《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 34 (73):在意大利的感恩節大綱

It is odd, then, that Luca would want to use this birthday to celebrate an American Thanksgiving, given these circumstances, but I do like the idea of it. Thanksgiving is a nice holiday, something an American can freely be proud of, our one national festival that has remained relatively uncommodified. It's a day of grace and thanks and community and—yes—pleasure. It might be what we all need right now.

因此在這個情況下，盧卡想利用他的生日來慶祝美國的感恩節可是件怪事，但我確實喜歡這個點子。感恩節是很棒的節日，讓美國人引以爲傲的節日，我國尚未廢棄的一個節慶日。這是感恩、歡聚以及快樂的日子。或許正是我們每個人現在所需要的東西。

My friend Deborah has come to Rome from Philadelphia for the weekend, to celebrate the holiday with me. Deborah's an internationally respected psychologist, a writer and a feminist theorist, but I still think of her as my favorite regular customer, back from the days when I was a diner waitress in Philly and she would come in for lunch and drink Diet Coke with no ice and say clever things to me over the counter. She really classed up that joint. We've been friends now for over fifteen years. Sofie will be coming to Luca's party, too. Sofie and I have been friends for about fifteen weeks. Everybody is always welcome on Thanksgiving. Especially when it also happens to be Luca Spaghetti's birthday.

我的朋友黛博拉從費城來羅馬度週末，和我一同過節。黛博拉是享譽國際的心理學家、作家兼女性主義理論家。但她在我心目中仍是我最喜愛的常客，打從我在費城擔任餐廳服務員的時候，她常來吃午飯，喝不加冰塊的健怡可樂，和櫃檯後面的我談論機智的東西。她確實提高了那家小餐廳的格調。我們是交往十五年多的朋友。蘇菲也會參加盧卡的生日派對。蘇菲和我是交往十五個禮拜的朋友。在感恩節的時候，每個人都受到歡迎。尤其碰巧還是盧卡的生日。

We drive out of tired, stressed-out Rome late in the evening, up into the mountains. Luca loves American music, so we're blasting the Eagles and singing "Take it . . . to the limit . . . one more time!!!!!!" which adds an oddly Californian sound track to our drive through olive groves and ancient aqueducts. We arrive at the house of Luca's old friends Mario and Simona, parents of the twin twelve-year-old girls Giulia and Sara. Paolo—a friend of Luca's whom I'd met before at soccer games—is there, too, along with his girlfriend. Of course, Luca's own girlfriend, Giuliana, is there, as well, having driven up earlier in the evening. It's an exquisite house, hidden away in a grove of olive and clementine and lemon trees. The fireplace is lit. The olive oil is homemade.

我們晚上開車離開疲乏緊張的羅馬，進入山區。盧卡喜歡美國音樂，因此我們大聲播放老鷹合唱團的歌曲，高唱“Take the more!!!!!!”（再一次到達極限），爲我們開車穿越橄欖樹叢和水道古橋的時候，添加某種奇特的加州音樂。我們抵達盧卡的老友馬里奧和席莫娜的家，他們有一對十二歲的雙胞胎女兒茱莉亞和莎拉。保羅——盧卡的朋友，我們曾在足球賽上見過面——也來了，帶來他的女朋友。當然，盧卡自己的女朋友茱莉亞 娜也來了，傍晚從南邊開車過來。這是一棟美妙的房子，隱藏在橄欖叢、柑橘樹和檸檬樹當中。壁爐在燃燒。還有自制的橄欖油。

No time to roast a twenty-pound turkey, obviously, but Luca sautés up some lovely cuts of turkey breast and I preside over a whirlwind group effort to make a Thanksgiving stuffing, as best as I can remember the recipe, made from the crumbs of some high-end Italian bread, with necessary cultural substitutions (dates instead of apricots; fennel instead of celery). Somehow it comes out great. Luca had been worried about how the conversation would proceed tonight, given that half the guests can't speak English and the other half can't speak Italian (and only Sofie can speak Swedish), but it seems to be one of those miracle evenings where everyone can understand each other perfectly, or at least your neighbor can help translate when the odd word gets lost.

顯然沒有時間烤二十磅的火雞，但盧卡煎了幾塊漂亮的火雞胸肉，我則率領一大羣人盡力製作內餡，就我記憶所及的食譜，以高檔意大利麪包屑作材料，以及必要的文化替代物（以蜜棗取代杏脯；以茴香取代芹菜）。結果竟相當好。盧卡擔心今晚對話如何進行，因爲半數的客人不會講英語，另一半則不會講意大利語（僅蘇菲一人講瑞典語），但這似乎是個神奇之夜，大家都聽得懂對方的話，至少找不到某個單字時，由鄰近的人幫忙翻譯。

I lose count of how many bottles of Sardinian wine we drink before Deborah introduces to the table the suggestion that we follow a nice American custom here tonight by joining hands and—each in turn—saying what we are most grateful for. In three languages, then, this montage of gratitude comes forth, one testimony at a time.

我們不知喝了多少瓶撒丁酒後，黛博拉向席間的人建議我們今晚按照美國習俗，大家攜手輪流說出自己最感謝的一切。於是，這場“感恩蒙太奇”以三種語言開演，人人輪流表白。