It was December 1998. My father had recently passed away and my mother was having a hard time dealing with his loss.    She was one of the most charismatic happy people on earth who always had a glow about her, and it was difficult seeing her in such a funk.  She was in her early 80’s  was feeling her age and let me know that in addition to the loss of her husband she was having a hard time dealing with the fact that she would never see her brothers/sister nieces/nephews again.  We could not bring my dad back but we could do something about having her see her family.  Along with my wife and two sons, who had never met their Sicilian family, my mother and I traveled to Sicily the for Easter 1999.   When they heard about our visit our 60 or so aunts/uncles/cousins could not agree on who would host us for Easter dinner (they all WANTED to host us not the other way around).  Their solution was that they would rent out a banquet room at a l...

You have been obsessing all week on how you were going to get her to say yes.     You decided you were going to go into classic mode and impress her with a great dinner a fine bottle of wine and then pop the question.   You take her to her favorite french restaurant.  The waiter comes over and asks if you would like some wine.  You ask to see the wine list and let him know that you would like a bottle of wine but are going to wait until you know what you are going to eat before ordering.  She glances at you with that “ooh this guy knows what he’s doing” look in her eye.  A great start.  You think a 2009 Chateau La Ponte Pomerol is the perfect choice for the braised beef she is ordering so you order a bottle. The waiter arrives with the bottle and shows you the label before opening the wine  It is a Chateau La Ponte alright, but a 2011.  This has happened to you before where a restaurant will by mistake or by design will...