It's a Small World

We were at CVS on a stormy Saturday evening, when Shaan overheard a conversation between customer and cashier.

“Where is your accent from?”  asked the customer.

“I’m from Albania,” replied the cashier.

Shaan’s ears perked up.  He recognized that voice!  He looked.  He recognized that person!  The face was about ten years older, but it was definitely him.

Ten years ago in college, we frequented a quintessential pizza joint called My Brother’s Place in South Campus at Boston University.  It was college, and we lived off campus, so pizza was a staple in our diet.... even more than it is now, if you can believe that.  This place was right across the street from my apartment, and it was delicious and—importantly—cheap.

We went to “Bro’s Place” together often my junior year.  After Shaan graduated and returned to Connecticut, we continued to go there together whenever he visited.   We chatted up the pizzaiolo (man who makes pizza) each time.   He was a friendly and outgoing guy with a distinctive accent.  He made us feel welcome. 

One time, I ordered without Shaan.  I thought the pizzaiolo knew us because we were fairly recognizable as a couple, but he surprised me when he said, “Hey! Where’s your guy?”  We were regulars. 

Those were the good ol’ days, and we reminisce about good ol’ days often.  And--not to sound creepy--but we think of that dear pizzaiolo often as well, including during our recent trip to the birthplace of pizza – Naples, Italy.

This is why, after ten years, Shaan’s ears perked up when he heard that distinctive accent. Could it be?!

Upon checkout, Shaan began, “I have a question for you… about ten years ago, did you...”  Before Shaan could finish, the cashier said, “YES! YES! I thought you looked familiar!” 

As the line at the cash register began to back up, together we reminisced about Bro’s Place. It’s a small world after all! 

Also, we always assumed the pizzaiolo was Italian (wrongly, apparently), but as it turns out he’s in fact Albanian.  You learn something new every day.

Announcement!

Many of you ask when we are going to start a family, and prior to our most recent trip, quite a few queried us about whether it might happen in the beautiful country of Italy.  Well, you were right. Sort of.  

We went to Italy.  And we returned pregnant…

…with food babies! 

It is quite amazing, really, how good the food is and how much of it you want to eat.  Wine, cheese, pasta, gelato, and—of course—pizza.  Glorious pizza.  Everywhere. Almost every day. 

So much pizza that it made us want to revive the blog! So here it is. 

Back to those babies.  If you also want to be pregnant…with food babies, of course… you too should visit Italy.  We started in Rome, saw the ancient ruins and delighted in a dish called pasta amatriciana in our new favorite restaurant, Sofia Ristorante.  From there we took a day trip to Pompeii.   We obviously had to venture a little out of the way to visit Naples, the birthplace of pizza, for pizza at L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele.   First trimester complete.

We moved on to Tuscany, where we stayed on a functioning vineyard and winery, exploring the countryside famous for pecorino cheese and excellent wines.  We enjoyed a tasting menu at Tuscany Divine, where the owner “complimented” Kelly by saying she had “a good fork” (Italian for “you’re a good eater”).  We could feel the food babies kicking. 

Finally, we drove to Venice, navigating the streets of water and the water bus system, taking in the beautiful sights of bridges and gondolas.  While in the city of seafood, we indulged in the best steak meal at Al Timon.  Full. Term.

There was wine at each meal and gelato each day for snack.  There were pizza shops next to pizza shops, and we tried to resist our temptation to sample them all.  But we thought of you. And we did try them all. Just for you. 

That’s how we made our miracle food babies.  And how you can create them, too.

(Sorry mom and dad. We know these aren’t the kinds of babies you have been hoping for, but it’s a start…)