On Saturday night, we went to the restaurant, Fratelli di Bufala, where Eric, one of the leaders of the church of Milan, and Janfor, one of the middle school students I worked with at the church (who is now twenty-five...I’m not old, am I?), work. Janfor’s parents, Domingo and Lydia, came, as well as Robert, Evangelina, and Rovelyn (another of the kids I used to work with).
The food was great; I had hoped to have time for a traditional Italian pizza, and this one did not disappoint. Of course, there were many choices as to toppings; I chose just as I would have when I lived here--eggplant and zucchini. I wish these toppings were available elsewhere…
Tammy and I went and stuck our heads into the kitchen to see Janfor working (she’s done it before when visiting, and as long as we stay out of the way, no one minds--but then Eric is the one in charge of the kitchen, so what he says goes). He didn’t know I was coming--he saw Tammy, and then I popped in too, and he gave me a huge smile. It was so good to see him doing well in his job; he’s worked his way up from a dishwasher as a teenager to now being one of the main cooks. He’s come a long way from the shy, silent child hiding behind the hair he kept flopped over his eyes that I met eleven years ago.
After dinner, he got the chance to come out and say hello on his break, and I got a picture with him and Rovelyn. It was a busy night, though--many Italian go on vacation during the month of August, and it was Saturday, September first. We theorized that many had just gotten home and found they had nothing in their fridge and decided to go out to eat. He was called back in soon, but there is a big window into the kitchen from the street so we could watch him working for a while. He certainly never moved that fast back when I told him to do something. :)
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