Saturday was an incredible day. After my morning NL, we went out for a drive to the new house and wound up making an offer! It’s been accepted and now we are wading through the next steps. It is an incredibly confusing journey, but I’ve got some wonderful people holding my hand, and I’m 100% certain the end will be worth the journey.

Saturday night our new crazy Italian friend invited us to a German-Italian feast. Her village is a sister village to a small town in Italy. A whole busfull of Italians was on their way up to celebrate the cross-culture friendship. We wound up in the service bay of the local garage. The Germans had set the fest tables beautifully, fresh fall foliage on the table, pumpkins, pomegranates, nuts and stunning floral arrangements. The food was being prepared on hot plates in the next bay, some pots bigger than Dane! The smell was amazing. I couldn’t get my first plate fast enough.

The Italians had brought crates full of freshly harvested produce direct from their fields. As well as home-pressed olive oil and wine, fresh baked bread and hand-made pasta’s & sausages. By course #4 I was stuffed. But there were 2 more courses, as well as 2 dessert courses. I sacrificed my stomach in order to be polite, of course, and tasted it all. I especially loved the simple beef & asparagus pasta. The aspargus was so thin, so fresh, so alive with flavor!

Dane tried everything down to the 2nd dessert course. Sadly for him, he loved the last desert best. A dollop of ricotta cheese, with a local honey and jam. Together it was creamy, sweet and full of flavor. A perfect ending to a lovely meal. Then he panicked.

Somewhere along the way he’d overheard Cole & Dave talking about Italians, the Godfather and losing your legs if you owed an Italian money. I’m not positive on the full sequence of events or what he heard, but after he finished the last course he knew he had to leave. Or they’d cut his legs off. He knew we’d all eaten so much food, there was no way we had enough to cover the bill. The only solution was to leave. And leave fast.

Dave & I both tried to explain it was okay. That these were our friends, but at eleven at night, with a very full tummy, Dane couldn’t be convinced. We had to leave before he lost his legs.