A few more things about the Tuscan town in which I am living. The man who makes my wife’s daily Cappuccino was named Fabio. I say ‘was’ because I take credit for re-naming him “Fabioloso”. The local Baristas take pride in their work (see photo above of one of Fabioloso’s efforts) – A Barista is a career…not a job to get through to get another one. Georgio, another Barista – who I re-named “Buon Giorgio” (…a complimentary take-off of the morning greeting “Buon Giorno”) happily makes a pretty ‘Cappucco’ as well. A Cappucco and a Doppio (Double Espresso) will run you about $3.80. All served in ceramic cups with a spoon on the side. Drink it first, pay on the way out. When I lived in the States I got the ‘jits’ from my morning coffees …so I descended to Decaf…Here, I drink Espressos fully loaded – no jits. A Barista explained to me “The amount of caffein in the coffee is directly proportional to the amount of time the water spends with the coffee grind. Thus, the Espresso method – hot water pushed quickly through – spends almost zero time soaking over the grind – so all you get is taste. Another factoid…If you were to come this way: Do not order a Cappuccino after twelve noon. For a long period after WW1 there was little food available and many of the people had only coffee mixed with hot milk for their breakfast. In respect to the past, no one here has a breakfast drink after twelve noon.
What has all this to do with ‘Vote Cheating’ Mail-in Ballots, or the price of moving a tanker through the Straits of Hormuz, or Mr. Tr*#p upbraiding the Pope of Rome for his interpretation of Christianity? Nothing! And that is the point. I am going down to the piazza and order a second Doppio from Fabioloso.
