's motd Friday April 1, 2011

[Guest guest]

WITH LOVE FROM

MARCO

Friday, 01 April 2011

I've been visiting the beautiful

city of Venice, Italy for a very long time. My first

trip there was back when I attended college in

Florence, Italy. I took a train from Florence over to

Venice one day. The minute I stepped off the train, I

took a taxi to Venice's historic St. Mark's Square.

From there, I toured much of the city on foot. What

a pleasure. Venice reminded me a bit of New

Orleans with its quaint, narrow streets, like my

hometown's French Quarter. And the architecture, oh!

It was so interesting. You could see and feel

the history everywhere!

One of my favorite places to eat

in Venice was a little pizza restaurant near one of

the city's big cathedrals. There were tables and

chairs outside and bright yellow umbrellas covered

every table. The name of the restaurant was With

Love From Marco.

Years later, every time I took a trip to Venice, a

visit to my now favorite pizza restaurant in the world

was on my itinerary. The crust wasn't too thin, it

wasn't too thick...it was just right! Marco made a

homemade sauce and his parmesan cheese was unlike any

I'd ever tasted. You won't find Marco's

parmesan cheese in your local supermarket. And by the

way, his wife made their mozzarella cheese herself!

Since my early days of visiting the restaurant, Marco,

the original owner has retired. The restaurant is now

run by his son and grandson. And, I'm happy to

report, the pizza is just as good as ever!

About three years ago, I went back

to Venice and had some pizza with Marco's son and

grandson. We remain friends and I try to get an

E-mail off to them a couple of times a year just to

say hello. Well, a month-or-so ago, I had a phone

conversation with , Marco's son. wanted to

know if I might be interested in opening their

very first With Love From Marco pizza restaurant here

in Los Angeles. I thought about 's proposal for

a few days and ended up saying to myself..."Why

not?! Americans love pizza and authentic Italian

pizza would be a big hit here in Los Angeles!"

Well, the deal's all set. and his son will be

sending weekly shipments of prepared dough, tomatoes

and of course their one-of-a-kind cheeses from Italy

to me here in Los Angeles. I can't wait!

In fact, I've already found a great location, halfway

between my house and Slimmons. I have to go and sign

the lease this afternoon. If my own Marco's does well

here in Los Angeles, who knows? I may decide to

branch out and open stores all over the country. And

if that happens, maybe some of you can even come work

with me. You know how much we all love pizza, right?

Wouldn't it be fun?!

I've already calculated the

calories in Marco's pizza and it comes out to only

about 750 calories-per-slice. Not bad, huh? And oh

yeah, one other thing to tell you about Marco's

fabulous pizza and that is...HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S

DAY!

LOL.

Hey, if it weren't April Fool's Day and you

actually thought I was serious about all this, I'd

have you load me up in a wagon and drop me off at the

nearest institution. LOL!

Have fun today and stay away from

those pizza parlors!

Love,