"Do not let me interrupt any further, please." Ezio hadn't expected such attention, and he dug into the puttanesca with relish. It was as good as he'd originally thought, with the appropriate amount of spice and tangy flavor. What a pleasant surprise, to find a chef who cooked like home.
When next he saw the young man stop and breathe for a moment, he did ask. "Have you by chance gone to F - Italy to learn to cook?" Sometimes he forgot that all the places he knew were in fact part of one country now. He'd bought a history of Italy one night and stayed up for hours reading. It had been interesting, if slightly sad.