Tuesday at the Table

As you can imagine, there were countless memorable foodie moments when hubby and I were in Italy recently. And I can't promise that I won't share more of them in this space in the weeks ahead. For sure I want to reminisce about the cooking class we took in Tuscany. But for today, just a small moment in time, Italian-style.

It happened because after over a week of traveling, we were anxious to do some laundry in an actual laundromat, rather than our hotel's bathroom sink. And finally in Lucca, we had the opportunity and we took it. We got our load going and to bide our time, we stepped across the lane to De Cervesia's taproom, mentioned in passing by our tour guide as we'd walked into town earlier in the day.

There were just 3 beers on tap, and we chose the Duchessa, an Italian saison made with farro. Tiny as the shop was, we had no choice but to take our drinks out into the street.

Which wasn't really an issue, as that's what everyone else had done as well. The beer was tasty, don't get me wrong. And after a day of travel, to sit and sip it was a treat and a relief. But what really struck us was the sheer number of people on the sidewalk in front of the shop and spilling out into the street,  leaning against the buildings and sitting on the stoops. We actually counted over 75 including ourselves, just hanging out, sipping their drinks, and enjoying the summer evening.

It probably didn't even seem unusual to anyone except us. But in the moment, it felt significant. We had been transported somehow, and without intention, we were together at The Table, with no table in sight.