him "the boss", stop by to give us an estimate to trim the trees in our yard, one of which had grown so large we lost use of most of our deck. The boss spoke no English, NONE, so his girlfriend translated for him via cell phone. We all agreed on a price, and last Saturday he came back with a crew. It was a hot and humid day, and I filled a cooler with ice and bottled water for the guys. After they had been working for a few minutes, I realized the cooler might go unnoticed as we couldn't put it too close to them due to tree limbs flying everywhere. How would I tell them about the water? Brainstorm- I went online and crudely translated "here's cold water", memorized the phrase, and went outside to save the day. I caught the boss' attention and with exaggerated gesture toward the cooler and loudly (because it helps if it's louder since they can't understand a damn thing you're saying anyway)... loudly said "aqui agua frio"!! "Aqui agua frio"!! The boss nodded, walked towards me, and asked "hey, do you have any rope"? I think my eyes got as big as saucers, and I was dumbstruck, I didn't know what to say...so I just said yes, and went to get the rope...and the eggs.