I've had amazing gelato, and coffee. Some incredible cheese and fried squid and sausage made from suckling pig (I know you don't eat pork, but trust me, it was smack-your-momma good).

I might have gone a little overboard today buying some new spices- I swear I can spend all day at the supermarket. I especially love the one in our neighborhood that brings in ingredients straight from the island. I get to walk the aisles and pick up herbs and peppers from all over the world, thinking of all the ways to remix my favorite dishes.

The kindnessof a stranger, simply because she sees in ussomething worthy of this small gift.

.....parents her as best as I canbefore she becomes one. & I remember I have none.

This whole time she's swallowed her words like bitter pillsnot realizing they were slow-drip poison.

If I were on firewho could I count on to water me down?If I were a pile of ashes who could I count on to gather me in a pretty urn?If I were nothing but dust would anyone chase the wind trying to piece me back together?

It's wild to miss someone so much, and yet in order to care for them you have to constantly say goodbye.

And I'm not the type to believe "everything is a sign" or whatever, but when so many parts of my life all point in one direction... it's hard not to follow the arrows.

As to your last assignment, I did make up a recipe inspired by my name. Although Julio has told me before it means "faith," I don't think I understood why my mother might have wanted to name me that until this year. And so I decided to make a remix of flambé shrimp à la Emoni, because what better way to take a leap of faith than to set something on fire and trust it will not only come out right, but that it will be completely delicious?

Because her hands will be scraped raw from work but she still folds them to pray.