The Human Connection

10. Mike's Journal – September 19, 1988

We ate well and drank well last night, and then returned to the room pleasantly exhausted from the day.

We"ve been sampling our way through the food of Italy, and this proximity to the sea makes it an even more interesting experience. At Ristorante Piscina, we started with laganelle e ceci, a chickpea soup with garlic and short pasta noodles, and a drizzle of bright green olive oil on the surface. The loaf of palata, a chewy, rustic bread from Campania helped sop up the juices of the soup. When that was done, we moved on to linguine with prawns, swimming in a sauce of butter and white wine and accented with fresh parsley, a pinch of salt, and a sprig of rosemary.

laganelle e cecipalataAfter filling up on all that, we finished off the meal with espresso and limoncello, the succulent lemon-based aperitif that is best when made from the local Sorrento lemons.

After the meal, we returned to the hotel, tired, full, and ready for sleep. As Katherine prepared for bed, I drew the blackout curtains and was asleep before she slipped between the sheets.

When we awoke this morning, it was still very dark in the room. Thinking it was still in the wee hours, I turned toward the clock. Surprised to see that it was 11:30 a.m., I involuntarily leaped from the bed. We had nowhere to go and nothing to do, but I was startled that we had slept so soundly for so many hours.

“Apparently,” I said to Katherine as she roused, “Those blackout curtains really work!”

We rose and worked slowly through the morning routine. Me, with a shower and dressing in light summer clothes, Katherine with a shower and longer preparation. I kidded her often that she didn"t need to do so much to be beautiful, but she scoffed at me.

“You might not think so,” she countered, “if I ever skipped this phase.”

I had seen my young wife in many ways, clothed and n***d, made up and au naturel, and I doubted the need for her preoccupation with hair, make-up, and styling.

au naturel