Carbonara and Saltimbocca

Wednesday morning Dee was pretty tired, having been up late and sleeping on the couch, but not getting a call from her dad's doctor. She had a long chat in the morning with her cousin Lynn, who had a more optimistic view about how Papa is doing. I went out to the Chinese store to get a meat mallet, which was needed for the dinner in the evening. Dee went to Conad to buy some meat, asking a number of nice elderly ladies (you know--my age) there for advice as to what kind of meat to buy for carbonara and saltimbocca.

We heard from our good friends and former neighbors, Holly and RD, who are coming to Rome for a quick visit next week. Their son David is a pilot for American Airlines and can get them good flights tickets. I spoke with RD and gave him a few suggestions for a hotel, etc, then sent him a followup email with more details. We are looking forward to seeing them.

When we got to the campus, one of the classrooms had a big sign for the birthday of Sorella Brooks. It looked great, but we needed the room in the evening, so I called to see what their plan was. They had just finished district meeting and then went out to lunch, and they said that they would be back to dismantle it.

Dee went and taught the Italian class at the Friendship Center again. Everyone loved her games and several asked if she would be teaching next time. She is very good but a bit overextended, so it's not clear if she will continue. We had a blast, playing "I've Never" and charades with verbs. These games are great because everyone speaks and also has to listen for comprehension. My classroom couldn't hold them all, so we moved into the big main room, but people were laughing and having such a good time that we were disturbing another class and had to move again. 

Chad Phares from church headquarters was here in the evening to give a talk to our kids on using social media to promote the temple open house coming up. I had originally told him that on Wednesday nights we usually have small groups, but Ugo put out the call and we got a great response, including a dozen or so locations across Italy and Albania (in the Rome temple district). The fact that Simone was our chef, cooking delicious pasta carbonara and saltimbocca, plus tiramisu (without coffee), probably had a lot to do with it! Simone told me he only wanted me to help, so we did it alone for the first hour and a half, but then we had to rush it and he asked a couple of friends from his home ward to step in. They were a great team, and I got to slip away and talk to some people.

Chad's presentation was not very long, about ten Powerpoint slides, suggesting a hashtag (#vieniavedere, or "come and see") to use in their posts. The room was overflowing, and the kids enjoyed it. Then we had to wait a while for the dinner to be ready. It was well worth the wait, and Chad and his colleagues loved it! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also used the tiramisu as a birthday cake for Chiara, singing all together with a couple of candles.

We ended up staying late, with lots of cleanup, but it was a really fun evening, with wall-to-wall people. A number of non-members were there, including Nahomi and Andrea again. 

When we got home, Dee finally was able to talk with her dad's doctor, who painted a more positive picture than we had been fearing. He was transferred out of the hospital into a skilled nursing facility, where Nana told him that he has to eat a lot to get stronger and come home. Dee was able to talk with him briefly and felt relieved that he seems to be in good spirits and is thinking clearly. He even thanked me for setting up his stay in the skilled nursing facility and said he was going to eat and do everything they say. She was able to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

We were planning on 12 for dinner and ended up with 42. We managed by cutting up the saltimbocca and adding more pasta. Simone was terrific and a lot of fun to talk with. He asked me to be his speaking partner while we cooked, and had a lot of good questions about English, like may vs can, contractions, how to use since. The most memorable was when he asked if there was another word he could use instead of the word toothpaste. He says it's the hardest word to pronounce. Italian doesn't have the th sound.

I had a nice talk with Andrea, who is a very likeable young man, trying to figure out what he is going to do with his life. I told him I joined the Church at 19 and that the gift of the Holy Ghost is a big help in making these important decisions. He went to one of our churches for the first time last week and really liked it. He says he has a learning disability, and I praised him for the ways he works around it. He loves to learn. 

Linda, another nonmember, had returned from Christmas in Battipaglia, where her boss had her work alone for 12 hours at a time and then didn't want to pay her for the hour she spent taking down the kiosk. Sheesh.