Thursday, March 06, 2014

A Spontaneous Slumber Party And An Italian Feast To Go

Last night we took my Aunt and Uncle out for dinner for my Uncle's 65th birthday, which is today.

He put up a fight - no self-respecting Italian man lets someone else "treat" them to dinner - but we finally wrestled the bill from his hands.  It was easy to do once we threatened that we'd embarrass him in front of the other people in the restaurant if he didn't let us pay.  He broke out into a sweat, but he finally acquiesced.

Before dinner we stopped at the truck to pack a bag to sleep over, so once our bellies were full we headed back to put our pajamas on and spend a few hours talking over coffee.

This morning, my Aunt put out a breakfast spread worthy of Hilton HHonors Diamond Status (shout out to M and MacG!) - and even made Ed eggs and pancakes! - then this afternoon, took us to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.  We went a little crazy shopping at all the little Italian grocery stores and the open area market.
We bought prosciutto bread and several loaves of Italian bread and a big chunk of provolone and hard salame and mixed olives...
And dark chocolate covered figs and sfogliatelle and palmiers and cannoli and coffee...oh, my god, so much awesome stuff.
After we shopped, we did what any good Italian would do - we went to eat.  Antipasto, a great veal parmigiana, gnocchi, more bread, and tiramisu and coffee to wrap it all up.  They treated us to this meal.  I knew we wouldn't get away without them paying for something.  Dammit, they're so tricky.

It was the.  best.  day.  I felt like it was my birthday.

Can't wait to come back!  We're going to need to restock the truck at some point.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2013:  Bright Spot On The Mountain
2012: Thinking About Adding A Few More Wheels To The Rig
2011: Cooled By The Ocean
2010: Oh, Mother!
2009: Eddie Adds Culture To His Day
2008: One Armed Bandit
2007: 614
2006: Having A Good Reason
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

4 comments:

Mick said...

OMG, we so love going to markets and that looks fabulous. Every time we go on vacation we're always asking "Do they have a market here?" I'm hoping to get to New York next year and would love to see this place.

Anonymous said...

...how I wish I was there with you all...

Marlaina said...

Does the Hotel Joia give points. Now that we're familiar with the Lettera Family Holdings, we had an excellent stay in Tucson, we'll have to book hers and try it out. Sounds fantastic.

Belledog said...

Food tourism!

Happy Birthday (again) to Uncle.

Have not spent much time in the Bronx, and it's so worth a visit.