Contents

PROLOGUE—Venice, 1989

1. Signora, the Telephone Is for You

2. There’s a Venetian in My Bed

3. Why Shouldn’t I Go and Live on the Fringes of an Adriatic Lagoon with a Blueberry-Eyed Stranger?

4. Did It Ever Happen to You?

5. Savonarola Could Have Lived Here

6. If I Could Give Venice to You for a Single Hour, It Would Be This Hour

7. That Lush Moment Just Before Ripeness

8. Everyone Cares How They Are Judged

9. Have You Understood that These Are the Earth’s Most Beautiful Tomatoes?

10. I Knew a woman, I Knew a Men

11. Ah, Cara Mia, in Six Months Everything Can Change in Italy

12. A White Wool Dress Flounced in Twelve Inches of Mongolian Lamb

13. Here Comes the Bride

14. I Just Wanted to Surprise You

15. The Return of Mr. Quicksilver

16. Ten Red Tickets

FOOD FOR A STRANGER— Recipes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS