When you lose your favorite pizza place to a fire...

Today's post has nothing to do with chocolate.

It has to do with my favorite pizza place, Napoli Pizza, located in Queens NY. After my husband came home from work, we decided to go grab a slice at Napoli's. To my horror and dismay, the place was boarded up. A fire had burned the entire store completely.

Now I am not sure how to explain how much I loved the pizza there, but I will try. The moment I found out about the disaster I felt like my heart was ripped out. It was as though my best friend died. I never considered my favorite pizza place as a friend until now. Looking back, I went to Napoli's more than I saw my friends and family!

The owner of the store, Napoli - we called him, knew us well. We were regulars from the moment we moved there. In fact, Napoli knew us before we became parents to our baby boy! Anytime we called him to order a pie, he would say, 'The usual? Cheese pie with extra tomato sauce?' And we would be delighted he remembered and wait anxiously by the door. He was the neighborhood guy that waved and smiled when you walked by. His pizza tasted better than anything you could find in Manhattan. In fact, I had just been thinking of calling Zagat to refer them to him since he is, or rather was, a hidden treasure in Queens, NY.

I guess sometimes when you take things for granted, you don't realize how important and how much it impacts your daily life until it's gone. To those of you reading this out there: Sometime this week please go to your favorite place and enjoy your favorite meal and think of me. Cherish every bite and savour every moment, because you just don't know if it will be there tomorrow.