A Mangiarsi il Figato

And then Summer rolls around, slowly, the days start getting warmer, you start stripping off the layers of clothing that have been covering you for months, your skin starts glowing with periodic sun kisses and I get the gang together to have dinner before everyone takes off on holidays and Barcelona becomes a ghost town.

This year's event was Italian, pizzas, Lambrusco and togetherness. I can't stress how wonderful it is to have a table full of your favorite people, your neighbor and her beautiful daughters, Cyrus paying a last visit before Julia takes off to DC, Susanna about to become a mother...all of us eating, laughing and living.

Of course, the main attraction was Susanna's immense belly but little did we know that there was competition in the group. Yes, Alex our friend has a monster of his own growing inside, but this is no little Gerard, let me tell you. We laughed hysterically at the comparison of these two and bid each other farewell, because in Barcelona you bid each other farewell at the end of July since chances are you won't see each other for the next month.

After three years of living in this city, I still can't get used to the fact that everyone takes their holidays very seriously and the city becomes a ghost town, shops close down, restaurants become non-existent and suddenly you are left friendless since everyone goes to their summer homes, on their cruises and escapades. And like a good citizen of Catalunya, I am packing my own bags and heading to Formentera and closing down shop for a few weeks.