Italian night on the roofdeck

Roberto's almost-flourless chocolate cakes, signs of cross-cultural friendship

Last night we had dinner on our roof for several friends, all of whom spoke some measure of Italian and some measure of English. Most were lawyers, but that was only important because it's how they met. One person was going back to Italy this week. So we decided to get together for an evening of conversation in both languages.

I have been cooking lots of Italian dishes lately, but I didn't want to cook them for people who know the food much better than I do, so I decided to serve Susan's salmon and asparagus instead. Asparagus just went on sale at the farmers' market this week, so that was excuse enough. To lend a theme, we served the salmon with Pinot Noir and called it Oregonian cuisine. Then we added some challah from Silver Moon for a New York twist.

But ah, the desserts! Roberto brought two low-flour chocolate cakes, translated from the metric just for the occasion, and sprinkled with powdered sugar so that one read "USA" and the other "Italy." Vera brought the best tiramisu I have ever eaten, and I was already a big fan of tiramisu. And Silvia brought Prosecco. That wasn't for dessert, of course; I just mentioned it because it fits in with the Italian tradition of hospitality.

The weather had been iffy all day, but the rain held off and the weather was warm, so we enjoyed a good three hours around our outdoor meal, Italian style. Since Vera's English was somewhat limited and our family's Italian was even more limited, the languages switched freely back and forth throughout the evening. I was surprised at how much Italian I understood, considering that I hadn't even studied it in a long time. And Vera didn't seem to have any trouble understanding our English.

There were, of course, lots of conversational tidbits about both languages, and plenty of humor. Bob confessed his inability to properly roll an "r" (in Italian), and Silvia confessed that her use of the English "h" comes and goes. The three Italians showed their regional differences when Bob asked for a word that apparently has three different translations depending on whether you are from Venice, Como, or Ferrara.

Some of the talk was about the two cultures. Vera is homesick (I would be too if I lived on a lake that looks like something on the Riviera!), but Roberto likes the US so well that he married an American. Or perhaps, he likes the US so well because he married an American.

Today we received an e-mail from Vera with a recipe for her homemade tiramisu--in Italian! I'll let you know how it goes once I make a proper translation of both the measurements and ingredients and try it out. So far I've at least figured out what she was referring to last night when she said she mixed the "reds" with sugar. Egg yolks in Italian are rossi delle uova--"egg reds."

Buon appetite!