I was wondering today, as I drank my fourth cup of espresso and felt my heart pounding in my toes, how the Italians do it. Espresso, vino, molta pasta tutto giorno! And then I realized the progression, the procession, that is a must to live the Italian way. Shunning pasta in favor of grilled salmon, I inadvertently stepped out of the line and thus stand struggling on the sidelines. For this is how, I think, it must go:
You wake and have an espresso (or 5) with your sweet creamy biscotti and race through your morning. By the time you get to lunch you have collapsed and soothe your soul in a big bowl of spaghetti, washed down with a glass (or 5) of wine. By now you are very tired and must rest, thus siesta. When it comes time to reengage with life around you, you must, of course, drink more espresso. You now race into the night where if you want to sleep at all you will need to come back down and how do you do that? You are right, more pasta and vino. You sleep (pass out) and upon awaking your body needs some help to get going so repeat cycle. Therefore, if I want to drink copious amounts of caffeine (oh the coffee here is good), or a couple (5) glasses of wine (the wine is even better), I guess I must forgo the grilled salmon and jump back into that bowl of pasta. Because when in Rome….