Polish Italian

Dear Amanda,

A) If you were prosaic, you would have used the word dull, and 2) any good Polish girl will have a kielbasa in the freezer, and a mother who grows tomatoes and cukes and basil and zucchini and green beans, so my staples are more practical than exotic. Couple that with the fact that I was either Italian in a past life or will be in my next, I also always keep a pound of fresh mozzarella on hand while tomatoes are in season. The cuke salad? Sliced cucumbers, salt and sour cream. I grew up on it. In Polish it's called mizeria (accent on the second syllable).

C has been to Italy multiple times. She loves Rome. In fact, when I went to Europe in 2004, C was in Rome on a Fulbright and we met up there. She showed me the sites, then after I went to Florence for a week, we met again in Rome and spent a couple of days at a spa before I headed back to England. Because she teaches Latin, she often gets to go for free...this year her trip was paid for by 3 different scholarships and included a digital camera and lap top. The class was about taking photos and using technology to bring ancient Rome into the classroom. I wish.

I'll write more later. B