"Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious." - Ruth Reichl

5 weeks later, my main homie g and i were reunited in milan. i think we laughed for the first 15 minutes before we could actually talk. two nights in milan, doing nothing but wandering around the capital city and catching up on our summer holidays then a very early train (and a missed stop, one too far by fault of the conductor, not us) to the ligurian sea coast brought us to varazze. every beach, or bagni, was reserved for paying customers to lay on row after row of lounging beach chairs. so we found the free beach - a narrow strip of rocky sand - and plopped down our backpacks and basked in the sun. a whole day of italian summer's sea sun after 5 weeks in ireland clearly leads to a sunburn. asher arrived to meet us shortly after and it was as though the three of us were just driving across europe together yesterday. with nowhere to stay, we showered on the beach and got changed in the car and then were ready for our big night out: dinner on the beach. our tutor, alberto and his friends started  cavolfiori a merenda who cook and serve local specialties in spectacular places. dinner on the beach with the waves splashing up on shore near us while the sun set was definitely spectacular. it was a beautiful night and just lovely to eat with the sand between our toes. we sat at the end of the table across from the farmer and his wife who made the cheese that was part of our aperativo and first course. (he wanted to divorce her and adopt me. arina offered to trade me for 3 sheep.) the other local specialty was a genovese brewery, Maltus Faber, who provided us with a different beer for each of the four courses. the owner of the hotel who's beach we occupied was also a fisherman who caught the sardines, squid, and shrimp which were part of our first three courses. the entire town was sold out, not even a floor to find to sleep on, so we slept under the stars with every article of clothing on and with the latino's, i mean, on the lettino's aka beach lounge chairs.

the sun sets as we get introductions to each course. 

eating on the edge of the sea shore.

pumpkin, courgette, mixed greens, black olives, pine nuts, pumkin seeds on top of sheep's ricotta (mine's missing the sardines)

squid with salicornia cooked in its own ink infused with licorice and topped with bread crumbs

bean soup infused with lobster broth with a genovese foccaccia, lardo and lemon "cooked" shrimp

 local genovese beer. 

applauding the staff after delicious lemon tort with lavender cream.

homeless for the night, but not a worry and perfectly happy.

"Though their life was modest, they believed in eating well."
— James Joyce

sleeping under the stars, waking up to the sun...and people in bathing suits while we're wrapped in layers and blankets. 

a perfect way to end the summer.