Una buonissima cena!

Sunday, Giulia & Stefano's (Julie & Steve outside of Italian class), had the class over for dinner. They are both architects, and are in the midst of renovating a typical northwest side Chicago bungalow. Much praise was lavished on the bathroom (beautifully in period) as well as the garden, which was where we spent the evening. They are also both excellent cooks! Starters were foccaccio with mascarpone, prosciutto and fresh figs, crostini with several available toppings (mushroom & cheese, chicken liver, artichoke, and sun-dried tomato with olives and capers), fruit, olives, etc. Then they made pizzas. Best I've ever had. A wonderful thin, crispy crust. One with goat cheese, pesto (made with fresh basil from their garden) and fresh tomatoes, a pizza rustica, and a mushroom, mozzarella and prosciutto. Jenny brought panna cotta with fresh berries for dessert. We had a variety of wines, and it turns out Steve homebrews beer, so a couple of people sampled that (not me, I'm not a beer drinker), and we had limoncello for an after dinner drink. Giustina announced early in the evening that she was going to sample every beverage available. She did, and survived. Franco brought Gianni, who was in my earliest Italian classes until he dropped out in favor of studying German.

As Jenny had made way more panna cotta than we could eat on Sunday, Steve brought the leftovers to Casa Italiana after our Monday class, and I had brought Prosecco in honor of my birthday. It was Jenny's last class, as he is off to Italy to dig and then to grad school in Buffalo (she's studying archaeology, specifically the Etruscans). So we gave her a nice sendoff.

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