I met Claudio Vigilante on a warm, misty night in Bermuda. Claudio runs a restaurant called Aqua, which is the signature restaurant at the Ariel Sands Resort owned by Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Catherine and Michael were not there the night my husband and I met Claudio.

So, is this a restaurant review? Nah . . . well, maybe a little. Don't get me wrong, Aqua is a nice restaurant. In fact, we ate our best meal of this trip there. But the real reason to go to Aqua is Claudio. Tall, charming, Italian and FUNNY, Claudio has mastered the art of making his clients feel welcome. This guy is worth the price of the meal by himself.

And because he's "authentic Italian" - meaning right off the boat from Italy -- we got into this great discussion on Italian food including proper pronunciation. How can you order it if you can't say it? And isn't it a lot more fun to serve if you know how to say what you are serving?

Bruschetta is a perfect example. The ideal, simple Italian appetizer. Believe me. Zola knows.

I'm going to give you a great, easy recipe for bruschetta, but let's start with how to pronounce it. Most people pronounce brushcetta as though it's something small they are going to run through their hair. Ouch. The easy way to get it right is to remember there is no "K" in Italian, so "ch" is "K." The proper way to say bruschetta is more like "brew sketta." Got it? Now let's make it.

This recipe for bruschetta is a quick one using canned tomatoes. Often, a good, ripe tomato is an oxymoron (until the great ones come in to the Farmer's Market or your garden), but do check my Web site for two other bruschetta variations. One uses fresh tomatoes while the other is a crostini version that can be varied for those you on a Lo-Carb diet. (We aim to please.) Check the Zola site often. I add new recipes weekly and have been amazed at how many of you have been downloading recipes. The more you download, the bigger the site will get, so enjoy!

Traditional Bruschetta

Makes 12 pieces

2 Tbl. olive oil (extra virgin if you have it) plus extra to coat your bread
15-oz. can of diced tomatoes with Italian spices
1 Tbl. crushed garlic (the stuff from a jar is fine)
12 slices of baguette (Sourdough has great texture, but any French bread works.)
4 Tbl. grated parmesan cheese

In small saucepan, combine olive oil, diced tomatoes and crushed garlic. Bring mixture to a boil and then turn it down to simmer (just bubbling). Simmer it until almost all of the liquid is gone, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom. This will take up to 30 minutes, depending on your stove. Just keep an eye on it. Take it off the heat. This can be done a day or two ahead and chilled.

Slice the bread into half inch slices. Spray or brush olive oil on both sides of the slices. Broil or grill the bread until light brown. The grill will give it a smokier flavor, but both are perfectly fine techniques.

Reheat the tomato mixture if you chilled it and mound it with a teaspoon on your bread slices. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve. You can also serve this at room temperature, so don't worry if you left it on the buffet for awhile.

Cheers! Zola