Delizioso!!

Be still my heart.

Steve's sister in law, Brooke, has made me a very happy person.

She works for this company:

Manicaretti imports high quality Italian foods: oils, vinegars, pastas, rice/grains, pasta sauces, etc.; and sells them to restaurants, Italian grocery stores, etc.

Brooke and Steve's brother Tim live in California, but were up for a visit late this summer.

Last week, Steve brought me a large box that Brooke had sent to us.

I opened it up, and here is what I found:

The box was full of imported Italian olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dried pasta, pesto and tomato sauce.

I died and went to heaven.

My heaven will be full of delicious Italian food.

I was so excited, my first instinct was to hoard it all.

Seriously.

I thought about using it sparingly and savoring it for years to come.

Then Steve mentioned that there might be a small chance that there was more where this came from.

And then I thought about drinking the balsamic vinegar straight out of the glass jug.

Pounding it.

Like water.

Or wine.

But now that I've had a little while to calm down, I think I'll just be cool, you know?

Maybe I'll use some of the products next time I have friends over for dinner.

Maybe I'll give a bottle to my mom.

Maybe I'll whip it out when I'm making something special for Steve next time.

Maybe I'll use it on a perfectly normal weeknight, for a simple salad or a quick bowl of pasta.

Either way, THANK YOU Brooke!

You just made this girls month.

PS - in case you were wondering, this was the first thing I did with it:

Dipped some crusty Italian bread into a mixture of oil and balsamic. YUM.

After tasting it Steve said to me, "This is so good, it doesn't even taste like balsamic vinegar!"

And I said, "No, honey - this is what balsamic vinegar is SUPPOSE to taste like."

The end.