A bit of Italian

The Spouse Club just did their first of our planned cooking lessons last week.  Three Italian spouses/significant others here made Spaghetti Carbonara, Pizza Margherita, Penne al Salmone, and foccacia with tomatoes.  We borrowed the kitchen of a local “restaurant” (down the street – but they never have customers.  They are actually closing down on Sunday) and started cleaning at 10AM and cooking by 11AM.  When we realized the restaurant didn’t have an oven we had to go retrieve three toaster ovens from our apartments!  The place did have two burners and two sinks though, plus the dinnerware and tables.  Our spouses and friends then joined us for lunch at noon.  It was a lot of fun.  There was a pool table so Elli and the other kids (eight of them ages 3 to 12 representing Chinese, Vietnamese, El Salvadorian, Italian, and American ethnicities) played the whole time.  The older kids love watching Elli and she certainly loves big kids.  One of the woman who ran the restaurant started a game where Elli would stand on the pool table and try to intercept balls while the kids played.  She loves being the center of attention.  As David, the leader of the Spouse Group, remarked while watching the kids play: Elli sure does live in an interesting world.