How Pecora Nera wooed Mrs Sensible or a Valentines Post ♥ ♥♥

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Mrs Sensible is often asked why she married me, this normally happens when her friends notice I am wearing my beloved flip-flops, instead of some very expensive designed shoes. Today I will tell you how I met Mrs Sensible.

Nice but I l prefer my flip flops

Nice but I l prefer my flip flops

On Monday 17th February 2003 * I walked into Maso Italian Restaurant in Sheffield and guess who our waitress was, none other than the beautiful Mrs Sensible. I was dinning with friends from work and so I was on my best behavior.  The food was great, but I hardly noticed the grilled salmon with king prawns, followed by pana cotta or the glass of tobato that accompanied the meal, because I infatuated with our waitress.

So infatuated, that I returned the following day to the restaurant and ordered peppered steak with a side salad of greens, gelato for desert and of course a glass of tobato. The delightful Mrs Sensible was once again my waitress. As I dreamily gazed across the restaurant and watched Mrs Sensible clear a table or serve somebody else, I decided to ask her out on a date, maybe not tonight but definitely as soon as I had plucked up enough courage. … The following night was a complete disaster, the food as always was wonderful, the wine was great and the owner introduced me to the pleasure of Grappa, but  Mrs Sensible was nowhere to be seen, it was her day off .

Sorry Pecora Nera, Mrs Sensible is washing her hair.

Pecora Nera is devastated that Mrs S in not working

Over the following three weeks I managed to accomplish a number of things, 1) I had eaten every possible combination of dishes from the menu. 2) I had worked out the staff rota and booked a table only when I knew Mrs sensible was working. 3) I almost plucked up enough courage to ask her out.

Eventually I asked Mrs S out on a date, as I waited with bated breath for her reply, she told me it wasn’t possible as she needed to wash her hair.

Mrs Sensible at home washing her hair

Mrs Sensible at home washing her hair

Later that week I tried again and asked her to come for a meal with some friends of mine, she didn’t know that I had asked my friend to arrange the meal with the sole purpose of inviting Mrs S. The meal was great, the wine was fantastic and as I sat talking with my friends, Mrs S was sat at her house, once again washing her hair……   I knew this situation could not continue. Eating at Maso Restaurant 3 to 4 times a week was playing havoc with my bank balance and my waist line.

One evening Mrs S told me she was flying back to Sicily, nice I said, when are you going and more importantly when will you return? She told me she was leaving at the end of the month and she didn’t think she would return…….. I had less than thirty days to woo Mrs Sensible and the clock was ticking.

Pecora Nera had 30 days to woo Mrs Sensible

Pecora Nera had 27 days to woo Mrs Sensible

When Mrs S brought me my glass of grappa, I once again asked her to go out for a meal with me, I explained that she was leaving in less than 27 days and taking her for a meal was just my way of saying goodbye. Amazingly Mrs S agreed, she told me she missed pizza cooked in a wood fired oven, if I could find a pizzeria that has a wood fired oven she would eat there with me.

A proper pizza oven

A proper pizza oven

Over the next 24 hours I phoned every pizzeria in Sheffield and Rotherham. Everyone said, no we use gas / electric but our pizza is great. I widened my search to include Leeds, Chesterfield, Barnsley, York, Hull and Grimsby all to no avail. In desperation I drove to Maso and told Mario about my quest. He laughed and laughed and laughed some more.  As we shared a bottle of Ichnusa (one of the finest bottled beers) he explained that wood burning pizza ovens are illegal in the UK and Mrs Sensible knew!

I wore out many

Have you any idea, how many Pizzerias there are in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Linconshire, that don’t have wood burning ovens?

Appealing to Mrs Sensible’s better nature, I declared the quest null and void and told her she had cheated. Eventually with 25 days before she flew home, I managed to convinced Mrs S to have a meal with me at a fantastic traditional Italian restaurant. I explained that all the staff were Italian and although the ovens were gas-fired, the food was wonderful.

Finally after three months of wooing Mrs Sensible we were finally on our first date, as Mrs Sensible talked to the waiter in Italian, I ask my dad to pass the wine. I caught the tail end of the waiters conversation with Mrs S, it went something like this “ no no I am Spaniard, the owner is Spanish, we are all Spanish, the food is Italian but we are all Spaniards.

Did I forget to mention that Mrs Sensible brought a chaperon to the restaurant and I had to phone my dad to see if he would make up a foursome……

* Mrs Sensible told me the date.

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47 thoughts on “How Pecora Nera wooed Mrs Sensible or a Valentines Post ♥ ♥♥”

  1. Pingback: The search for sex in Italy: 6 Italian slang sayings. | Married to Italy

  2. I am with “Mrs sensible” and friends !! Love the shoes …flip flops are a no no. Unless you are in the sun and on the beach .. Now I am wondering what Mrs Sensible was doing in Sheffield !!!!! 🙂

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    • Hi Anni, to answer your question Mrs Sensible decided to emigrate to cold rainy Sheffield, she was fed up with the chaos of Italy. Little did she know she would marry a mad Englishman who would drag her kicking and screaming back to Italy

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      • Hilarious!!!! Never heard of anyone emigrating to Sheffield .. ..Hmmmm Italy versus Sheffield that is a no brainer!!! ! I wouldn’t kick and scream …I would be first to the airport ..bags packed and off!!! 😄

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        • Mrs S thought that after living in Italy for 18 months, I would get the Italian thing out of my system and want to fly back to Sunny Sheffield. Hang on, let me sit down before I spill my glass of wine from laughing….

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          • Just choked on my tea!! Just thought though, I would be kicking and screaming !!- kicking every thing out of my way and screaming “I am off to Italy” . I have family in Italy ..cousin in Grado , her son near Verona and her daughter near Monza . ..Not English cousins ..Maltese and Italian. ..Stay!!!

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            • Anni, I am English but by some strange feat of fate I was born in Malta. Occasionally I use the excuse ‘that I am making my way south to my roots in Malta’ as my excuse for putting up with the madness of Italy. I don’t say this too often as I have found out it is dangerous to my health

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              • Born in Malta!! II am British but my dad, grandfather and great grandfather and my grandmother’s were all born in Malta … I always say I feel the pull to my roots ..well my dad’s side . . Strange that I should mention Malta too.

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  3. Pingback: Searching for San Valentino | Unwilling Expat

  4. Aw. That was so sweet – and it’s something to get MM to admit that she found something romantic. I’m a tough cookie. Mrs Sensible know that you should never accept a date straight away. She did however beat all odds for the number of refusals, even if she no doubt had lovely shiny hair for that first date. I love the idea of chaperones – very E.M Forster. I now have visions of Mrs S with a lace parasol and a corset, whilst you twiddle your moustache and play nervously with your watch chain.

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  5. Lovely post PN. So romantic! And so lovely of Mrs. S to remind you of the exact date.
    We have a lot in common, you and I, as I was reminded during a conversation last week with my sister that I remain the “pecora nera” of my family as I’m following my roots back to Italy. Of course she never knew we were even a tiny bit Italian but thanks to Ancestry.com and their DNA test I’ve discovered that we are 10 % Italian and the research shows I have ancestors all over Italy but mostly in Friuli-Venezia Guilia,,,,and although it was way back in the 13th century maybe that accounts for my love of Venice.
    Yes, I hope to be dealing with the madness that is Italy eventually. Can’t be much worse than the madness that is the US. Just a different kind of madness.
    I wish you well in your continuing adventures!

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    • Mrs S has a 100 terabyte memory, she only needs to be told once and it is stored in her head for ever, unfortunately I only have a 8 megabyte memory and I have to constantly dump useless information such as, birthdays, shopping lists, what I am supposed to be doing etc

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    • Hi , I have not often commented on “pecora Nera” but I do follow his blog. Quite a few coincidences in his and your reply. I mentioned that my Dad’s side are Maltese and Percora Nera , said he was born there.. and you have followed your roots to Friuli-Venezia-Guillia and that is where my cousin from Malta lives. I adore Italy , it is definitely in my blood , even though it comes via Malta 🙂

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  11. I smiled the whole way through reading this! I could imagine you calling all the pizzerias in town to see who uses wood ovens! I’m so impressed about what you did to show you cared for Mrs. S.! I too (like other comments here) hope that you’ll post a “Parte Due” to share how you got to Sicily from the Spanish/Italian restaurant! And also at what point in the story Telecom Italia came into the picture…
    Grazie di avermi fatto sorridere!

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      • It’s a big selling point since we have a multitude of pizza places (you would think it was an American invention)…..most of them you would do just as well buying them in a box, frozen at the “super mercato”….but there are some good ones.
        I have a coupon ….but it expires Friday.
        I’ll probably be living in Italy before you make it my way. Hopefully unless you are planning a trip to Seattle in the next four years.

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  15. Pecora you left the story hanging just a bit. Did Mrs s return to Italy and then come back to GB where you continued to woo her. You did not say how long the wooing went on before the two of you made the plunge into matrimony. Your wife must be a beautiful woman and you are lucky to call her your wife.

    I am just remembering that I think you had asked me a question about your cat and I never answered the question, at least I don’t remember. Please tell me if the problem with the cat has been resolved.

    ~yvonne

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