Those
who follow Food in the Streets on facebook know that I
participated (again) to Restaurant Day. After all the fun of the preparations,
yesterday finally was the big day in which I could receive my guests and let
them enjoy my so famous apple pie. It was a very cool experience that I want to
share with you. I hope that you get so enthusiastic that you will be there the
next time too!
The
preparations for the one-day event started already at the end of last year. I
felt like organizing something related to my interest for food, people and
cities and thought a second participation to Restaurant Day might be a good
reason to do so. Besides that, the event is not very known yet in Italy. I am sure that with support from people that believe
in the idea that food is the perfect tool to bring people together, the
Restaurant Day could grow big here as well.
The idea
to make a Dutch style apple pie was born immediately after that. It is one of
my favourite pies, easy to make and usually appreciated by the ones who eat it.
The only thing that was left to do, was make sure that the number of visitors
increased or, actually, at least doubled compared to my first participation. So
as soon as the new year had taken off, I started to fill my facebook page with teasers that would convince my followers
to come. It seemed all to go well with about six reservations, both from
friends as from ‘strangers’.
As
promoted by myself, I made the pie a day before, so that all the flavours could
absorb. On the day itself, the only thing left was making my house ready,
buying flowers, take out the best crockery set available and wait for the
visitors to come. To me this is always the most exciting moment. Will they come
or not?
About an
hour after the starting time of the opening of my ‘restaurant’, the doorbell
rang. Two enthusiastic Finnish girls were so brave to conquer the rainy afternoon
and come over to my place to enjoy a cup of tea. While we were all enjoying a
piece of apple pie we had a good chat about living in another country than the
one you’re born and grown-up in. It was
good fun, but I guess all four of us were wondering whether the doorbell would
ring again.
Time passed
by until it was about six o’clock, closing time for this one-day restaurant. Silently
disappointed by the people not showing up I decided to give the girls two pieces of pie to bring to their partners. What did go wrong? Was it my pie, is
it the Italians that have other activities on Sunday or what?
Although
I am disappointed by the low number of visitors I decided that it is too early
to give up on Restaurant Day in Italy. An event like this needs promoters that convince
others to follow them. Next time I’ll hook up with a friend, go outdoors and
see if it works out that way. You’ll now as you continue following me.
The next
Restaurant Day will be held on Saturday the 17th of May. Check their website
to read how easy it is to open your own restaurant for a day.
