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Lately, it seems as though all the major events in my life have something to do with food. This is probably not a good thing, considering I'm already overweight; but it's just the way things have worked out recently. xp

Last night, I went to a retirement dinner for my co-worker Sharron Johnson. It took place at an Italian restaurant called Giuseppe's, and was one of the best-attended work-related dinners I can remember, occupying two large tables at the back of the restaurant. It seemed as though almost everyone in my department was there, along with several people from other areas of Colonial Williamsburg. The group was so large we had two waitresses, one for each table (and it seemed to me that the second table got faster service: I waited half an hour before our waitress finally took my order).

I'm not an expert on Italian food. My knowledge pretty much stops at spaghetti and meatballs, and pizza (if that counts, and I guess it does, since there were multiple varieties on the menu). So when confronted with a lengthy list divided into seafood pasta, meat pasta, vegetarian pasta, and risotto, I didn't have any idea where to begin. I ended up ordering the "Ravioli Carnivori", under the mistaken impression that all the various meats listed in the description were in the ravioli and that it would be a reasonably sized, easy-to-eat entrée. I was wrong. When my plate arrived, it contained four enormous round pieces of ravioli swimming in tomato sauce, and the sauce itself was filled with pieces of sausage and ham. It was way, way too much, and I arrived home feeling extremely bloated and tired. Dessert was out of the question.

Today, I had free ice cream. The Historic Area Division had its annual Ice Cream Social behind Shield's Tavern, so I stopped by towards the end of my lunch break. I wasn't concerned with the "social" aspect of it, since I see these people every day; all I cared about was the ice cream. I had peppermint. It was very good, and it was a lot more satisfying than paying $16 for that mammoth plate of pasta.