Its where i belong

Im dutch. You know it, I know it, my family is quite proud to know it and make sure other people know it. But i will say it again (and probably several--many--more times to come): im more Italian than anything.
Even more Italian than i am Canadian. Gasp! Where is my sense of patriotism? Sadly, it left with the addition of pineapple to thick crust pizzas and remains only in my devotion to proper winter wear, toques, scarves, mittens et al. It left with bacon, yes, bacon; which translates to i am not really a big fan of pancetta, at all... just dont tell my Italian "kin".
There are plenty of other uses of pork, however, that i love; that keep me from becoming a vegetarian. And the Italians, they know pig. They use the whole damn thing. Nose to tail and all the shrapnel in between the goods in between. And i saw it get put to use tonight.
I found my little Italy. My consellation- Italy- for- my- one- and- a- half- loss- at- real- Italy Italy. La Quercia, where, finally, i have entered the kitchen. Bad enough that it took my October last year to my birthday this past week to eat there, but i left staging there until my last mere minutes in this city. All the more reason to make every minute count.
And eat as much as possible. And by much i mean meat. Oh goodness all the meat tonight (including pancetta). Every thing that was cooked was offered to taste and then some. I even drank pasta cooking water to note the salt level (high by the way; shockingly high but for good reason).
Why i left this until now, i do not know. Why i didnt spend my whole winter here...oh how things may have been different, so different. Better late than never, though, and i plan to use and thoroughly appreciate my time there as best i can before going back to reality, and working on making actual Italy a reality.
This is like a whole new mini adventure, and i will be posting my learnings and exaggerated love for Italy, for La Quercia in general for the next week or so (possibly longer, but then it will be more I miss than i learned). More on tonight later, i have Marsala and dessert to enjoy.