Finalmente lunedi è arrivato e tutti sono stati eccitati! I got a wake-up call from the aunts at 7.30am, penso che siano svegliate dalle 6, pruning for the wedding. The chubby gayish but married-with-kids hairdresser Francesco in an undersized shirt was there already coiffing Teresa's curls while Adele's hair was done. I tried to wake up with a un po troppo dolce caffe latte made by Adele who insisted on ironing my dress again. They were a bundle of nerves and I tried to calm them down when Teresa found out that she couldn't zip up her dress. Adele tried to sew the zip but Teresa was moving too much and the usually calm Adele was screaming at her.
I stepped in and offered my seamstress service again which saved the day (just last week I had to sew Ferne's backpack cos it was falling apart from its weight!). Adele pronounced me a life saviour. The make-up artist was late but eventually showed up close to 10am. I was ready in 30mins while they took 4 hours. Posso immaginare come importante il matrimonio, since their 22 year-old niece Anna was getting married and they were indeed a very close-knitted famiglia. L struggled with cousin Linda's car but we made it to the bride's place in time to see her and her papa step into the mercs along with their best man and woman Massimo and Linda (married with 3 beautiful kids).
Another emergenza cropped up again when their 12-year old son Valerio got into our car with his sorella Michela and split his pants. He sobbed, troppo upset that his new suit was ruined. L drove him to his casa to change into jeans while I got off with Michela and the bride's mamma Luisa at the chiesa where the groom Emmanuele's relatives were waiting for the sposa. It was a simple ceremonia in the lovely local San Gennaro church. I tried to concentrate on the Father's blessings but was distracted by L's sister Linda's sobbing. Zia Teresa was also tearing but I found out later she was allergic to the mascara and cried all her make-up away.
We then hurried outside, each with a fistful of riso, ready to throw the rice at the just-married couple who came out to release two baskets of snow white doves. Fortunatamente il tempo è stato bellissimo. L was hoping it'd rain so it'd be cooler for the ragazzi in their suits. Che stronzo. My stomach was grumbling but I didn't want to spoil it with too much colazione because we were going to eat the house down at La Fontanina. We got lost for a good half 45mins - sempre colpa sua - and whizzed past a few bored-looking hookers on the roadside before we turned up at the clubhouse of sorts 30mins away from Pozzuoli where three weddings were going on the same day.
Everyone was hungry but the guests had to take photos with the wedding couple first in the giardino before being seated. I got more stares from relatives who probably never seen a Chinese person ever, much less at a Napolitano matrimonio. The pranzo soon got underway with 4 courses of antipasti - a mixed bread plate, proscuitto con melone, misti frutti di mare, more pesce, prawns and stewed octopus - fuelled by glasses of spumante and vino bianco of course. You'd think us Chinese eat fast? Well these italians put us to shame.
I was trying to stick to my strategy of eating piano piano in between passeggiate and sigarette. Burp. I needed a strategy (starting with a loose black dress) to survive the whole day of feasting - apparently the 'pranzo' would stretch all the way to 'cena' fino alle 10! A duo of musicians kickstarted the party with some ballads and soon everyone was slowdancing on the dancefloor. Molto bene. Dancing would be another strategy to burn the calories as Gino and I twirled each other around.
Soon more food in the form of 2 kinds of pasta arrived and we started to feel the weight of the food under our vestiti. The first was linguine with mixed seafood (si, they love their frutti di mare qui!) and the seconda pasta was twirls with more seafood in a fragrant creamy porcini sauce. The couple fed each other with this pasta, a sort of good luck ritual. I loved my pasta so I cleaned both plates easily, washed down with a glass of excellent red vino that L had stolen from the VIP table.
The band picked up the tempo and soon the guests were doing the mambo, twist and formed a long train around the restaurant, including the 80 yr-old grandaunt who confessed she loved to dance. Amazingly they also played 'Ti Scattero' Una Foto' by Tiziano F and I sang my heart out. L told me he couldn't understand why everyone loved me so much and had invited him to their houses for dinner and told him to bring me along. Hahaha. Perche sono brillante e molto modesta anche! Maybe they just want to stare at this asian piccolina polishing her food like a little hamster.
We picked at more seafood and a steak in between more talks, smokes and walks. Just as I thought I'd explode, the tennis-ball size of mozzarella arrived with a slice of proscuitto, olives and rucola. It was creamy, moist, soft, bouncy, delicate, fresh, pure orgasm - senza parole (speechless). It seemed everyone agreed and finished it within seconds even though they were moaning earlier. I couldn't understand why they reserved the best course for the last, before i dolci! Luckily I had allocated some space in my fourth stomach! :P
The fuochi articiali (fireworks) lit the night as we proceeded to the piscina (pool) for the cake-cutting ceremonia next to a buffet table of dolci. They gave me photos of me and the couple and the wedding favour, to which L whined I got everything and he got niente. Scemo. He fed me some baba and I downed a shot of limoncello for the road. We drove around (our usual wind-down time) and in all seriousness, he said he was really glad I made it to the wedding and I thanked him with sincere gratitude that it was a real eye-opener for me to witness such a unique, joyous celebration among such great company! We had been discussing the menu for months and funnily, it was now over. Teresa's dress survived the day (although her make up did not). No one was drunk or ha vomitato but tutti were deliriously contenti.
Finalmente lunedi è arrivato e tutti sono stati eccitati! I got a wake-up call from the aunts at 7.30am, penso che siano svegliate dalle 6, pruning for the wedding. The chubby gayish but married-with-kids hairdresser Francesco in an undersized shirt was there already coiffing Teresa's curls while Adele's hair was done. I tried to wake up with a un po troppo dolce caffe latte made by Adele who insisted on ironing my dress again. They were a bundle of nerves and I tried to calm them down when Teresa found out that she couldn't zip up her dress. Adele tried to sew the zip but Teresa was moving too much and the usually calm Adele was screaming at her.
I stepped in and offered my seamstress service again which saved the day (just last week I had to sew Ferne's backpack cos it was falling apart from its weight!). Adele pronounced me a life saviour. The make-up artist was late but eventually showed up close to 10am. I was ready in 30mins while they took 4 hours. Posso immaginare come importante il matrimonio, since their 22 year-old niece Anna was getting married and they were indeed a very close-knitted famiglia. L struggled with cousin Linda's car but we made it to the bride's place in time to see her and her papa step into the mercs along with their best man and woman Massimo and Linda (married with 3 beautiful kids). 
Another emergenza cropped up again when their 12-year old son Valerio got into our car with his sorella Michela and split his pants. He sobbed, troppo upset that his new suit was ruined. L drove him to his casa to change into jeans while I got off with Michela and the bride's mamma Luisa at the chiesa where the groom Emmanuele's relatives were waiting for the sposa. It was a simple ceremonia in the lovely local San Gennaro church. I tried to concentrate on the Father's blessings but was distracted by L's sister Linda's sobbing. Zia Teresa was also tearing but I found out later she was allergic to the mascara and cried all her make-up away.
We then hurried outside, each with a fistful of riso, ready to throw the rice at the just-married couple who came out to release two baskets of snow white doves. Fortunatamente il tempo è stato bellissimo. L was hoping it'd rain so it'd be cooler for the ragazzi in their suits. Che stronzo. My stomach was grumbling but I didn't want to spoil it with too much colazione because we were going to eat the house down at La Fontanina. We got lost for a good half 45mins - sempre colpa sua - and whizzed past a few bored-looking hookers on the roadside before we turned up at the clubhouse of sorts 30mins away from Pozzuoli where three weddings were going on the same day.
Everyone was hungry but the guests had to take photos with the wedding couple first in the giardino before being seated. I got more stares from relatives who probably never seen a Chinese person ever, much less at a Napolitano matrimonio. The pranzo soon got underway with 4 courses of antipasti - a mixed bread plate, proscuitto con melone, misti frutti di mare, more pesce, prawns and stewed octopus - fuelled by glasses of spumante and vino bianco of course. You'd think us Chinese eat fast? Well these italians put us to shame. 
I was trying to stick to my strategy of eating piano piano in between passeggiate and sigarette. Burp. I needed a strategy (starting with a loose black dress) to survive the whole day of feasting - apparently the 'pranzo' would stretch all the way to 'cena' fino alle 10! A duo of musicians kickstarted the party with some ballads and soon everyone was slowdancing on the dancefloor. Molto bene. Dancing would be another strategy to burn the calories as Gino and I twirled each other around. 
Soon more food in the form of 2 kinds of pasta arrived and we started to feel the weight of the food under our vestiti. The first was linguine with mixed seafood (si, they love their frutti di mare qui!) and the seconda pasta was twirls with more seafood in a fragrant creamy porcini sauce. The couple fed each other with this pasta, a sort of good luck ritual. I loved my pasta so I cleaned both plates easily, washed down with a glass of excellent red vino that L had stolen from the VIP table. 
The band picked up the tempo and soon the guests were doing the mambo, twist and formed a long train around the restaurant, including the 80 yr-old grandaunt who confessed she loved to dance. Amazingly they also played 'Ti Scattero' Una Foto' by Tiziano F and I sang my heart out. L told me he couldn't understand why everyone loved me so much and had invited him to their houses for dinner and told him to bring me along. Hahaha. Perche sono brillante e molto modesta anche! Maybe they just want to stare at this asian piccolina polishing her food like a little hamster. 
We picked at more seafood and a steak in between more talks, smokes and walks. Just as I thought I'd explode, the tennis-ball size of mozzarella arrived with a slice of proscuitto, olives and rucola. It was creamy, moist, soft, bouncy, delicate, fresh, pure orgasm - senza parole (speechless). It seemed everyone agreed and finished it within seconds even though they were moaning earlier. I couldn't understand why they reserved the best course for the last, before i dolci! Luckily I had allocated some space in my fourth stomach! :P
The fuochi articiali (fireworks) lit the night as we proceeded to the piscina (pool) for the cake-cutting ceremonia next to a buffet table of dolci. They gave me photos of me and the couple and the wedding favour, to which L whined I got everything and he got niente. Scemo. He fed me some baba and I downed a shot of limoncello for the road. We drove around (our usual wind-down time) and in all seriousness, he said he was really glad I made it to the wedding and I thanked him with sincere gratitude that it was a real eye-opener for me to witness such a unique, joyous celebration among such great company! We had been discussing the menu for months and funnily, it was now over. Teresa's dress survived the day (although her make up did not). No one was drunk or ha vomitato but tutti were deliriously contenti.
2 comments:
Wow...that sounds like a lot of food!
I passed your link to Anna Maria, so I guess she will be reading you too:)
I am in KL, stuffing myself with Bakuteh and the like, but would happily exchange it for some of the food you are having!
Have fun, and see you soon!
Soooo much fun!!
so you got slow dance with a cute guy? :P
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