Traditional Modena Dindins

Dear Reader(s),

So I have officially finished my English lessons with Sara, Martina and Sofia, and after my last lesson with Sofia (my little favourite) I was invited to a meal with her and her family. I went home after our last lesson and put on my dress ready for collection by Patrizia at 20.15.

When we got to the house, we sat in the sitting room for a bit, chatting about different things, Serena, Sofia's older sister who is my age, asked where my perfume was from even (Jo Malone). I really like Sofia's family, Patrizia is the madre, Claudio is the padre, Serena is the oldest and Sofia is the baby. I got along really well with Serena and we're facebook friends now. We talked a lot about when I will return to Modena, and that I can stay at theirs because Serena has a big bed. Patrizia is also desperate to see Jersey and to use me as the guide, something that I would definitely love to do.

So, the food! It was AMAZING. We had a pasta course to start (of course we did, this is Italy) which was tortelloni, which is the big version of tortellini, in other words pasta parcels, we had either spinach and ricotta or pumpkin. Both were beautiful, but the pumpkin was just to die for. Next course was the meat course, we had zampone di maiale con paté di patate, in other words pig's trotter with mash potatoes. This is so traditional of Modena, you just can't get a more Modenese dish. It's also a huge treat, and when it was served Claudio said 'this really is a special meal, we only get this once a year!' so I felt very honored. I ate every scrap of the huge portion I was given as it was simply delicious.

Next course was fruit, I had the traditional Modena option (obviously) but I can't remember what it was called. It's orange in colour, and soft like a plum. You cut it in 4 and use a teaspoon to eat the extremely soft sweet flesh. I loved it.

Next was coffee, I felt so mature having an espresso.

After the meal we went through, Patrizia and Claudio went to the sitting room but the girls and I played with Pepe the little dog for a while (while their new Spaniel puppy, Boss, was in his box and desperate to join in) after that we went through as well and played on the karaoke until 1am! It was so so so much fun, accompanied by whiskey (which I didn't have) and Ferrero Rocher (which I most certainly did have)

The evening was simply wonderful, I loved every second, and I will most definitely be seeing that family again in my future.

A presto...