Buon pranzo

Last night I not only got to meet the legendary Fr. Ken Leone, but I also experienced the closest thing to an authentic Italian dinner this side of Tuscany. It was beyond words, but I will try. At our neighbors', we sat around with wine and hors d'oeuvres chatting while fragrant aromas floated out from the kitchen, which is painted, I kid you not, "Tuscan." Dinner was phenomenal, and passed around the table like it should be--chicken marsala, green beans from the garden, tomato mozzarella salad with fresh basil, real Italian bread (not french bread toasted with garlic salt and butter), and really good red wine. Everything was so perfect, three steps beyond your normal spaghetti-and-meatballs-Italian dinner. Fr. Leone led us in a rather unusual conversation involving the gifts we saw in each other and times we had experienced God's presence, and we closed with a healing prayer service (I love the smell of chrism). But I loved it. The whole experience. I told our hostess I couldn't have gotten a better Italian dinner in Italy, and I meant it. Of course, her family is from Tuscany, so what did you expect? I'm so going there someday, and they're going to plan my trip for me! My heart truly is Italian! Apparently so is my stomach.