Goodbye Modena

Welcome to Modena, Italy; where they pour the famed balsamic vinegar over EVERYTHING...even dessert. This is panna cotta (cooked cream) with raspberry sauce and yes, balsamic vinegar poured over the top. It was actually REALLY good.

Yes this is really black bread, and yes I really ate it.

This church is in trouble.

Kath, in her favorite city from her mission...she is so in her element here it is not even funny.

This has been our hub for four days now, and we leave tomorrow. We have eaten like Kings by being the happy recipients of Marianne's gourmet cooking.
(Here she is, the beautiful Marianne Brocail.)

I do not exaggerate, it is like eating at a five star restaurant EVERY night. Tortellini, Lasagne, Crepes, French Onion Soupe, Fettucione...the list goes on and on. This section of the country; Emiglia Romagna and Tuscany are the two most beautiful in Italy. The hills are the famed patchwork quilts of glorious shades of green and beige...and the rain has made everything so lush and diffused the light so that I feel like I am in a dream. I am in a dream. We went to Church with the Tuscan saints today, they are wonderful. It was a regional conference with a broadcast coming in from Salt Lake. Ah, I miss the mission field so much. I got to meet the Volpe Family, after 11 years of waiting. They are from Napoli, so they are crazy, in the most amazing, Italian meaning of the word possible. They were epic. Kath got to show me her church that she loved so much, her favorite place. It has been a wonderful day.
We will leave to go back to Florence tomorrow...we will be there for another three days and then it is off to Venice.
I loved today.
Jeanne

*MUCH LATER* (11:11 pm Emiglia Romagna Time)
We just got done eating one of the most fabulous dinners ever by "Chez Marianne", she spent all day cooking. And for dinner we had chicken, with a pepper and tomato stew, fresh homemade bread and a mascarpone cream dessert with bananas. Honestly, it has been like eating at a ridiculously expensive restaurant every night. Marianne lit about 30 candles all over the eating room and also has a potpourri going...plus relaxing sea sounds and music like you hear when you get a massage, honestly I feel like I am in an alternate universe.

Oh yes, I was a happy Jeannebug.