All-day lunch affair

Last night, we all stayed out very late dancing and had a blast, so when I woke up this morning, I wasn't exactly ready to go anywhere. But, I had made plans to have lunch with Antonella, Alessandro, Andrea and Arianna at their house in Bagno a Ripoli so of course, I still went. When I got there, we chatted for a while and they told me the story about how their cat Spotty, had been scraped by a car yesterday. Thankfully, he was alright but had to go to the vet for a look-see. The car had swiped him in the face, so his little lip was bloody and he had a broken tooth. Poor thing! Arianna was treating him like her teeny baby, rubbing him and giving him little bits of food and medicine. Soooo cute.

We sat at the table for 3 hours and ate way too much. We started with olives and chilled salmon and another type of fish. For our first course, we ate a delicious risotto with little pieces of clams. I don't usually like clams, but I really liked this risotto. Then, we had fried bakala, french fries and fried artichokes. Yes, everything was fried. I thought I was going to choke on grease. Obviously it was all delicious, but I couldn't believe she made frying the food the theme of lunch! When she heard me comment, "Wow, we're all fried today!," she asked if I also wanted a salad, which I happily accepted in addition. For dessert, we had fruit and tea and little cookies that were fabulous.

I spent lots of time filling them in on family dynamics back in the States. They were 2 years behind in information because my grandmother used to call and tell them everything, so they were very intrigued by all that our family has been up to. They also graciously invited my Dad and I to a huge Easter feast at Alberto and Maria's house. I was hoping they would because I had heard about it (but played dumb) and was dying to get invited. My Dad is going to absolutely love it. Aunt Gail told me that it's a lunch/dinner that starts at noonish and goes one course after another until 7 pm. We're going to die, but it's going to be great to spend that kind of time with the family.

Anyway, I left their house at 6 and got home around 7 and Maria Pia made me dinner. Ugh. Too much food; it never ends. Tomorrow Aunt Gail and Uncle Ellis are taking me out to dinner and on Wednesday, I'm taking my friend Zach out to dinner. Here's the story on Zach. Last night, we were in Cafe Bigallo and I rounded the corner to get back to my table from the bathroom. Who is sitting at the table across from mine?!!! Zach, one of my best friends from my first year at Salve. I can't even tell you how excited I was to see him. I got the most amazing rush of excitement, probably because he knew all about my transferring before anyone else and always tried to keep my spirits up when I was unhappy at Salve. I hadn't seen him since the end of freshman year when I left, and he was supposed to be transferring as well. He never got around to it and informed that I made a very smart move because he now hates it there. That's too bad. He always made me so happy because he's such a nut. So anyway, I must have more time to catch up with him and that's why I'm going out to a millionith dinner on Wednesday. It should be great!

I'm currently in search of a used bike. I need exercise and I'm sick of taking the bus. Right now, I'm going to look at some ads and see what I can find. School tomorrow. Buona notte!