The best book club ever!

For August, my book club read Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. This was my book pick and I was the host for this months discussion. Instead of the normal discussion I tried to re-create a scene from the book, a leisurely Italian dinner under the stars.

I wish I had pictures of the table lit by candlelight, it was beautiful. And the food was fantastic.

we had a five course meal which included:

Bread (2 kinds) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping

marinated mushrooms and cucumber

fresh mozzarella

mortadella (a meat like Bologna)

cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto

Olives

Caprese salad

Mint and basil sorbet

Authentic Lasagna

Italian Soda

Tirimisu

Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato

ameretti cookies

Grapes

Watermelon

Strawberries with Balsamic vinegar

Sixteen people came and everyone brought something amazing. (Thanks bookclubies for making this night so much fun)

Here are a few quotes from Frances Mayes:

Where you are is who you are. The further inside you that place moves, the more your identity is intertwined with it. Pg 86

Quoting Bachelard “ Mainly, I remember recognizing his idea that the house protects the dreamer; the houses that are important are the ones that allow us to dream in peace


It is easy for foreigners to romanticize, stereotype and over simplify local people…one a person is really known of course, the characterization blessedly fades..

One of those flash epiphanies of travel, the realization that worlds you’d love vibrantly exist outside your ignorance of them. The vitality of many lives you knew nothing about. The breeze lifting a blue curtain in a doorway billows just the same whether you are lucky enough to observe it or not. Travel gives such jolts. I could live in this town, so how is it that I’ve never been here before today?