Have a couple minutes before heading out to Ho Chi Minh/Saigon for the weekend and made a commitment to post weekly, so a couple of quick follow-ups from last time. Went back to the new Italian place with Baby Doll for dinner (3rd time for me) and loved it again. They opened up the second floor and we liked it as it was a bit more chill (the downstairs has huge windows and eating there makes one feel like you are in an aquarium). We sat next to a couple that were on their cell phones the entire dinner...the dude made noises throughout that sounded like a pig routing in the woods for truffles.
Wine night proved to be another great one. I packed the "class" with friendly faces this time and we all learned about some new things (orange wine) and had a few laughs. The one new person that attended (Mr Chon) had an interesting take during our discussion about whether one needs to decant wine. He says that when he is in a hurry, that he puts it in the blender for a few spins. We all laughed...our Wine master had never heard that being done and the entrepreneurs in our midst were already plotting how they could make a bundle marketing it.
Near the end of the evening, talk turned to whiskey and someone said that Taiwan had the highest consumption of it per capita. They were corrected as Taiwan is second while Japan is number one. I posited that it might not be a coincidence that those two countries also have the two lowest birthrates in the world and the entire room turned and looked at me like I said it with a cartoon Asian voice and making Oriental eyes. Thought it was an astute observation and meant no disrespect.
I have come to realize that many of the family stories from the past are fabricated. Things like the family china being that of the King of Siam when it was just a nice facsimile. Another myth is that the Imbrogulio family came to America from Sicily and we have always played up these mafia ties. Roaming around Sicily over Christmas, it is clear that the name is not a local one and that our facial features and skin color do not lend itself to that area. None of us that are still alive know the truth so have decided to start making up my own origin theory. The Imbrogulio's ancestors are The Lombards and am now obsessed with returning to my homeland in northern Italy.
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