In Italia
August 9, 2011 § Leave a comment
Last night, I started thinking about home. Really, it was one of those nights when I felt like being in the kitchen, wanted my hands in the dough, wanted to be pulling cookie sheets out of the oven, one by one. Craved the slow, repetitive process, the Norah Jones soundtrack that has become a mainstay in our kitchen, and my little brother crooning along. But since I am living on my own right now, the kitchen is, quite typically, devoid of groceries. The flour bin is empty, the fridge is barren. So no baking was to happen last night.
But it got me thinking about making dinner, something that rarely happens when I am alone. It got me thinking about pizza dough, and fresh pasta, and my dad fussing over my food pictures (the top one is his work by the way), and shopping at Bi-Rite every couple of days, pulling ripe melons from the shelves, skirting around people similarly excited about the produce. It got me thinking about standing in ice cream lines with my brother and some of my favorite places in San Francisco, feeling like I should go through the archives of everything I made in the days leading up to my departure, and about how long we have been talking about taking a family vacation to Italy only to have it come down to me going alone for the whole month of August.
And even though my little brother likes to hold it over my head that his Italian is so much better than mine, it would have been nice to have him along. At least then he could order gelato for me! As it is, it looks like I am landing in Rome and making my way up the western shore to Gaeta and then on through Torino to my farming adventure. After so much time spent surrounded by people here in Prague and the last two weeks with some of my best friends from home, it will be interesting to go back to traveling on my own.
Soufflé Days 
Leave a Reply