Nothing at all

    A wise observer of Italian society said to me once that Italians have a tremendous capacity to have fun without doing anything -- without drinking, taking drugs, watching anything, listening to anything, going anywhere, just hanging out with the people they like, talking, often all at once, often disagreeing. 

    I had never thought of it like that before, but that's just so true.

    The only exception to that is food, of course, but not even much of that needs to be involved. And only if it's the right time of day. And the food is right for that time.      

    Last night, one of my Italian cousins and his girlfriend (what do you call a partner when you're in your 50s?) came to my little town so we could go out to dinner by the lake.

    They were stopping here first so she could see my house. 

    About a half-hour before they arrived, I noticed I didn't have any nibbly kind of food to offer them with a drink -- no nuts, potato chips, olives, nothing snack-like.  I had a wide selection of drinks, but no food that was right.

    I panicked and thought I'll apologize immediately when they get here and they'll forgive me. Then that observation flashed across my mind and I thought, I won't apologize right away. (that's a stupid habit of mine anyway). It's only a few minutes before dinner. I do have some cheese (even though that's not right AT ALL). Let's just see how it goes.

    They arrived and immediately went out to the terrace to admire my view and the setting sun behind it.

    After a minute or two (you don't wait much longer than that in the States or in England), I asked what I could offer them -- something to drink, something?

    "Nothing," my cousin replied. "Nothing," his partner said.

    Nothing? Not even a cool glass of mineral water? It's hot as hell still and they had just driven out from Rome.  

    Nope. 

    We sat on the terrace for quite awhile, chatting about some family plans we're making for September, trying to call another one of our cousins in Naples who we haven't talked to in ages to get him to come along.

    After about an hour of light-hearted banter and gentle teasing (which occassionally got loud with all of us talking at once), my cousin suggests we go eat. His partner asks for a glass of water right before we go. I start filling up a small glass and she tells me to stop when it's about a quarter-full.

   At dinner, we decide together we'll each order an antipasto and another course -- he a pasta dish, she and I a fish dish. She tells him to check with the waiter whether there's vinegar in the appetizer he wants, because he's had a stomach ache recently and vinegar isn't good for it, she reminds him. He does that before deciding on the appetizer. 

   I suggest wine with dinner. They agree. She orders a bottle for us. And two bottles of water, one flat, one sparkling, since I like sparkling and they like flat. She actually likes kinda sparkling, she explains, so she wants to mix the two to create the perfect blend.   

   They each had precisely one small glass of wine each and one glass of water each over our three-course meal (we ordered dessert too).  

   I had three of each. 

   Gotta work on that if I'm staying.