Best Not To Know

I don't know what the protocol for cooking Italian food for study abroad students is, but I think I've started to figure it out.

~ First week: Serve them food that they expect. Lots of pasta, tomato sauces, bread, cheese. They will fall in love with the food and will expect good things from then on.

~ Second week: Serve one course of food that they expect (still the pasta, cheese, bread) but throw in a few unexpected, but good surprises. Make them wonder if they really know what "Italian food" is. Confuse them even more by throwing in a Chinese appetizer one night. It's sure to cause a sensation.

~ Third week: Start serving them things they really wonder about. Serve lots and lots of fish of all kinds, especially kinds where they wonder if it's cooked or raw. To top things off serve them a whole dinner of fried "things". Fry enough things that look strange that they don't even want to know what it is they are eating. You know you've done your job when one girl turns to the other, asks what they are eating, but then thinks better of it and decides she doesn't really want to know until after it's gone. If at all possible, spy on the girls when they go back to the room to see if either of them happen to look up pictures on the internet of all the fried creatures they just consumed and then wish they hadn't looked at all.