It seemed strange last might. We dined at our usual restaurant, outside under a wysteria canopy, but there was no Mario. Finally I spotted him going to & fro from the kitchen. He was busy with serving the inside rooms. He spotted us, blew me a kiss & called out to the Fox.
The restaurant was fair buzzing, more diners than we've seen there before. I suppose it is inevitable that Saturday night should be so busy if the food is any good. And it certainly is at this place. We thought we'd see no more of Mario, except to wish him good night.
When we came to pay our bill, I noticed Mario having some conversation with our waiter of the night, nodding from time to time in our direction. The bill seemed to be taking for ages to come.
Eventually, instead of the bill, the waiter brought out a tray with a few sweet nibbles and two small, tall, thin, glasses. The glass seemed frosted & filled with a pale yellow liquid. This we were told was limoncello, a present from Mario. We nervously lifted the glasses & sniffed. Lemon meringue pie.
We took a sip. Wow! It certainly has a kick! Flavour is rather lemon meringue pie-ish, the pastry being supplied by the nibbles. You certainly couldn't drink much. It went straight to our heads.
Needless to say, when our bill did eventually arrive, we went in to pay & thank Mario. It was so kind. We just wish our Italian was up to having a proper conversation. I suspect we would have the beginnings of a true friendship. Instead we have to depend on a limited few words & a lot of gestures & good will.
5 comments:
There is a blog by "welshcakes Limoncello", Sicily Scene. Now, thanks yo you, I know what it means.
PS I found your blog because some of my ancestors, the Cottam family, used to farm in Oxcliff. I wonder if there are still any Cottams in the vicinity.
Welcome to my blog Steve. Now I'm home, I checked our local phone book. It's full of Cottams. Not far away there's even a restaurant/bar called "Cottam's Field". The Vixen.
Thanks for checking. My 3g-granfather, Richard Cottam was born at Heaton with Oxcliffe in about 1812, and married a Margaret Bagot from Lancaster. I suppose if it is anything like here, they must all be one town by now. They mostly lived in Manchester, though, where their kids were born, and my great great grandfather, John Bagot Cottam, came to Natal with his family in 1853 to work for the Natal Cotton Plantation. I suppose with the American Civil War on the Manchester cotton mills were looking for alternative sources of supply.
Bagot is a yet more famous name in this area. Bagot is the family name of the owners of Levens Hall, a stately home famed for its topiary, on the Lancashire/Cumbria border.
Heaton-with-Oxcliffe remains an essentially rural area even though Lancaster & Morecambe virtually run into each other.
Glad I was of some help. The Vixen
Thanks very much for helping to give me a better picture of the place!
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