Did we ever find the little Italian place? Why yes, yes we did. With my crumpled magazine page held out in front of me like a talisman I searched for anything remotely resembling some portion of the photo, particularly a red roof with a yellow lantern hanging from it. It was like looking for a real life jigsaw puzzle piece.

Matthew meanwhile continued to doggedly query his iPhone. So there we were, the two of us preoccupied with our respective navigational aids when I looked up to find we had been standing right next to Fette Panisse for quite some time. Ha ha.

It was tucked away in a delightful little alley. For my Mother's Day feast we partook of chickpea fries and beer while all manner of bicyclists whirled by within inches. Ryan and Andrea had each called me at some point during our quest, and I was uber-contented. It was one of those perfect quirky moments that feels like somebody's taken a highlighter pen to it.