Whoa, bob! how did the name get so long? Well...
Maurizio did the 24 hour cardiologist convention escape tour of philly. 30th St Station pickup from the Amtrak Washington line straight to Jim's [cheese]Steaks for the mandatory philly welcome lunch. Pizza steaks, cheese whiz, mushrooms, no onions. A successful first impression. The Liberty Bell had to be bypassed on this tourtoo many May schoolkid trips feeding the waiting line. But we made the Independence Hall tour after only a 10 minute wait and the guide turned out to be a real live wire whose rapid fire info-tainment shtick kept bob amused if not Maurizio, whose command of English was set at much lower speed. Yada, yada, yada...
So where to do dinner? Maurizio is not fussy, but is also making familiar Italian chatter about big American meatoversized overthick steak. We go for Toscana Cucina Rustica in Bryn Mawr, where Maurizio gets his 20 oz steak and bob gets the title of this recipe almost, shared with ani of course. Almost, because we went a bit further than Toscana with the garlic, and threw in the parmesan since we're addicts. Did I mention the touch of crushed red pepper?
The restaurant review from our Italian guest? "Not exactly Italian, but excellent food." [Freely translated.] Fair enough. You want authentic Italian, you go to Italy. But Americans aren't bound by Italian constraints (tradition) and can creatively extend Italian cuisine to places where we like it to go. And that warm chocolate pudding cake with vanilla ice cream on top at the endchocolate ecstasyyou wouldn't find that in the old boot. American flexibility be praised. Maybe this is the price we have to pay for too much sauce on our pasta.
The next morning an early departure back to Washington. But ... bad newsa 10 alarm fire north of Philly threatens to shut down all trains and I-95 as well. The VIP Metroliner train for DC was boarding though. bob thinks maybe it would be worth it to board and pay the outrageous difference in fare, but does not verbalize this idea to Maurizio. Then it's gone. And the threat materializes. All other trains are suspended indefinitely. Hours of waiting time possible. And then the Amtrak miracle occurs. They announce that the Metroliner is backing up into the station to pick up the southbound passengers waiting for the not-so-cheap but much cheaper train caught by the fire. A miracle because some faceless bureaucrat actually made a common sense decision that helped relieve the suffering of quite a few regular folks in a jam.
That evening we had to do a dinner for five. Weakminded chef's that we are, we figured we'd do the tartufo fettuccini on them (all first timers) and try to recreate the halibut dish from the night before, while experimenting with a Key lime tart that has lingered on for years without finality in our cooking log. Either the event was a success or our guests were master diplomats. We won't worry about the fine distinction.