JACO
A friend of Maria Pia's is staying with us for just 2 nights. He is Jaco (18) gorgeous, from Rome and here with his parents whose father is from Solopaca, a neighboring town. Jaco just returned from spending a month with relatives in New Jersey working at a restaurant. His face belongs on the cover of GQ. He went to New Jersey to learn English but when he got to the restaurant, the kitchen was full of Mexicans. So learned a little Spanish instead.
Let's eat
We all went to Solopaca last night at the house where Jaco's father grew up. All the neighbors on the street get together to celebrate the beginning of the grape harvest. Today there will be a parade complete with music and floats.
We all walked in to this house in town, through really big wooden doors into what is now a garage. Many years ago it housed the cow and huge vats of wine. The house is what we would call a condo. There are several attached so not a free standing structure. After going through the garage and up very wide marble stairs we enter the long hallway that leads to the backyard where there are about 26 people all seated at one long table just getting served the appetizer. So we all sat down and ate melon, prosciutto and 4 fried fritters all a little different from each other. 2nd course was fresh fettuccini with white beans in a light tomato broth with a very hot pepper alongside. In case you weren't full enough we then got served baked chicken with roasted potatoes. More melon slices after that with white table grapes and cactus fruit. Then came BABA, cake soaked in rum with gelato and a peach slice. The gelato was vanilla with shaved chocolate. And all through this was sangria, water and white wine. At the very end a champagne toast. Now it was midnight and Jaco's mom asked if I wanted to go to the concert in town. But it was midnight! I wasn't going to be the stick in the mud so said SURE! We all walked up to the main street in Solopaca which is quite long and lined with shops, restaurants and businesses on the street level and apartments on the second. There were many, many people; afterall it was a festival to celebrate the grapes. There was a live band playing a kind of hip hop/pop music and many people dancing everywhere.
It was a very enjoyable evening. Good food, music and very friendly people. It was 2 a.m. and I was still up. But "When in Rome"......
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