Juliet combines Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet with a modern adventurous mystery. A major twist to the story is the "real" Romeo & Juliet that inspired Shakespeare actually took place in Siena, not Verona. I had a blast using this novel to create an Italian themed night. When researching I discovered Anne Fortier is actually from the Netherlands, and English is her second language. She loves to travel with her mother, and their favorite destination is Siena. When Anne came up with the idea, her mother went back to Siena and took pictures to help inspire Anne through her writing. I had some of them developed and put the quote on the back for the ladies to look through. I printed off quotes from Romeo & Juliet and made them into bookmarks. The kitchen was decorated with sunflowers and roses - both featured in the book. I made a box of treats for the ladies to take home - cookies inspired from Siena and some Bacci (Italian chocolate/hazelnut kisses). I also included a skeleton key, wooden cross, and small canvas with paintbrush. All of these items have special significance to the story!
Now for the food... This was fun! I researched dishes specific to Siena. Normally my Italian cooking is definitely southern influenced, but I switched gears and went with a more northern, Tuscany approach. This region likes beans, and not much pasta. There's great farmland, including vineyards known for sauvignon. this means lots of nuts and fruits. I decided to make a cheese platter and made a bread called pan co' santi to go with it. This bread is made each fall with dried fruit and nuts, and raisins are the "saints" that rise during baking - yummy! For drink, I showed the ladies how to make Italian cream soda, and I had a wine drink (used a Tuscan wine, made less than 20 miles from Siena). For the meal, I made ribolita (one of the characters in the book enjoys a bowl), along with panzenella (bread salad), zucchini & lemon salad (to lighten things up!), and I created an eggplant roll. I absolutely love eggplant, so I had to serve it some way. I decided to grill slices, and then stuff with mozzarella and bruschetta. I top the rolls with some more cheese, breadcrumbs, and a drizzle of olive oil. I let it bake for about 20 min. The eggplant proved to be the favorite dish - I'll make anyone love eggplant! Finally for dessert, I served a Moscato, along with bicsotti, two cookies I made ahead of time, panforte, and gelato. So the two cookies are also favorites in Siena, and one just happens to be gluten-free. The first is called cavallucci, or horsemen cookies, because they used to be stamped with a horse character in the middle. They are a enjoyed during Siena's famous Palio races. These cookies are dense with dried fruit and nuts - kind of similar to the bread. The other cookie was my favorite and is the gluten-free. Cantucci are light shortbread cookies made with almond flour and dusted with powdered sugar. The panforte has quite a history. It dates all the way back to the 1200s and was know as the cake for nobles. It's a honey cake again made with dried fruit and nuts. Now that I know how delicious and easy it is to make... it's going to be made again & soon! Finally, we had to have gelato. I mean, how can you celebrate all thing Italy without some gelato?!? Turns out one of the ladies had never tried it - I hope I made a believer out of her about this delicious version of creamier ice cream.
We had an interesting discussion about the book. I found some questions from Oprah Book Lists. I also had a How Well Do You Know Siena quiz that we all took together. Out of the 10 questions, we only got 5 right! We made a date to go see Girl on the Train movie in October, and picked our next book. We decided to go with a scary one - fun to read during the month of October. Karen will be hosting this one in November. I would say this has been a fun way to celebrate our Book Club 1st birthday! Any many more readings and gatherings in the years to come!
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