The Road to The Kitchen

14 September 2007

Well it’s official, I’ve been in Italy one month and I got to say, it’s been nice but I can’t wait to go home. I knew I was starting to get old back in 2004 when, while on holiday, I couldn’t wait to go home. Prior to that, whenever I was on holiday, I never wanted to go home. It’s not that I don’t like it here, I do…very much. It’s as it was when I first arrived in San Francisco…I missed my friends (still do), driving, and moreover, the familiarity of things. Knowing where and how to get the things I wanted and needed. At least in SF there were regular buses running. At Badia A Coltibuono, it’s quite remote, very backwoods and no, I have not rethought my preference to live in the country versus the city. Only my dream of the country life included a pick-up truck and an old dog…well my old dog.

Speaking of getting old, I turned 33 yesterday. “How exciting!” you must be thinking...actually I woke up with a bad backache. I took some Tylenol® for it and had my morning café and went to work. Around 10:30 or so, I started to feel hungry…no ravenous. Almost to the point where I didn’t think I could hold on for another moment longer…but I did. We had our family meal at 11:30 but I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. My stomach felt queasy so I thought to take some mineral water – for the bubbles- to settle my stomach a little…it didn’t help. I ended up excusing myself to go back to the house where I proceeded to upchuck all that I had eaten, which was not much. I know you’d expect me to do a little praying to the porcelain throne on my birthday but not before I’d even had one glass of wine! I felt instantly better and went on to lunch service. I knew I was in trouble because: 1. I hadn’t eaten much and 2. what I had eaten I threw up and I was right. Towards the end of lunch service I felt woozy. I even had to sit down for fear of fainting…and if you know me, I am not one to faint. I used my between service downtime to get some sleep…feeling better for it. When I went back for family meal I ate a full meal and all seemed well. Uncle Junior (Corrado) had made me a fig tart for my birthday which we shared and each had a glass of Moscato di Asti. I went on to dinner service but all during I felt sluggish. Towards the end, my back ached considerably and I knew that there was no way I would be going to Rome for the weekend as I had planned on. Friday morning I didn’t get out of bed. I spent the day in and out of consciousness and resting my old weary bones. I made it out to family meal at 6:30pm but went straight back to bed afterwards. By Saturday I was feeling much better, ate family meal at 11:30 and went in to work dinner service that evening. Incidentally, I turned 23 in Italy when I was here 10 years ago. Perhaps it’s a trend for me.