JUNE 8, 2009 - A TIME TO REMEMBER

JUNE 8, 2009 - A TIME TO REMEMBER

Buon giorno and Good Day!

Today, June 8, 2009, happens to be my wedding anniversary of over 40 years. While I would have loved to prepare and serve our anniversary dinner, my husband, Bill, insisted we would go out to a nice place for dinner. His reasoning was simple; "you are always serving others, he said, and tonight I want you to be served." It was a lovely time together, and during the dinner we talked about our first date.

It was our high school football gala and I can remember him showing up at my door with a white box in his hand and his dad's pink Oldsmobile parked in the driveway. He was seventeen and I was sixteen. He had a white suit on and I wore a blue ruffled chiffon dress. Opening the box revealed a beautiful corsage of gardenias surrounded by tiny pink roses. While my mom pinned on the corsage, my dad was setting down the curfew. Bill assured him that his daughter was in good hands and by all means would be home on time.

The evening was great fun with all of our school mates telling us how "sweet" we looked together. I did get home on time with my mom staying up to greet us at the door. Over the next few months we dated off and on, and even though I was showered with love notes, wild flowers in my school locker every morning, and trips walking me home while he carried my books, I had no intention of marrying this young fellow. I guess it was my mom who made the difference.

You see, she really loved this kid. Just as he would drop my books off at home after school, my mother would say, "Oh, Billy, do come in for some warm bread; I just took it out of the oven." I would give mom the "don't encourage him look," but she never heeded. He not only enjoyed the bread, but her biscotti's and milk as well. Since he was the captain on the high school wrestling team, there were days when he had to hurt her feelings and refrain. Those were the days she invited him in anyway to "rest" before he walked the three miles back home.

While my mother and Bill's relationship grew, I was still determined to date others and have fun. We were now seniors in high school and I can remember accepting a date from another boy on the wrestling team. I thought it would be great, but he did not show up at my door with a corsage, and the date was boring. When I got home my mom was waiting up to say, "I told you so."

Months later, after prepating every Italian food my mother could possibly serve to Bill, she successfully saw us married, and even catered a beautiful sit-down wedding dinner for us and the guests to enjoy. Though mom has passed on, I am still serving him the warm Italian bread, pasta, and biscotti. No wonder I can say I am 100 percent Italian, while he is 100 pounds Italian. As I stated in my *Rosalie Serving Italian Cookbook,* food is still a bridge to relationships."

How about preparing *Pasta con Broccoli* and *Homemade Italian Bread,* right out of my cookbook, *Rosalie Serving Italian,* and celebrate "A Time to Remember" with the greatest people on earth…your family.

Click on my website,

www.rosalieservingitalian.com for a cooking class or book signing near you.

Buona notte and Good Night

Rosalie