“Era la notte prima di Natale e tutta la casa era in silenzio.” Oh, I forgot, my articles are suppose to be in English. My bad! Today we are having Christmas is Italy, but I will be sure to keep this article in my native language, which of course is English - Southern style.

I was out and about with my 15 year old daughter, Marina, and we were doing the “Christmas thang” this past Christmas. You know, running around like crazy trying to figure out what everybody might want for Christmas. Marina finds herself asking me stupid things like, “Hey, ma, do you think Dad might like one of these Kushy Tushy Padded Cushioned Bathroom Seats?” And I find myself excitedly answering, “What a perfect gift Marina!”

It gets to be dinner-time and with all our shopping escapades, we are famished. I ask Marina if she would like to have dinner in Italy. She says, cool, so we head to The Olive Garden. The Olive Garden Italian Restaurant is a wonderful dinner destination because “When you’re here, you’re family.” I always find the restaurant friendly and inviting, the food consistently fresh and good. Marina and I are seated right away. Marina looks around and wonderingly says, “So this is Italy.” I reply, “Yes, Marina, imagine Tuscany hillsides filled with breathtaking vineyards and olive groves as far as the eye can see bursting forth with the fruits of Italy.”

With the formalities taken care of, we give our waitress our drink order (Marina and I both order club soda with lemon, which is FREE on The 100 Calorie Diet) and begin looking at the menu. Olive Garden has a brand new menu item, Shrimp Carbonara, so we decide to share the Shrimp Carbonara for our main course with Olive Garden’s famous salad. I asked for no croutons on the salad with the dressing on the side. I had scoped out calorie counts for Olive Garden, so I knew in advance what we could have for about 600 calories each.

Our drinks and salad arrived and we began enjoying our trip to Italy. The salad was crisp, tasty and fresh. We measured out 2 Tablespoons of Olive Garden Salad Dressing, which is 100 calories. I always ask for extra lemon slices to give my salads a zing, so I am very happy with my salad and drink. Marina and I get along well considering she’s a teenager and we talk about what we usually talk about, me and her, her and me, and sometimes Michael and Roy (my sons and her brothers).

Suddenly, it’s Voila (sorry that’s French, not Italian!) and our Shrimp Carbonara arrives. I heard through the grapevine (LOL) that this particular Olive Garden Dish was inspired by a chef’s recent trip to Rome. It was a wonderfully delicious entrée with plump shrimp in a savory pancetta and cream sauce on top of perfectly cooked Bucatini Pasta. Yum! We each have 1/3 of this dish for 500 calories.

As we leave the Olive Garden, Marina exclaims, “Ma, I really like Italy!” I reply, “Me too, Marina, me too. It is truly lovely!”

Olive Garden Re-Cap:

Susie & Marina
Club Soda with Lemon - FREE
Tossed Salad, No Croutons - FREE
2 Tablespoons Salad Dressing - 100 Calories
1/3 Shrimp Carbonara - 500 Calories

Total: 600 Delicious Italian Calories

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