美食祈祷与恋爱意大利文化 《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 34 (73):在意大利的感恩节

《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 34 (73):在意大利的感恩节  

It is odd
then
that Luca would want to use this birthday to celebrate an American Thanksgiving
given these circumstances
but I do like the idea of it. Thanksgiving is a nice holiday
something an American can freely be proud of
our one national festival that has remained relatively unmodified. It's a day of grace and thanks and munity and—yes—pleasure. It might be what we all need right now.
My friend Deborah has e to Rome from Philadelphia for the weekend
to celebrate the holiday with me. Deborah's an internationally respected psychologist
a writer and a feminist theorist
but I still think of her as my favorite regular customer
back from the days when I was a diner waitress in Philly and she would e in for lunch and drink Diet Coke with no ice and say clever things to me over the counter. She really classed up that joint. We've been friends now for over fifteen years. Sofie will be ing to Luca's party
too. Sofie and I have been friends for about fifteen weeks. Everybody is always wele on Thanksgiving. Especially when it also happens to be Luca Spaghetti's birthday.
We drive out of tired
stressed-out Rome late in the evening
up into the mountains. Luca loves American music
so we're blasting the Eagles and singing "Take it . . . to the limit . . . one more time!!!!!!" which adds an oddly Californian sound track to our drive through olive groves and ancient aqueducts. We arrive at the house of Luca's old friends Mario and Simona
parents of the in elve-year-old girls Giulia and Sara. Paolo—a friend of Luca's whom I'd met before at soccer games—is there
too
along with his girlfriend. Of course
Luca's own girlfriend
Giuliana
is there
as well
having driven up earlier in the evening. It's an exquisite house
hidden away in a grove of olive and clementine and lemon trees. The fireplace is lit. The olive oil is homemade.
我们晚上开车离开疲乏紧张的罗马，进入山区。卢卡喜欢美国音乐，因此我们大声播放老鹰合唱团的歌曲，高唱“Take the more!!!!!!”（再一次到达极限），为我们开车穿越橄榄树丛和水道古桥的时候，添加某种奇特的加州音乐。我们抵达卢卡的老友马里奥和席莫娜的家，他们有一对十二岁的双胞胎女儿茱莉亚和莎拉。保罗——卢卡的朋友，我们曾在足球赛上见过面——也来了，带来他的女朋友。当然，卢卡自己的女朋友茱莉亚 娜也来了，傍晚从南边开车过来。这是一栋美妙的房子，隐藏在橄榄丛、柑橘树和柠檬树当中。壁炉在燃烧。还有自制的橄榄油。
No time to roast a enty-pound turkey
obviously
but Luca sautés up some lovely cuts of turkey breast and I preside over a whirlwind group effort to make a Thanksgiving stuffing
as best as I can remember the recipe
made from the crumbs of some high-end Italian bread
with necessary cultural substitutions (dates instead of apricots; fennel instead of celery). Somehow it es out great. Luca had been worried about how the conversation would proceed tonight
given that half the guests can't speak English and the other half can't speak Italian (and only Sofie can speak Swedish)
but it seems to be one of those miracle evenings where everyone can understand each other perfectly
or at least your neighbor can help translate when the odd word gets lost.
I lose count of how many bottles of Sardinian wine we drink before Deborah introduces to the table the suggestion that we follow a nice American custom here tonight by joining hands and—each in turn—saying what we are most grateful for. In three languages
then
this montage of gratitude es forth
one testimony at a time.