24 October, 2021 • Antonello and Maria Chiara
We are so privileged to live by and work with so many beautiful Italian couples here in the Rome Foresteria and Temple. One of these couples is Antonello and Maria Chiara Murgia from Sardegna. He is so humble and sweet while she is quick witted and fun loving. They compliment each other perfectly. Neither Antonello nor Maria Chiara speak any English, and our Italian, although getting better, is still quite basic. But in spite of the language limitation we are able to communicate perfectly. For Sunday after-church "pranzo" they invited us and two other couples to experience Sardegnian food. The primo piatto of home-made lasagna and gnocchi would have sufficed, especially with the generous portions Maria Chiara dished. But she was just getting warmed up. Plate after plate followed: salmon "crudo" with avocado, an octopus dish, a plate of Sardegnian prosciutto with cheese and a green salad. And the main event was still to come. Maria Chiara had slow roasted "Porcetto di Sardegnia", a whole young piglet actually brought from Sardegnia: Succulent falling-off-the-bone meat under a crackling skin. Herbed potatoes kept the little piglet company in the oven and on the plate. At the five-hour point, when the fruit and dessert plates started arriving our brains stopped functioning. But as abundant and delicious as the meal was, it was overshadowed by the outpouring of love and and acceptance of these sweet people. What an honor it is for us to be here at this time and place with lovely Italians like Antonello and Maria Chiara Murgia.
