Check Or Hold!

Please excuse our delayed entry, but unknown to most of you, we have been expecting a visit from a close family friend. She and her husband were scheduled to spend last weekend with us at Six Flags to celebrate Mariesa's birthday, but to our dismay their flight was overbooked – she is an airline employee and travels stand by – and they had to reschedule their visit for this week.

Saturdays are always a hive of activity for us this time of year and like busy bees our day started off early and to work we went. Mariesa had a morning softball game and after watching her team win, we dropped her off at home, made sure Mario was prepared for his afternoon game and headed out to the airport.

Sonia and her wonderful husband Donald arrived at noon on Saturday and from the airport we headed straight over to Eataly to get the ingredients for our meal. It was such a treat to see an old friend and we all looked forward to dinner. This would be the first time Mario and I  prepared a meal for guests and the pressure was on!

We walked around Eataly and purchased the ingredients for the Bucatini all'Amatriciana (a recipe that we first tried back in February). We had given it four crocs and because of the hectic schedule we knew that it would be easy enough for us to prepare in a short amount of time. Mario and I threw on our smocks, crocs and displayed our culinary prowess as we gracefully moved from station to station like a seasoned dance couple burning up the floor with a saucy Cha Cha Cha.

It was a long day and although it was close to 10:00pm before we started to serve dinner all our spirits were up and everyone was very excited to dig in. The conversation was lively and spirited. Being that Sonia, Angela and I were all military brats – Angela being the only one of us that served in the US ARMY – and the fact that we still have family members serving, the conversation turned to stories about our military experiences. Sonia brought it to our attention that one of her brother's (a full bird Colonel) favorite sayings is "Check or Hold!" Meaning, can you check that item off the list or is that item on hold soldier! To all those that have had personal experiences with a Colonel, the only answer is, "Check Sir!" Needless to say when I asked if the meal was "Check or Hold!" it was a unanimous "CHECK!"

Ciao,
Mario & Mario

The Three Tocayos