ESD XVII Neither rain nor hail....

'Neither rain nor hail, nor sleet nor snow shall stop ESDs from putting on a show!' Okay, so it's badly paraphrased from the US Postal Service, and even further from the original of the Greek historian, Herodotus. But the idea is the same. The huge storm that blew over upper Friuli may have delayed a little but couldn't stop us from having our weekly meeting, especially as this time we were honored with a special performance by the ladies choir of Aviano. These lovely ladies (and their lucky director Emanuele Lachin on the piano) sang us a selection of Broadway tunes, showing off the acoustics in the ballroom at the villa.

We started off the evening Italian style, with flatbread pizza and a superb Tocai from the Bastianich Vineyards. The weather cleared enough for the rest of the choir to arrive from Aviano, and we enjoyed their spirited performance of selected songs from some of the more popular shows of Broadway. After the concert we continued the 'Americana' theme at dinner, with jerked chicken wings and a crisp Zinfandel from California. The main course, a spicy Creole Jambalaya with ratatouille on the side, worked well with the Mexican beer, and there was a Gallo Cabernet Sauvignon from California for those who preferred wine. Dinner ended on a rich note with a trio of chocolate brownies, carrot cake and apple pie. The whole dinner was, as they say, 'as American as apple pie!'

We'd like to thank all those who braved the elements to join us on Tuesday--especially those who travelled so far through such awful weather. The choir from Aviano boosted the numbers of Americans present--making them by far the largest group of foreigners, though there were also quite a few Austrians, some who had made the drive from Graz in terrible conditions, and Canadians, Brits, Kiwis, Aussies, and of course Italians--all in all about 70 people--our largest gathering yet!

Given that the night was so successful we hope to hold more of these special evenings--if anyone has any suggestions for entertainment please drop a note below in the comment box. Otherwise, hope to see you at another ESD soon. Please reserve your place by sending a note to: esdfriends@gmail.com as early as you can--advance notice helps us organize the catering better.

Thanks,
Penny Heysen