It was such a lovely evening bonding with our fellow Aquitanians and next-door neighbors, Elizabeth Guinness in 5E and Simone Zurawski in 5F. This dinner get-together has long been overdue until Simone texted me one day to bequeath us with this beautiful butternut squash that came through her Whole Foods delivery which she wouldn’t know what to make of it.
Chuck recalled having made a butternut squash lasagna before and decided to duplicate the feat as we informally invited these ladies next door. Simone brought in a bottle of chilled Italian Pinot Grigio by Ammannati Terre Siciliane which will perfectly pair with the lasagna. Elizabeth brought crostinis which will ideally accompany the “Gazpacho 7” or cucumber gazpacho. I had to graciously thank them for joining us on such short notice and made mention of our other neighbor in 5C, the late Helene Marie Quick who passed away in May and who we shared fond memories as we acknowledged her presence in spirit.
We started out with an ameuse bouche of Watermelon Bites that were sprinkled with crumbled feta cheese & basil which was freshly grown and picked from our pot then cut chiffonade and drizzled with olive oil. This is subsequently followed by the serving of Gazpacho 7 garnished with chopped cucumbers, yellow pepper and edible flowers. The Caprese Salad with Spinach Basil Pesto followed suit before the piece-de-resistance which was the Butternut Squash and Mushroom Lasagna entree was properly presented and plated.
Our mostly Italian-inspired dinner prompted Simone, who is a retired university professor and art historian, to wax nostalgic about her having lived in Rome and regaled us with her storied comparison of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Our novelist-in-progress of a neighbor, Elizabeth also made mention of the delay of the publication of her novel as well as other interesting subjects that, no doubt, made for such stimulating table talk. Such illuminating dinner conversation in the company of intellectuals easily transported us to some imagined trattoria somewhere in the Italian countryside whenever we hear Simone properly enunciating and pronouncing every piazza or persona phonetically like Italians do.
We culminated our dinner with Poached Pears plated uniformly sliced and drizzled in its own juices and paired with dollops of Coconut Fudge Ice Cream (a limited edition flavor from Breyers) paired with muscat/sweet wine. I wrapped up a slice of lasagna for each one of them to take home after our obligatory group photo was taken. As we closed our doors, I can still hear Simone’s voice in the back of my head saying “LA DOLCE VITA” in high praises that pretty much summed up this lovely and neighborly dinner get-together.
BACKGROUND MUSIC CREDIT: “Italia” by Gabriel Yared from the movie, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY.
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