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In any sport there's nothing like the homefield advantage. And when it comes to traveling there's nothing like visiting a city where friends or family reside to give you the insiders journey of their "turf".
These last four days we were welcomed to the home field of the unquestioned King of Milan (and that is NOT a joke), my good friend Fabrizio. (A side note is he'll most happily let you know his true home field is San Siro when the Nerazzurri take the pitch, but that's another story). I was lucky enough to meet Fabrizio back in '95 in Denver when we both started working for JDEdwards. Over the course of the next 17 years (yikes) we've seen each other multiple times in the US and Italy and kept in touch over major Italian soccer happenings.
On our first night in Milan he had us over to his house and we spent the evening with his lovely family and, this will be a repeating theme, we ate and drank and ate and drank. Fabrizio and his family prepared us a lovely home cooked meal - lasagna, pasta carbonara, buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, torta (I seriously think I'm missing something) topped off with Prosecco, wine from Sicily, Venice and of course finished off with grappa.
Now one thing you learn when you spend time with Fabrizio is to truly understand the importance of quality ingredients. He was fresh off a virgin olive oil tasting and over the weekend he was going to a five course truffle feast in the town of Alba so I learned to just eat what he presented me and not question a thing.
The next night we met him and his wife and some of their friends in the Navigli district of Milan. Picking right up where I left off I went with the Osso Buco and risotto, a very traditional dish in Milan. The girls had some incredible pizza and there was more wine and Prosecco for all.
Now before I get on to the next meal let me tell you there are many of my friends out there that would've been in bed by the time our first course was served. Each night we met at 8:30pm and we'd finish up somewhere around midnight. As Celeste said to me upon getting home after dinner, "I could get used to this lifestyle". Living the dolce vita at 13 no doubt! Well it turns out she might have her chance.
At dinner that night we met some wonderful friends of Fabrizio who had a daughter the same age as Celeste. In talking with them they floated the idea of doing a summer exchange where their daughter would come to Colorado and Celeste would visit Milan. They had done this with their son with a friend in Seattle and thought the experience to be great. We were certainly intrigued. Well our good luck continued and they invited us over for dinner a couple of days later so the girls could meet
As you can guess we had a wonderful meal at our new friends place and Celeste had a chance to spend some time with their daughter. She is Milano Celeste. (Please keep in mind now that we're in Italy Celeste is no longer pronounced Seleste, but Cheleste'!) They could be sisters and they had a similar personality. They had quite a hoot playing Dance Party 4 with Nina shining as well showing off her moves. (Check out the video) Again, we couldn't have asked for a better night.
Before heading off to Cremona and the soon to be famous violin smashing (stay tuned) we spent some more time with Fabrizio and his lovely wife having coffee. If we're lucky they will meet us either in Tuscany or when we're in Rome. Our fingers are crossed they can join us along with Celeste's new friend. I for one will not know what to eat with out my good friend.
Ciao! AG
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