Blog-tober - On Recommendations

Dinner was held at a local Mexican. I hadn't been there for years, but I have fond memories of the place. Jonella suggested going there  - she and her boyfriend, Tadhg, were going to take me out for a belated birthday. The restaurant we were going to go to was booked out, but we still decided on dinner at this cheap and cheerful place that doesn't do a bad enchilada.

It was good to see Tadhg again - I haven't seen him since he went on his epic six week trip around Europe. It was his first trip out of Australia. Jonella said he had a wonderful trip, but I wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. It was only a few month ago that we'd be talking about his trip and he was asking for recommendations for places to go. He and his travelling companion weren't planning on going to Spain, but I threw some names of places in Italy, France and England at him.

I found out tonight that there is such a thing as too much Mexican food. It creeps up on you.

Over our entree nachos, Tadhg was telling me about some highlights of the trip. I asked for his top five moments - anybody who's travelled knows that you can't find the top three moments from a six week trip.

Tadhg mentioned a few places in the Czech Republic and the Swiss Alps before he started on about Tuscany.

"I love Tuscany," I told him. I've only been there once, but I really want to go back.
"So did we." enthused Tadhg.

He went on to tell how they circumvented Rome to stay on in their town, drinking local wine and eating pizza.

"Yeah, we stayed outside this town. Loved it. Gorgeous."
"What was it called?" I asked.
"Ah, we couldn't say the name properly. We just called it San Jimmy Jimmy."
"Not San Gimignano?"
"Yeah, that's it. Glorious place. One of the highlights of the trip."
"I bet. It's my favourite town in Tuscany."
"You say that well. We had to call it San Jimmy Jimmy."

The penny dropped a few minutes later.

"We had a conversation a few months ago. You were looking for recommendations. I gave you that one."
"Ah! We were wondering how we lucked out on this place. Thank you."

I love it when a recommendation works out.

How can you not love a place that looks like this?

It appears that Jonella and Tadhg will be coming over for dinner and viewing of "Tea with Mussolini" in the near future. It's the film that sent me there in the first place, back in the late nineties.

I'm just chuffed that somebody took me up on a recommendation and was thrilled with the result.