Reverb 10: Moment

December 3 Prompt: Moment. 

Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

It is early evening. A sea the colour of wine sparkles beneath the lights of the cruise ships and fishing boats anchored just off Santa Margherita, in Liguria, Italy, where we are spending a magical couple of days on our Italian honeymoon. We navigate a slow, painfully twisting road up a steep hill in a van driven by our Backroads tour guide. When we arrive at our destination, a restaurant called La Stalla dei Frati, we are greeted by beautiful candlelit tables, and a view overlooking the entire Gulf of Tigullio.

Santa Margherita’s elegant buildings are graceful silhouttes in the dark; the snug embrace of the marina wraps big white yachts and dark wooden fishing boats; and, out to sea, the silvery glow of the moon shimmers upon the midnight blue waters. The earthy scents of pine and salt perfume the night and the gentle sounds of laughter and music drift up from the bay.

Lovingly arranged on the table lies a feast for the senses. Tiny, shiny Taggiasca olives, dazzling red and yellow peppers, white anchovies glistening in pale golden olive oil and lemon juice—and that’s just the starters.

Next is real pesto, the aroma of basil billowing in the mouth in a perfect counterpoint to the homemade trofie ( a type of pasta). There follows platters of vegetables and seafood, grilled Ligurian style, drizzled with oil and lemon and couched with olives and potatoes, washed down with a glass of clean, crisp white wine.

We toast to our unbelievable good fortune to be dining on what just might be the most incredible food of our lives in the Italian Riviera, quite possibly the prettiest, most charming place in the world.  We feel so lucky, so in love, and so very alive.