Italienisch Kochkurs in Rom bei Vatikanstadt mit Ale & Larry

My friends and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Ale, Larry, and their daughter Nina prior to our cruise out of Civitavecchia. It was like having dinner with your favourite cousin and family. Both Larry and Ale are warm and engaging, and it was lovely to enjoy a meal in their home while in Rome. From the homemade bread, the market fresh buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto, to the best tomato salad using the sweetest Sicilian Cherry tomatoes, the old family ragu recipe over home made fresh pasta, and a tiramisu to make the angels sing, the meal was an elevated but comforting feast. Accompanied by great wines and great conversation, we would highly recommend sharing a meal with this gracious family. We easily rate this the top experience of our Italian vacation.

Suzy and Bob were absolutely delightful. My wife and I started out having some wine and chatting with the couple while Suzy finished making the meal. The meal was excellent, starting with a pea soup, and a fish soup for a main course. The chocolate mousse was so amazing! Suzy was even kind enough to give us a ride back to the hotel because it was rainy out. It was fantastic getting to meet people from Belgium and was a welcome break from the usual tourist experience.

There's a word for the feeling you get when you meet people and it seems as though you've known them for much longer...I don't know what that word is, but, I do know what that feeling feels like, because that is what we felt all throughout the evening we had with Suzy and Bob at their lovely home in Ghent. Myself and my two companions were traveling around London and Belgium for the previous 5 days, and as we are prone to do, had mostly been ignoring our health and not caring about what we ate or taking time to reflect and relax. You know how people say they need a vacation from a vacation? Yeah, that's the road we were headed down. The one good thing I'll say about how we travel is that we absolutely love meeting new people, and so we had booked this dinner in advance knowing that it would be something to look forward to. It turned out to be one of our most memorable experiences in Belgium, one that I will remember for a long time to come. Bob and Suzy were gracious right from the start, showing us around their home and making us feel comfortable and welcome, answering all of the questions that our curious minds could think of. When traveling to a different country for the first time, it's tough to learn things that only locals would know, Bob and Suzy were immensely helpful on that front. As I mentioned earlier, we hadn't been eating too well on the trip up to that point (waffles and beer seemed to have been 90% of our diet), and the food that Suzy cooked up for us to eat together was not just incredibly tasty, but it felt incredibly good for our souls. We felt like we were renewed through the food. Suzy gave us the recipes to use, and although I know I won't be able to cook it half as well, it's certainly worth a try. Most importantly, any experience like this is about the people you meet, the friends you make, and the time spent in good conversation. Our party was sad when the night had ended, we would have loved to spend several more hours with Bob and Suzy but time doesn't slow or stop for any of us, no matter how much we want it to. I know my companions and I will be back at some point, and we'll go out of our way to see our new friends in Ghent. Thanks for the excellent memories.