Kansas City! i miei amici, una cena buonissimo etc

4 Dic.
I have made it back to my native soil after a fun-filled journey starting Saturday morning in Rome at 0400 when I woke up near Termini station. I hauled my luggage to the bus stop in front of the station to take the no. 40 night bus, full of late night revelers, to another station with trains which start early enough to get to Fiumicino airport at 0540. Then after plane malfunctions, we took off for Paris an hour late (which cut down my layover there by an hour), then on to Houston, and finally Kansas City. I arrived at my friend Larry's house, who taught me to water ski 45 years ago, almost 26 hours after I started.
My 1st bad news was Missouri University lost to Oklahoma in american football so our title hopes were dashed, and the 2nd was JuveCaserta lost by 1 point in basket italiano, but the sun came up the next day anyway, so I finished a buying spree which included blue jeans for Raffaele and Elisa, baking soda and powder, vanilla, cream of tartar and pecans to take back to Nascondiglio. Also, a first aid kit, Capsaicin cream and other assundries for friends and guests with minor injuries, aches and pains.
I then went to my church and as an added bonus, it was communion Sunday and my minister was there and I got to catch up with him. Then, I cooked dinner at Larry's house with pasta I brought from Gragnano and started my prosciutto/parmigiano bread. I then finished the bread at Kevin and Erika's house in preparation for our grand dinner last night at their house for 11 friends. K.R. and Erika, who in their next life should open an eponymous restaurant, treated us to an amazing dinner, with wonderful cheeses, olives, and other appetizers, then my lentil soup, an italian tuna and red onion and rucola salad, pasta bolognesa, a beautiful steak and finally, almond cookies florentina and biscotti for dessert. Wines brought by everyone were wonderful matches with the food and after everyone was quasi lubricated, I forced them to watch the premier of my Offida video starring my little friend from La Gioella, who explained and demonstrated her lacemaking techniques on the Tombolo. The double feature then segued into a tour of Nascondiglio di Bacco with costar Bacco the dog.
I had lunch Monday with my friend Bill at Bella Napoli which gets better every time I try it and also visited my bank where I was overdrawn, my friend Jasper where I will host a bunch of friends tonight, and my office where all my employees from the past miss me terribly, of course! I also got to see my old partner Joe and my friend Russ, who hopefully can join me tonight at Jasper's restaurant.
Lunch today will be with Robert, a former wine distributor and hopefully he can give me some pointers on how to export wines Raffaele and I enjoy and would like to promote from the Marche. Believe me, I visited 4 wine stores yesterday and the only wine from the Marche is the horrible verdicchio in the fish bottle. I can remedy that!
I got my "J" key replaced for free from Apple which gets Bacco out of the doghouse (remember he ate my last one).
The pictures are of my travels from yesterday: me with Jasper (check out his link on my blog), my friend Jenny from my office, pictures inside and out of Bella Napoli and my hotel (Kevin and Erika's house-beautifully remodelled) with my rental Toyota in front. See above for scenes from our wonderful dinner from last night!
Ciao da KC. dds
Oh, I forgot to say, I brought a bottle of Gaia in my luggage which is a wonderful Pecorino white wine from my area and it broke into 5000 pieces in my luggage, so I also started out my stay here disappointed and doing laundry!