Longing

I’m not sure if it was the menu, the setting, or the music, but I feel a painful yearning. This is not a feeling I enjoy.

As spring approaches, Casa Lanzarotti has their first set of overnight guests arriving today. They will be welcomed with a four course traditional Italian dinner, all homemade, grown and raised locally.

My trouble started when I watched Iris roll out the pasta dough and thus inquired about the menu.

Antipasti: Marinated vegetables – zucchini, peppers, onions (compliments of the summer’s produce and Iris’ pickling), an assortment of cold cuts including thinly sliced prosciutto and salami wedges (compliments of Giovanni the macellaio), grated parmigiano-reggiano (compliments of Ezzio’s cows) and fresh baked bread (compliments of the outdoor wood-burning stone oven).

Primi: Choice of Potato dumplings in beef broth or Pasta in a walnut glaze (naturally, the potato dumpling – like the pasta – are handmade, the beef broth homemade from home raised cows, but even the walnuts are cultivated on the farm and cracked by the able hands of a summer wwoofer).

Secondi: An assortment of root vegetables, grilled meats, and winter greens.

Dolce: A fruit torte, vanilla bean ice cream, espresso, grappa. (Last I checked, they don’t grow coffee beans; everything else – farm made)

To add the proverbial salt to my wound, I entered the transformed living-room. What previously housed racks of drying sausages and laundry to be ironed, was now an ambiance of romance, from the woven throw-rug on the stone floor to the high oak beams on the ceiling. The large fireplace crackled as it spread warmth and comfort, bottles of aged wine lined the piano, pressed linen table cloths and napkins complimented the wooden furniture, and hearty place settings awaited the hearty meal.

But the final straw that broke my heart was the music. In the background, classical compositions filled the room; largos, adagios, and melodies you’d hear on the Most Romantic Classical Music In The Universe (available for $10.99 on CD at http://www.amazon.com/Most-Romantic-Classical-Music-Universe/dp/B00011V890) were part of the prefect soundtrack for a perfect night of amore.

And that’s when it hit me..I really miss my sweetheart. I’ll come back. But this time, I’ll bring my beloved along.