Buona cucina con grandi donne (good food with great women!)

I have been looking forward to today all week. Our book club read the book, "The Reluctant Tuscan" by Phil Doran this month for our selection. It was witty and funny, and I enjoyed the book very much. It is the story of a couple who moves to Tuscany after buying a villa, and the daily happenings in the process of remodeling a house in Tuscany.



Normally I look forward to Book club, but this time, Annette decided that she would make us this huge Italian dinner. Well, food and friends is all it takes to get me excited! So I have been counting down the days anticipating the wonderful food I knew we would be eating. Annette is amazing! She is the most together person I know. She is an amazing mother, and her girls are a reflection of her hard work. They are polite and kind, and possess so many of their mother's traits. Annette is a great hostess. She pays attention to the small details when she has invited people over and it is delight to be her guest. And last of all, Annette is an amazing cook. I so look forward to eating anything she has cooked!



So at 6:30, we arrive to a dining room with fall inspired table cloths, pumpkin place holders, golden chargers and the smell of delicious Italian food wafting throughout the house. Annette prepared a menu of crostini appetizers, salad, and three pastas. It was heavenly. The pumpkin ravioli were my favorite and Annette even sent me home with my own to eat later. For dessert, we had raspberry tiramisu! I think I will never be able to eat again.



But even better than the food, were the wonderful women I got to share it with. Our book club has nine faithful members. We have been meeting every month for three years. Each month, one woman chooses a book for the group to read, and then chooses a meeting location. Sometimes we go to a restaurant, sometimes it is someone's house. Every time is filled with laughter and good company.



We are a group of women of different ages, but are mostly affiliated with the teaching profession. The night spent with book club make me laugh, open my mind, and establish continuing and growing friendships with these women. Who would have thought that we would be meeting for three years and still going strong? I am including a list of all the books I can remember reading over the past three years:

1. The Book Club

2. Sense and Sensibility

3. My Sister's Keeper

4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

5. Atonement

6. The Last Lecture

7. Mudbound

8. One Thousand White Women

9. Run With the Horseman

10. The Audacity of Hope

11. The Thirteenth Tale

12. The City of Falling Angels

13. The Tipping Point

14. Three Cups of Tea

15. One Thousand Splendid Suns

16. The Glass Castle

17. The Other Boleyn Girl

18. The Kite Runner

19. The Secret Life of Bees

20. Memoirs of a Geisha

21. The Good Earth

22. Black and Blue

At this point, these are all the books I can remember. Please tell me if I have forgotten any!