15 Novembre – Cooking with the Contessa

Before meeting my clients I went to Giudecca and helped Mamma in and out of the shower and changed her dressings. She is capable of showering by herself now that she's not heavily medicated any more, but we agree it's good to have me standing by and watching over in case she's unstable in any way in the bathroom. Marco had an early shift and was already at work at 6AM. She dressed and ate. I took off, telling her I would be back briefly in the afternoon, between the cooking class and the wine tasting classes my clients have scheduled for today. “Okay cara. Ci vediamo” See you later. She would be alone until Marco came home around 3PM, but I'm sure her ladyfriends would stop in see her after church. I had a plate of food already in the microwave for her. Just press Start. And of course, she could eat soup until her eyes bulge out.

Met up with the peeps in the lobby of the hotel and before we departed I told Marco to get ready to be pounced on the second he got home. She wants out of the house. He nodded and agreed. “A presto.” She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow for her post surgery check up. I think she's going to get a good report from the docs. We certainly have good things to report to them. I won't be going with them as I have a day on the mainland with my clients in Padova and Verona tomorrow.

I led my clients through the streets along the way to the Rialto Market where we were meeting Contessa Nani for shopping and then back to her palazzo for the cooking session. She is a wonderful character, very vibrant and full of life. The clients fell in love with her, as I'm sure most everyone who meets her does.

We made more food than we could possibly possibly eat, and at the end of lunch she insisted on packaging it up to take with us. For six people we had made food or at least fifteen. Seriously. My kind of cooking. However, these folks are not staying in an apartment, they're at a hotel so they don't have access to eating this meal again. Oh well... I had to take it with me. Damn shame. They all insisted.

Mamma and Marco reap the rewards of this. When I got everything over to their house Mamma was beyond tickled. A contessa cooked for her. Pan fried peppers, spareribs, seafood linguine with shrimp, mussels and calamari, shrimp risotto with mushrooms, slices of roast duck with a port wine and ginger glaze and tiramisu. So much food.

I got back to the hotel at five to take them to meet with Nan, the sommolier giving their wine class at an osteria near San Marco. She greeted me with a big hug and cheek kisses. I didn't partake in the tasting, but the clients had a great time. Afterward I walked them outside for an hour to clear their heads and make room in their stomachs before dinner. We wound our way down past Arsenale to Giardini and to Hostaria da Franz for dinner. I left them in good hands and departed to get back and check on Mamma before sacking out for the night.