Ice Cream Parties

It's cooling down here, but that's no reason to stop eating gelato. We have remained loyal fans of Stefino, our nearby gelateria with all-natural gelato, and our relationship with the shop grows all the time. A few weeks ago, we had a much-anticipated party at our house to mark the arrival of our new roommate, Francesca, and to celebrate the cooking skills of Massimo's parents. (Their skills are considerable.)

Massimo embarked on a month-long campaign to invite the employees of Stefino to our party. He called this his "feminine" technique. Instead of aggressively issuing one invite as a man would do, he reasoned, it would be better to invite the "Stefini" every day until they got the message, as a FEMALE would. It's so nice to live in such an emancipated household.

Well, regardless of Massimo's method, we were overjoyed to see the owner of Stefino (named Stefano, surprisingly) at our door on the night of the party, along with a various coworkers whom we've come to know over the past few months. (One is a Brazilian woman who's in training to become a pilates instructor - we're going to do an English-pilates exchange. I can't wait!) We also made a special lasagna delivery to Stefino for the girls who were working that night (including Stefano's girlfriend), and we were given a huge tub of gelato.

Stefano and Maurizio, the gelateria's male representatives, had this bright, oh-so-Italian idea: they wanted to be photographed with the gelato and all the women at the party. We obliged.

I am holding my favorite Stefino item, a chocolate granita with whipped cream. It actually came from our freezer, where it had been waiting to be consumed - the Stefino employees were much amused to see their product emerge from our freezer on command. Francesca is the auburn-haired girl to the left of my granita-arm. Stefano is the semi-balding brown-haired man all the way to the left, and Maurizio (also of Stefino) is the man with the orange classes.

Later that night, Massimo and his best friend from high school, Saverio, entertained us with guitar-playing. Saverio also whipped out a bazooka, which he played for us proudly.


Stefino employees entertained us by dancing.


And force-feeding gelato to party guests.

(That's my friend Arash, who's a John's Hopkins MA student. Maurizio, the Stefino employee who's abusing him, told us that he has been stopped on the street by irate Italians due to his glasses frames. Apparently an ancient Italian woman once grabbed his arm and said, "What the hell is wrong with your face?")

We are now planning for the next party. It will commemorate the end of the gelato season, and partygoers will be required to attend in costume. First prize: gelato.