Not a phrase that has instilled fear into too many people over the years, granted, but right now I’m terrified. My wife’s cousins are on their way, eight of them, and it’s down to me to organise a Langhe-filled few days for them.
So far, all our visitors have been English or American. They’re easy to entertain. For a start, they’re in Italy so they are already excited. Then they’re blown away by the beauty of the area, by the food, the wine, the weather. Walks through the vines, trips to the market, a worker’s lunch (a cheap lunch deal that can be found at a lot of restaurants), everything is exciting.
Not so the Italians. They’ve grown up visiting Cinque Terre and Venice on weekends, they’ve been drinking great wine since they were ten years old and going to the market is nothing more than an inconvenience.
And then there’s the food. The Langhe claims to have the best food in all of Italy, which in turn basically means the best food in the world. But these guys have grown up eating their mother’s food. And as anyone who has ever met an Italian (particularly a male) knows, their mother’s food simply cannot be beaten.
Wish me luck. This is going to be a long long-weekend.
Living in the Langhe 
Good luck! Maybe they’ll just be so happy to see your wife that they’ll be happy about everything else too?! 😉
Let’s hope so! I’m sure it will all be fine. Maybe we’ll just fill them with wine so that they can’t remember whether or not they enjoyed it!
That always works!
I have the same problem when my French in-Laws come: my idea of a festive mean is what they turn out for a quick weektime lunch. Give them all a bit of DIY to do, and suggest that they show you how to cook their favourite meals 🙂 I’m sure you’ll have a great weekend!
Ooh, putting them to work, now there’s an idea! They get to show off how great they are at all things Italian and I get to sit back and drink wine. You’re a genius!
Glad to be of service. If the Italians are anything like the French, they’ll love to show you how clever they are 🙂
Sounds like they are exactly like the French… It’s a great idea!
oops, “meal”, not “mean”.
oh dio. auguri!
You can do the catering if you like Shira!!
Yes get them to work and have a meal or go totally wild and cook a curry!! Get them to do the poppadums x
A curry is a really good idea. We could make it super spicy, that would keep them quiet for a while! 🙂
Their mother’s food? Some of them, maybe, but most of them by a cook. But, having been one of their parents generation in similar position, I am sure they will simply love it! B
It’s all about the food!! 😉
I’m sure your Italian will improve….right? Hell I’d just hit the prosecco- Good Luck!
Food and prosecco sounds pretty good… And you’re right, it should be good for my language skills. My head is going to be spinning by Sunday!
Perhaps, they will cook for YOU!!!!!!!!!
You can but hope… Maybe I’ll keep dropping hints about all the great Italian food that I don’t know how to cook!
Keep your chin up and their glasses and plates full and you will be fine! 🙂
Sounds like good advice! Though looking at the other comments here, it should be them keeping my plate full!
Good luck and have fun. I’m with Multifarious in putting the cousins to work. I’m sure they’d be happy about it.
Thanks! I’m definitely going to take all this advice about putting them to work. We’ll go to a local market and then they can impress us with their cooking skills!
I hope you’re going to let us know how this worked out…..
But of course! We’re one day in now and it’s all going ok so far. I plan to put them to work picking cachi later today!
I am one of the 8 Italian cousins. We were 9, actually: they forgot the 2-year-old child. This blog’s author did not cook, in the end, and we did not pick any cachi. Apart from this, everything was great: we loved the place, the house, and everything they organised for us. Thank you!
Ciao Elena! I’m glad you had a good weekend, we really enjoyed having you all here! And no I didn’t cook, the Italians did! 🙂 Sadly, I have to pick the cachi all by myself today though…
Oh right, I haven’t missed part 1…I’m just a bit stupido! lol
But I still want so truffles…..actually they would be divine shaved over the roast chicken I have in the oven right now, I’ll keep on dreaming
Haha… to be fair, I didn’t make it clear that the previous part was part 1 (mainly because I didn’t know at the time it was going to be part one!)
Roast chicken with truffle, nice!
So it’s ten years old for wine in Italy? Is that also true in France? My son is keen to go to France because he wants to try wine and (long story short) I promised that if we went to France we would follow local customs. He’s five now. Just wondering what my dangerous window is (10 to thirteen??).
Haha… I said ten but then I saw my two year-old nephew dipping his finger in his father’s wine at every opportunity and forever asking for more. He loves the stuff! So I think two may actually be the cut-off point in Italy. So your window of danger is probably two and up… hope that helps! 😉
Oh dear, two? Well, it does help.. but I think I might have to put off that trip to France for a few years then. I was thinking I would get in early before the danger period but it seems I might already be in it! 🙂
I think you’re always in it unfortunately… my wife is pregnant and still being encouraged to drink wine, so they start them on it before they are even born!
I’m just going to head over to read the second part of this but hope it wasn’t as intimidating as it sounds like it could’ve been.
You probably know by now, but it wasn’t too intimidating after all. I listened to everyone’s advice on here and made them do the cooking!
That is the most brilliant idea ever. I’m going to have to use that someday when I have a bunch of intimidating guests!
It’s the one and only way to guarantee they won’t pass comment on the the food! 😉