Status Updates From Death al Dente (Gourmet Det...

If I recall the movie adaptation correctly, the culprit’s relationship to the victim is the same as it is here in the novel. Here in the novel, though, the culprit had help.

Everybody in Italy is an actor. Fifty-five million of them and they all love to act. The only people in Italy who can’t act are in films or on the stage.

😂

Fair! You Anglos have peculiar ideas about fair. You have that saying, don’t you? Never kick a man when he’s down. That’s crazy - it’s the perfect time to kick him!

😳

The kitchen of a restaurant is a place for hard workers with a desire for precision. It is no place for prima donnas.

I never speak I’ll of the dead.

You always speak ill of the dead. They are the only ones who can’t defend themselves.

😳

We don’t have much else in the way of juicy scandal - excuse me, sociopolitical comment - just now.

😂

She stood close. I could sense the heat of her body from the shower. “Do you think those dirty clothes of yours would wait for a while?” she asked softly.

Whoa! Did Henry get any such action in the other book I read from the series? 😂

The sad part is over - the service in the church and the burial. Now we remind ourselves that life goes on. It sounds heartless to some foreigners, I know, but we are saying “It is a shame he is dead but we celebrate the fact that we are still alive.”

Hmmm ...

Women were hurrying in with covered bowls and trays, for in Italian hospitals it is expected that the patient’s family bring in meals.

😱

Italians do not have many desserts. (Tiramisu?! 😋) Their tradition has always been to end a meal with with fruit - pastries were for festive occasions only.

Tavola fredda: “cold table”; serves snacks
Tavola calda: “hot table”; serves meals

Don’t they have a funny idea about pasta in the USA? They serve it with the meat or the fish or the chicken of the main course!”

Skepticism concerning quality is justified when the menu is as thick as a magazine, for it means that many of the products are frozen.

There are several things you can learn about a restaurant from its menu. For instance, you should be suspicious if the menu offers crab bisque but no crab dishes. It probably comes from a can.

😱

What time is dinner tonight?

I made the reservation for eight-thirty. Pick you up about eight forty-five.

I thought you said our reservation is for -

Eight-thirty, yes. But no Italian ever arrives on time.

😂

Every Italian seems to have aspirations of being a Grand Prix contestant. They drive faster and there seem to be more cars, louder horns, more features, and more close calls than anywhere else in the world.

Hmmm ... I don’t recall having that impression when we were in Rome last year ... 🤔🤪

Two gin and tonics ...

That’s one of those nouns that I wouldn’t know how to pluralize. I guess “Gins and tonics” would imply that they were separate. And dashes wouldn’t be used for the singular so they wouldn’t be needed for a plural.

So gin and tonics it is. 😁