8. La Vie en Rose

Saturday evening April 19th.

I’m having dinner tonight with Mr. Uomo, Susie and I’m guessing some other friends. I get ready for dinner and Mr. Uomo picks me up. Off we go to il ristorante La Vie en Rose near Piazza Santa Croce. I’ve eaten there before with just Mr. Uomo, but the first time around I was sick due to the weather and did not really pay attention to the food or the place. But I do know this. That this restaurant is a members only club. If you do not have a membership, you cannot eat there. I guess there’s a handful of these restaurants in Florence, maybe in Italy? We go and im surprised and happy to see Johnny, Alexio and Manuela there with Susie! They already started to order some appetizers, since Mr. Uomo and I were a little late, due to a stop at his restaurant to say hi to some people.

I am starving, I feel like I can eat anything and everything on the menu. I start to eat the foccacia bread and then comes out dried tomatoes in an olive oil sauce. Heaven. Then there’s a chatter about burrata. Everyone is saying oooh, aaah, yeah, lets get some. Susie explains to me that burrata is basically like the heart of the mozzarella. I think to myself, if they’re saying ooooh and aaaah, I’ll probably just die right there when I take my first bite. My mouth begins to water. I take a sip of wine. The burrata comes out and to me, it resembles a bigger version of a Vietnamese bun. But Mr. Uomo prepares to open it. And then he slices open the bag and the water is so milky, the burrata is so soft and he cuts a chunk and puts it on my plate, then rolls up some proscutto and proceeds to place that on my plate (yes, I know, total gentleman). I take my time cutting a slice of burrata and proscuitto. I place it in my mouth, close my eyes, and my heart stops, for that moment in time. Then I open my eyes and just smile. Amazing. I could buy this and eat it all day long, well, I would be extremely overweight, but its so worth it.

During this dinner, there are about 4-5 cigarette breaks so imagine how long this dinner or any dinner in Italy turns out to be. We leave the restaurant after about 3-4 hours to go to a bar. A gay bar. We walk towards Piazza Santa Croce and there’s tons of people outside. Plus its Saturday evening. I learn that it’s the meeting spot for a lot of people. I never come this way when I go out so I’m in awe. We walk to Piccolo bar and immediately Susie is at the bar asking what everyone wants. She comes up to me and asks me what I want and I tell her cognac. She asks me if I’m sure. I say yes. Because back in the states, I only drink Heineken and Hennessey. Maybe I’ll toss in a Vodka tonic double lime once in awhile to switch things up, but mainly, I drink like a guy. So here in Italy, Im switching from beer to wine but still, my after dinner drink of choice is cognac. She comes back with a huge, I mean huge shifter and its filled like halfway. She tells me that she had to tell the bartender to stop pouring because he would have kept on pouring! Salute! So we all start drinking and mingling. A very lovely lesbian came up to our table and wanted to talk to me. So I’m sitting on one side, Mr. Uomo and the lesbian is sitting on Mr. Uomo’s left. I found it very flattering and rude that she was so interested in me, that when Mr. Uomo would say something, she would actually ‘sssh’ him so either she could talk or to listen to what I was saying. But after awhile, and after almost drinking all of my cognac, I was getting sleepy or drunk and didn’t know how long I would last sitting there, and by the looks of it, Alexio was already ahead of me, sitting with his head down, sleeping and falling off the stool once in a while. So off we go, on his scooter back to his place, tomorrow I have to meet up with April. She’s coming in from Amsterdam and will be in town around noon. And look, its already 4 in the morning.