A church & celebration dinner

Last Monday we were invited to celebrate the live Nativity in which we participated over Christmas.  We thought that a dinner was a lovely way to join together again and get to know our fellow Presepe members better.

It started with a local dish.  It's great unless you know what it is.  Unfortunately, I knew what it was: essentially pork 'n' beans, but with pig intestine instead of bacon or other yummy pork bits.  Really, the texture is a bit like softish calamari.  But after having had half a plate at the birthday party James attended in the fall, I couldn't do any more.

I bravely stirred mine around with some bread, and passed off the rest to my unknowing neighbor.  Tricia made the mistake of asking what it was, and I couldn't lie.  After having also enjoyed half a plate...she was done.  As we cased out what was going on elsewhere, we realized that some of the Italians were also picking out the "onions". That made us feel much better.

Then followed the veggies.  And the meat.  Our neighbors had been eying us, and we'd been similarly eying them.  Tricia broke the ice in one fell swoop by asking whether it was permissible to finish cleaning the yummy pork (rib) bones by picking them up.  One of the neighbors (whose beardlet was carved into a peace sign) proceeded to show us that he ate everything with his hands.  I asked if "troglodito" was a word in Italian, and he knew what I meant -- so I guess it was.

Yes, there was lots of wine served in jugs.  Lots of laughter, good food, and sharing of silly stories.

At the end of the dinner, Don Riccardo wanted to discuss what went well, what could have been improved, and so on.  And then he wanted to talk about Easter.  Yes, he had the grand idea of re-enacting the crucifixion.  For some odd reason, there weren't any volunteers -- although I said that I'd be happy to be a weeping woman.  I also volunteered Michael to eat as a Last Supper re-enactor.  We'll see what happens with that.

Love,

Alexandra