L'aperitivo

     Ok, for starters, I'm NOT Italian. I don't have one drop of Italian blood in my body. I grew up in the mid-west, in the "boonies", as we called them, of Chicago. But I'm pretty sure I may have been Italian in another life. I started thinking I was when I saw the Zefferelli movie back in the '70's, "Romeo and Juliette". I know all you ladies my age remember that one! I was a tween back then and after seeing it (for the second or third time) I had a pretty good feeling I must have been part of that.
     It continued through high school when I had the deep desire to make homemade pizza every week-end for myself,( desperately, using bisquick mix to make the crust, at the time I didn't know any better) and starting to sing and watch Opera on t.v. I still remember the first opera we watched with Luciano Pavarotti on PBS in "La Boheme". I was mesmerized........The singing continued, majoring in voice performance in college. But, I  became certain of the fact that I had been Italian in another life, in the summer after college. I backpacked with my girfriend through Europe.
    We traveled around on the trains with a two month eurail pass. It was pretty awesome. When we finally got to Italy and stood in that little piazza in Verona looking up at that balcony where Juliette had once stood, something just felt so comfortable. I think I even turned to my friend and said it, "I think I've been here before". She shrugged it off with something like "yeah, right, let's go get some gelato". I was glad to oblige without a second thought.
    Then it happened. In Milan. I met my Romeo! I fell hook, line, and sinker! To be continued, my stomach is growling and the minestrone that's cooking upstairs is calling out to me. It's way past lunch time. Buon appetito!