The Romeos met again for lunch this month on 10-20-10 at 12 noon at the I Pazzi Restaurant, 50 Maple St., Danvers, MA. You can see the menu and other info at the link below….. http://www.ipazzirestaurant.com/The Romeos in attendance were Mark Ryan, Paul Girard, Joe Lapiana, Joe Loduca, Joe Pignatiello, Ed DeSchuytner, Jim Terlizzi, John Tweedie and Peter Gabriel. You can see some photos of the group at the link below…….. http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/Romeo102010#
Parking was limited on the main street to only one hour so we all found off street public parking a short distance away. As soon as we all had arrived the waitress gave us menus and placed homemade bread on the table with small dishes of oil and vinegar for dipping.
We ordered a couple bottles of red wine and the waitress poured a little in some glasses. We then raised our glasses in a toast to Joe Balsama who had passed away this week unexpectedly. We then all reminisced about all the fun times we had when Joe told his stories with a funny but dry humor. Joe’s wife said that he always talked about the Romeos and they were a big part of his life.
The lunch menu was limited with some appetizers, salads and a few pasta dishes. However, everything was made special, cooked to perfection. Some ordered salad with mussels, or tuna, Caesar or house. Others ordered the Panini chicken sandwich or Ravioli.
Everything was delicious and very filling. After, we had coffee and cappuccino and dessert. We ordered a few desserts and spoons to pass around. The main desserts were Tiramisu and Panna Cotta.
The conversation was lively and the topics varied around the table. We talked about politics and the misinformation that you get in the political TV ads and also from the phone calls. Everyone accusing everyone else but no one have a plan to fix the economy and unemployment.
Paul mentioned that there was a cigar shop a few stores down which started a conversation between a few cigar smokers (Joe Lap, John T. and Paul). The ice cream store next stored tried to petition an ordinance to not allow smoking within 50 feet but lost. The ice cream store now plays loud music out to the sidewalk to deter customers.
We then talked about dental care and Jim said he switched a few dentists since they were trying to influence him to have unnecessary expensive dental work. I then told a funny story about getting some dental work done at the Brighton Marine Hospital when I was 18 and went to Maine Maritime Academy. I got there on the bus and train in 1966. I had not been to the dentist for years. I needed 11 fillings and had two wisdom teeth pulled and plenty of nova cane in one sitting. After, I took the bus home to Chelsea and half way there the drugs wore off. The next day, I was due back at Maine Maritime in Castine, Maine. There had been a huge snow storm and the only way I could get there was to hitch hike. My father drove me to Portsmouth, NH and I thumbed the rest of the way. The following day, we were out to sea on the school ship; a 300 ft hospital ship; and my gums were throbbing to beat the band. We were on a 3 month training cruise to South America. Those were the worst days of my life. Smelling the salt air, ready to vomit because of the rocking boat and my gums swelled up like Popeye. However, things got better in a few days and I learned a lot about working on a ship and the sailors life.
The conversation then switched to the latest round of murders in the newspaper and whether the guilty should get the death penalty or life in prison. Everyone had an opinion from swift revenge killing to incarceration. Ed D. said that he was out in Arizona recently and they have a privatized prison system there were the state pays $42,000 a year for each prisoner. That way they do not have the cost of upkeep of state prison buildings nor do they have to pay state prison workers.
We next talked about legalizing marijuana. Again the opinions ran from yes to no and that it was a drug that can be misused. However, California has legalized medicinal marijuana and seems to be doing ok. Maybe if it were legal it would reduce the drug traffic across the Mexican Border States.
The time went by quickly and it was 2:30 PM before we knew it. We paid the bill and then decided on a date and place to meet next month.
Comments and suggestions always welcome: markryan82@comcast.net
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