Lovin's Little Itay - Cleveland Style

All we asked for was a day with no rain – we never contemplated the fury of the wind. This particular wind was a gale force to be reckoned with! Nearly every time I’m fortunate enough to visit Little Italy – the vicinity of Murray Hill and Mayfield - the wind makes its presence known. We laugh at the wind and tell her we respect her, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. So we let her have her with us and forged ahead.

The wild winds had performed their duty and sent chills through our bodies. It was time to warm up.

So we ate and we drank. Firs stop - Trattoria. We dined on luscious bread, Egg Plant Parmesan and Three-Cheese Spinach Ravioli along with the house salad and wine – Chianti, of course. The place packed in fast and we were soon ready to head out and see the galleries and boutiques. Somehow, sheer will power I presume, we passed the bakeries without stopping. The smells permeated the air and every breath we took.

After taking in a couple galleries, we stopped at Little Italy’s Wine Store. She begged us to stay for the wine tasting but it was 3 hours away and by then, well, we’d be on to bigger and better things. Lazy things. But I left with 4 fun bottles of wine and a promise to come back for a wine tasting.

A couple of my favorite galleries were closed today however, (and thankfully,) my boutique of choice was open and ready for me. I walked in to Ann Von H’s, not looking for anything in particular when the very first thing to strike me (hit me like a ton of bricks), was what appeared to be a cropped, crinkled, leather, intriguingly buttoned blazer.

Damn.

The price tag was outlandish. The owner and her cohort in crime begged me to try it on. I politely refused. I had 4 bottles of wine after all…what else did I need today.

Apparently I needed a cropped, crinkled, faux-leather, outrageously and insanely-priced blazer.

Hmmmmmmmph. It fit nice. It fit cool. It said, “take me I’m yours.” So I said, “OK.” They told me to pick a plastic egg from anywhere in the store. In the spirit of Easter and Spring and Renewal, and Discounts, I was happy to get a break of any kind on this overpriced-what-the-hell-am-I-thinking blazer….

I opened the egg, pulled out the ticket, which read, and I kid you not: “25 cents off.”

Huh?

I was insulted. Had it not been for a very important meeting this week (to which this blazer would be donned), I would have laughed at them, scoffed at their audacity to be so insulting (I mean, c’mon – 25 cents??? Are you freakin’ kiddin' me? For a blazer that costs 3 figures? You couldn’t give me $5.00 off at the very least?)

And then I placed the blazer right back on the rack.

Well, I considered it anyway.

But I couldn’t do it. Instead we looked at each other and with our eyes and body language, we let them know exactly how childish and insulting their little egg game was.

We left Little Italy after that – I was pretty pleased with my over-the-moon cool and overpriced blazer but somehow felt really annoyed about the 25 cent discount – I mean – seriously – I thought it was a joke – but quickly realized April Fool’s was long gone and Easter was approaching – hence the plastic eggs. My friend kindly reminded me that I was going to buy the blazer regardless of the contents of the speckled egg.

It’s a cool friggin’ blazer!

On the way home, we stopped at Gallucci’s. Mama Galluci had just packaged some of her homemade sauce and took us right to it. I managed to pick up her Alfredo Sauce, Ravioli and Manicotti too. Talk about sensuous aromas! On the way out, fresh baked – (seriously) just out of the oven – pepperoni bread was mine for the taking – so I partook!

It was a very good day in Little Italy. A great place to spend with your friends and family. A great place to meet new people and enjoy new things.

And today it was back to work – a very busy, stressful week for me so I’m grateful for fun weekends and friends and family that I get to spend them with.

I count my blessings every day. As we all know – things could be better and things could be worse. Much worse.

As my cousin says, “make it a great day!”

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Chinese Fortune Cookie:

Why be in sitting when you can be outstanding?!