We had our “gang” over for Sunday lunch because our last (🤞) heat wave finally has broken. This was the hottest summer ever recorded in Italy. I knew the terrace would finally be nice enough to eat outside. All of our gang are going away soon for vacations in far flung places so I rushed to do this before we all were coming and going. Doug wins the prize for most distance. He is going to South Africa. Roselyne and Steve are off to Paris for a “significant” birthday celebration, buon compleanno Roselyne. Jen goes on a road trip to Calabria the heel of “the boot”. And Luther and I are going to Hamburg Germany and the north coast.

The lunch was cursed right from the getgo. I knew it would be a busy morning of cooking. I had done what I could to prep but this one called for a lot of more last minute work. I had planned an all Spanish meal. I’m never afraid to do a recipe I haven’t made before. The main course was a Paella Valencia. The snack was toasted bread rubbed with garlic and a raw, juicy tomato. This is a common tapa. And the primi was the Spanish omelette I had made before with good success.

The first disaster was toasting the bread in the broiler. I neglected to watch it and that is not smart. I smelled it burning. It was black. So I started again. This time with success. Then I started working on the omelette. All went well until I wanted to “confidently” flip the pan. That was fine but it had stuck and only half came off. I had to manually remove the rest. Then returned to the pan. I flipped it again to remove hoping it would look better on that side. It didn’t look terrible but the pretty brown crust remained stuck to the pan ☹️ So, it was cooked but it sure wasn’t pretty. I was beginning to feel like everything was going wrong.

The paella would have been delicious but there were technical issues that I couldn’t overcome. You may remember my spiffy induction cooktop? Well, it just wasn’t cutting the mustard. It would not heat hot enough for the enormous paella pan. I have an extra induction hot plate and I decided to try that. This was all before my guests arrived. I was precooking the vegetables. They cooked ok but I noted the heated part was really just in the center of the pan. While my guests were chatting I made the paella. But the bubbling fish broth was just in the very center of the pan. You’re not supposed to stir it, but I realized the outer edges wouldn’t cook unless I did. So long story short it tasted pretty good but some of the rice was not cooked enough. Third strike! I’m out! First pic is while it is cooking, second is it on the table.

Thank the heavens Doug brought the dessert! 🙄 And it was delicious. A peach tart extravaganza.

Luther and I also got a wonderful, amazing, stunning gift from Jen. It was for our anniversary which was in June, BUT she started this project when we had our 50th anniversary which was seven years ago. Yes, she has been working on this for all those years. She also took it on all her adventures and travels working on it in many places. She gave us statistics. It is double stranded, lace weight cashmere. The color is nightshade. A deep blue-gray. Made with no mistakes it takes 372,380 stitches. She explained she made many mistakes and had to undo and go back and fix so many more than that number. I am so touched. I took some photos but they don’t do it justice. So I borrowed some of Jen’s pictures.

I am so touched by this gift. It is so beautiful, soft beyond belief, and took so, so, so much work. Grazie di cuore,! amica mia, 💕
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Now the weather has broken I hope to get out and about a little more. I’m going to push for a trip to a winery. That would be fun. I hope wherever you are, you’re enjoying life! Here is to autumn! My favorite season. May it be long and lovely 🍂