Lake Como: Reflections on Friendship, Boats, and Tiramisu

Lake Como, with its shimmering waters and dramatic mountain backdrop, offered more than just stunning scenery. My recent visit, filled with boat rides and cooking classes, turned into an unexpected lesson on friendship.

Drifting on the Lake

There's something about being on a boat, gently gliding across the water, that opens up conversation. The rhythmic motion and the shared experience of the view fostered a unique environment for deeper connections. We marveled at the women who climbed onto a bridge to dive into the lake with a waterfall backdrop. We gazed in awe at the magnificent homes that served as the backdrop for countless movies, including James Bond films. And we felt like movie stars ourselves as our boat docked in Bellagio, and we strode into the charming town searching, as always, for yet another serving of gelato.

Mastering Pasta Together

Our cooking class taught us as much about friendship as it did about pasta making. Our trim, petite teacher Anna greeted us with a warm hug and a mask covering her mouth. We couldn’t avoid noticing her crooked teeth as she exclaimed, “My dentist isn’t a man! He’s a monster!”

Inside her modest stone home on Via Rodari, Anna taught us how to mix flour and eggs by hand, by making a pile of flour and then cracking the eggs into the mound. The bright yellow yolks told us that the eggs were the product of the hens milling about outside. With her firm grip, Anna taught us to roll out the dough until it was so transparent we could see our hands through the pasta sheet. We all laughed as the men in the group lacked the same rolling force as our small instructor. “You’re not a mountain, you’re a small hill!” she chided us.

We moved on to dessert, and Anna taught us how to make Tiramisu - both a traditional and a strawberry version. We dipped ladyfingers in espresso for the conventional version and a strawberry syrup for our new creation. Then we layered it all together with mascarpone cream and covered our creation in cocoa to create what Anna called a sweet lasagne. We laughed as I told the tale of being on our honeymoon 32 years ago and telling my new husband that I wanted tiramisu. In those days before Google, he had no idea what I wanted and feared it was some other, unknown to him, honeymoon desire. Late in the day, my friend Donna disclosed that she didn’t like tiramisu and kept quiet because she didn't want to spoil our day of fun. In the end, the class wasn't just about learning to make pasta; it was about the shared effort and the inevitable moments of chaos that come with trying something new. 

We journeyed into town that night and ate by the lake, with twinkle lights illuminating our small table, which was overloaded with seafood and more pasta. The wine flowed freely as our conversation ranged from politics, both national and international, to the art of being a good friend, and shared stories of friendships and marriages that had endured, as well as those that hadn’t. We discussed sex, fidelity, connection, travel, families, and parenting. Towards the end of the night, Thomas turned to us with the ultimate question: “Would you do it all again?”

Ultimately, this is why I travel. I travel to learn about history, geography, and global issues; to understand different political and economic systems; and to appreciate the interconnectedness of the world. I love being exposed to diverse cultures and lifestyles, as well as other viewpoints and ways of life, to challenge my preconceived notions and biases. More than all of this, the opportunity to be in the presence of the grace, curiosity, and unguarded openness of my dear friends and family as we explore the world together is priceless to me.