Arletta sent me this story today and I really enjoyed it:

  We were dressed and ready to go out for the New Years Eve Party. We turned on a night-light, turned the answering machine on, covered our pet parakeet and put the cat in the backyard.  We phoned the local cab company and requested a taxi. The taxi arrived and we opened the front door to leave the house. The cat we put out in the yard, scoots back into the house. We didn't want the cat shut in the house because she always tries to eat the bird. My wife goes out to the taxi, while I went inside to get the cat. The cat runs upstairs, with me in hot pursuit. Waiting in the cab, my wife doesn't want the driver to know that the house will be empty for the night. So, she explains to the taxi driver that I will be out soon, "He's just going upstairs to say Goodbye to my mother."
  A few minutes later, I get into the cab. "Sorry I took so long," I said, as we drove away. "That stupid bitch was hiding under the bed I had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off, so I grabbed her by the neck. Then, I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me. But it worked! I hauled her fat ass downstairs and threw her out into the back yard!"
  The cab driver hit a parked car.


Anyway, I wanted to tell you all about the cooking class.  The program paid seventy dollars a person for us to go in small groups of 5 or 6 to this famous woman's house and cook with her.  Me, Francesca, Marc, and two of my friends from the semester program went on Tuesday night.  We ate SEVEN different kinds of pasta (5 we made fresh!).  It was thrilling.  The fresh pasta consisted of: tortelloni and ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach, lasagna, rosette (they were stuffed with cream of mushroom, prosciutto, and cheese), and cannelloni (also stuffed with ricotta and spinach).  The tortelloni and ravioli were served in a butter and sage sauce (this was my favorite dish).  The two other pastas dishes were a bolognese sauce with peas and cream of mushroom (my least favorite) and pasta carbonara.  After I ate past the point of being in physical pain I had my very first espresso.  I can't say I liked it, but it wasn't terrible. What a wonderful night. 

I also went out to dinner with my language partner last night.  The pasta I had was delicious (tortelloni with a type of meat sauce).  But we also had fried mozzarella and fried cream!  The batter they used for both was more similar to a dessert batter, which was interesting.  I really enjoyed the fried mozzarella (they were fried fresh mozzarella balls!), but was disappointed by the fried cream.  I feel like they had the potential to be really good, but I don't think I liked their cream.  I took pictures of both, I'll put them on facebook soon.

I got into the SMALL research program at Williams, so I'll be at Williams this summer from June 9 to August 9.  I'll have a single in a row house.  I'd love if you could visit!  (For those interested, I'll be researching Ergodic Theory, which Vincent is well aware was not my first choice, but was my second.  Should be fun!)