A Holiday Weekend

Christmas Eve: The stockings were hung by the entertainment center with care.  From left to right that's Fabri's, my and Olney's stocking. 

Brunella and I having our Christmas Eve aperitivo!

Olney wants the 3 foot salami for his Christmas Eve aperitivo!

Our Christmas Eve dinner in Ruffia.  Maria Pia sets a lovely table.

Twenty-two of us gathered for dinner in Ruffia!

We ate a yummy dinner of the seven fishes: salmon, caviar, octopus, shrimp, clams, baccala (oops, we missed one because we forgot to make the calamari!)

Christmas Morning: Where are our presents!?!?  Fabri, Olney & I all got some sweet stuff in our stockings and Fabri gave me some GORGEOUS diamond earrings.  

 Christmas Day: Maria Pia & I made a lunch of roast turkey, mushroom stuffing and baked corn!

Christmas day we were only about 10 people.  That just meant more delicious American food for the rest of us!

 Santo Stefano: the day after Christmas (which is a holiday here) we finally got a little tiny bit of snow. I made a casserole with some left over turkey, porcini mushrooms and egg noodles.

We had a small lunch just Fabri's family in Ruffia.  A nice, calm way to end the holiday weekend!

Have a Happy New Year!

3 Days til Christmas

Did I tell you the horrible secret?  It may be 3 days until Christmas, but Fabri's family has a big dinner/celebration on Christmas Eve!  We will have the infamous dinner of the 7 Fishes ending around midnight.  So the point is that I don't just have to be ready for Christmas, I have to be ready for Christmas Eve!  But I'll be ready, no problem.  My cookies are almost all made.  I'm going to try Laura's microwave fudge today and I need to make another batch of snowball cookies because they're Fabri's favorites. 

New baking mat makes cookie making easy!

Yesterday I made a big batch of sugar cookies.  I was a little annoyed that I couldn't find red & green sprinkles or food coloring to make my own, but some pastel sprinkles and crushed candy cane kept them very festive.  This afternoon Fabri & I are going to go around like little elves delivering cookies to our neighbors.  That will be fun I hope.

Christmas trees and shooting stars

 I'm not happy about our weather forecast.  Last week it was the coldest week of the year, well below zero every day.  Now it's warmed up, just in time to rain for 3 days!!!  What's up with that!?!?  All I want is snow and I survived freezer week so I could get rained on for Christmas? Boo.

Gaetano, Detta & the birthday girl, Sofia!

Anyway, last night we went to Sofia's first birthday party.  It was fun, but we ate a lot pretty quickly because it was a work night and I was feeling stuffed and not ready for all this Christmas eating at the end of the week.  Oh well, I'll rally and tonight we'll just eat veggies!

Elio and I putting together Sofia's new toy.

Must keep making cookies!

I have been suffering from a head cold this weekend.  I mean who isn't getting sick with daily highs of about 2°C?  Right now it is -4°C (25°F)!  I'm just writing this little teaser post and then I'm going under my double down comforter!!

Homemade rugalah cookies!

Anyway, I'm a bad Latchaw because I am behind on my cookies making!!!  I've only done 2 batches: rugalah and snowball cookies.  Tomorrow I'm definitely doing chocolate chip and at least the dough of sugar cookies!  I just bought another half kilo of butter, so I'm ready to go!! 

                   5 days til Xmas!!                      

Marathon Wedding

Last Saturday Fabri and I had a marathon wedding.  Our friends Laura and Gian Luca tied the knot!  I had to wake up early (for a Saturday) to get ready for the wedding.  Poor Fabri had to hustle off to work because he was on call all day and had to do rounds.  So I got all dressed up all by myself and had to drop off Olney at Ruffia in my pretty wedding clothes.  Then I went to the church in Savigliano. 

The bride and groom arrive at the church.

Laura was beautiful in her wintery wedding dress and of course Gian Luca was very handsome.  They really lucked out with the weather and the day was super sunny!

Aperitivo after the ceremony

Unfortunately Fabri didn't make it in time for the ceremony, which was a very sweet one.  And SUPER unfortunately Fabri & I didn't take a picture together looking all nice and dressed up.  So that's depressing.  I did really like my hair this time though.  I just straightened it at home, easy & free!

After the ceremony (and an aperitivo) I met Fabri back at home so that we could go to the wedding lunch together.  Even though Fabri might be called away until 8pm, we wanted to go with one car so we'd eventually drive home together.  We're smart like that.

Lunch was good and afterward we all danced.  I danced my first liscio with Gerry (of Bar Belle Epoque fame).  That was exciting.  Poor Fabri couldn't dance much because he had to be able to hear his phone.   While we were dancing, the staff at the restaurant were cleaning up and resetting the dining room for dinner.  That's where the marathon part comes in.  After lunch & dancing there's dinner & dancing!!

Dancing with Gerry!

We were good sports though and partook in the yummy buffet and second round of dancing with out complaints. ;-)  Around 1 am it had gotten to be too much for my poor little feet and we headed home.  Also, poor Fabri had to do rounds at the hospice and was on call on Sunday.  Fabri still had fun though as did I!

Fabri and Pac having fun!

Sunday morning after Fabri went to work, I went to Ruffia to see my puppy and meet the Motta's for lunch.  Poor Fabri joined us around 2 as he had a lot to do.  We had a yummy lunch, then a little bit of shopping before sleeping and relaxing the rest of the day!  Good weekend, but a tiring one for sure!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Yesterday was a holiday in Italy, Immaculata (the Immaculate Conception).  Fabri of course had to go to work (poor Fabri), but I went shopping with his mom and sisters (yay for me)!!  We went to Metro in Turin.  I think I've mentioned Metro before, it's a Sam's Club type store.  They have a lot of restaurant supplies and a ton of food in a warehouse store.  You can find some good deals, but often things cost the same at the grocery store.  I like Metro though because you can find foods that you can't at the grocery store.  I bought an 11 lb bag of long grain rice, a couple of bottles of soy sauce, a big jar of salsa and my favorite Dunkel beer. 

Then we girls went to lunch and did a little window shopping along the way.  After lunch we returned to Savigliano and met Fabri & Olney.  The three of us walked around Savigliano and bought a few things at a flea market there.  When we returned to Fabri's parents' house, Maria Pia was ready to go make one more shopping stop in nearby Genola.  We went to a couple of discount stores there (gotta love those discount stores!) and came home with a new piece of furniture....and a bunch of small stuff.  Hey, when you're in that shopping spirit, you gotta shop!

Lit Menorah

From Christmas Time 2010

After that it was time to go home before we decided to go to ANOTHER store, so we loaded up my car with all of our purchases and headed back to Saluzzo.  Then Fabri & I put on the Christmas music, lit the menorah for the 8th night of Hanukkah and decorated our house for Christmas.

Lovely Little Tree

From Christmas Time 2010

We had a lot of fun putting up the tree and spreading around all of the holiday decorations we've collected over the years a lot of which were handmade by my grandparents!  Now it's feeling a LOT like Christmas!

Christmas Bamboo with new ornaments from Mom

From Christmas Time 2010

Help Readers!

Is this dress too floral for a December 11 wedding?  I plan on wearing it with black shoes, black tights and a black shawl.  Thanks!

From Caserta June 2010

Having a Lovely Holiday

We're still alive, but we haven't been adventuring in Italy! 

We spent some of our vacation relaxing on the beach.

We spent much of our vacation eating good food.

And we've spent all of our vacation hanging out with our beloved friends and family!

(oh yeah, and shopping, lots & lots of shopping)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekends in Barolo country!

We've been busy.  We've spent the last two weeks working on some of my bureaucratic immigration stuff. I had to renew my permission to stay in Italy.  That was relatively easy requiring only a couple trips to the Post Office and a bunch of photo copies.  What was a bit more complicated and completed finally yesterday was my request for Italian citizenship.  We're going for the dual citizenship so I can apply for EU research grants and Italian government jobs.  Anyway, it was great to get that stuff in so that we don't have to think about it anymore.  Now Rome has 2 years to decide.  Yes, that's right, 2 years!!  Don't expect to see my Italian passport any time soon.

Through all this Fabri's been working like a dog.  He works 4 night shifts a month and has to do all of his for November before our Thanksgiving vacation!  Poor Fabri.  We have managed to have some fun though.  These past two Saturdays we went to La Morra for Barolo wine tastings.  The month of October they had 5 euro tastings every Saturday.  It was a very nice set up.  The wine cellar of La Morra is very lovely with brick walls and ceilings and they always have an art exhibition.  Packed in the exhibition room were about 10 different wine producers, different each weekend.  Most had more than one wine with them.  We probably tasted 40 wines both times!

One producer's table with the pour bucket on the left.

40 sips of Barolo go to your head.  The first Saturday I was very good.  Taking only a taste and pouring the rest out so that I would be able to taste more.  The second Saturday I must not have poured enough out, because I ended up with quite a headache and I put myself to bed very early.  I blame it on Anna & Claudio who came with us the second time.  They're enablers!

Fabri and I have been going to the Wine Cellar in La Morra since my first or second trip to Italy.  We have become friends with the older gentleman who works there who has taught us a lot about wine.  He's a sweet old guy who asked us our opinions after the tastings and gave us some advice on how to get great bottles of wine for a little cheaper.  For example, 2004 is the best year for Barolo out there now.  But they're saying 2006 might even be better.  The only problem is that 2006 is still too young for Barolo.  So, buy some 2006 now, and age it for 2 years yourself.  You get it before the price goes up that way.  Anyway, we're waiting for 2008 to be bottled.  That was the year we were married and we'll buy a few cases of that to save for all those future anniversary celebrations.  Fancy fancy!

Sorry about the photo quality.  They were taken with my iPhone!

We just love Lucca!

We can't get enough of Lucca.  Even Olney loves Lucca.  This time we went to meet our lovely friends Micah and Anna who are living and working in Rome for a couple of years.  It turns out Tuscany is in the middle between Saluzzo & Rome, how horrible huh?

Our Villa in Lucca.  That's my new car out front!

Micah and Anna wanted to have a gastronomically satisfying weekend and I think we did just that.  Though after 6 bottles of wine in one weekend for the 4 of us, I was tired and in need of a break!!

The view from the villa!

We picked up Micah & Anna at the train station in Pisa and went straight to our favorite brewery, Bruton!  You may recall from our last trip to Lucca that they have an excellent Florentine steak and we got 2!  And of course that went well with 2 pitchers of their beer.  Also, they have an excellent chocolate mousse.

Us and Anna in the Oval Piazza

 We weren't the luckiest in the weather department, but Saturday morning was quite lovely.  We slept in and then went up the mountain to the Agrituristico Celli where we bought wine and grappa and honey.  Then we went back to our lovely villa and had a lunch of Tuscan salami, cheese, bread, olives and assorted yumminess Fabri and I brought from Piemonte to share with Anna & Micah.  After lunch, before we all fell asleep again, we went down to Lucca. 

Lucca from above

Unfortunately not too long after we arrived, it started raining, so we had to skip some of the architecture in favor of ducking into bars.  So after a couple of aperitivos and getting a little wet around the edges, we headed back to the villa to relax before dinner.

Us in the wine cellar of Cantine Bernardini

For dinner we went to the #1 trip advisor pick, the Cantine Bernardini.  During the day it's just a small green door in a big blank wall, but in the evening, you go downstairs into several century old wine cellars.  We thought it would be crowded, but the rain must have kept people home.  That suited us just fine as we enjoyed some lovely gourmet specialties and sampled the Montecarlo wines.  Montecarlo btw is the famous wine producing region of the Lucca hills.  It's north of Chianti and the wines are different.  I would be happy to list what we ate, but it's too difficult to translate all the deliciousness.  But the dishes were very seasonable with leeks, mushrooms, chestnuts and truffles, lots of truffles.  Nothing makes me happier than seasonably appropriate menus.

Sunday morning before leaving the villa

 Sunday we woke up late and had breakfast before bidding our villa farewell and heading to Viareggio (sound familiar?).  We went to lunch at some random restaurant we found (it ended up being pretty good) and drank a bottle of my favorite white wine, Greco di Tufo.  That was our 6th and final bottle of wine for the weekend (thank goodness!).  After lunch we walked around town and let the puppy run around in the sand.  Then, after one last gelato, we said goodbye to Micah & Anna at the train station of Viareggio and Fabri, Olney and I got in the car and drove back home.  The drive was pretty nice (I did most of the driving) until we reached Piemonte which looked like Armeggadon.  The clouds were so thick and dark and there were strong winds.  Luckily we made it home before it rained and relaxed a bit before ANOTHER eating engagement: the birthday dinner of Gaetano & Giovanna!  More wine and more delicious food (this time Piemontese) and we were off to bed before another week started with out us!

On the beach in Viareggio

Our Best Man turns 30

A couple of weekends ago we were conspirators in a surprise party for our Best Man Miki.  By conspirators I mean that we were invited and we succeeded in not telling Miki and I successfully did not post anything about it on the blog or facebook or buzz or something like that.  Big accomplishment.

Laura & Miki at our wedding

Anyway, you should remember Miki from the wedding.  He's a flavorist by day and a rock star by night.  Whatever that means. 

His lovely girlfriend Sonia (with help of her beautiful sister Ylenia and HER so-so boyfriend Steo) organized a dinner at the Jazz Club of Cuneo.  We'd never been there before but I liked the idea of a little live jazz music playing while we ate.  There was this great little band of 3 that I wish we had heard more from.  They had a stand up bass which I love accompanying a sax and a guitar.

Fabri sat across the table from Pej, a fellow doctor friend and they talked medicine the ENTIRE night.  That was fine though, because I got to talk a little with everyone!  And it was a great group of people.

Miki and Sonia

The food was all right, nothing spectacular, but we certainly weren't hungry at the end.  I remember especially liking the pasta, but I don't remember what it was.  Whoops!  Miki chose a very yummy nebbiolo called Rispetto (respect) and at the end of the meal we toasted him with spumante.  It was just a fun time hanging out with some awesome people we don't see often enough. 

Danielle and Angela

Me!

Sagras, festas and fairs, oh my!

Today is the second birthday of the Adventures in Italy blog!!  A lot has changed in these two years.  We completed our house, adopted a puppy and bought 3 cars in these two years.  I've been teaching English both with a school and without, volunteering at a museum and improving my Italian daily.  We are continuing to travel as much as possible and I am always focussed on getting as much out of Italy as possible!

On that note: sagras, festas and fairs!  Sagras are food festivals traditionally focused on a single local food product.  There is usually a market of some sort (antiques, local food products, made in China junk) and then in the evenings a dinner based on this product and of course music and dancing.  Festas are any sort of festival or party.

Fall is sagra, festa and fair period here in Piemonte.  Every weekend this month there are at least 4 or 5 and I'm in heaven.  I love these things.  They are full of Piemontese rednecks or country people.  The accents and dialect are fun to listen to.  The food is always interesting and usually pretty, pretty good.  And the dancing is awesome.  They do a particular type of ballroom dancing called Liscio where it appears that the couple glides across the floor as though they're on wheels.  Anyway, I love it.

We started our fall fair period with the 5th Annual Sagra dj Tajarin in Casalgrasso.  That's near Carmagnola and the museum.  Tajarin is a somewhat thin egg pasta.  The sagra had 4 types of pasta: green, white, red and black each with a different sauce.  They were all very yummy!

Two weeks ago we went to the Festa di Bagna Caoda in Faule.  Bagna caoda is a Piemontese sauce that sounds disgusting but is actually delicious.  It's made with garlic, a lot of garlic, anchoives and cream.  It has to be kept warm while eating it or it will congeal, so you use that little "cooker" pictured above with a tealight to keep it warm.  In the sauce you dip peppers, potatoes, onions, cabbage, cardoon and celery.

Now we're looking forward to the chestnut, leek and gnocchi sagras!  If you ever want to visit and like the idea of Italian rednecks, fall's the time!

Tuscany

Our house near Lucca

From Tuscany with the Rents

Again I've let the blog get away from me.  And it's a shame because I have gorgeous photos already to go!  It's been about two weeks since we went to Tuscany with my parents.  We stayed in a restructured home several hundred years old with little bathrooms and a beautiful view.  You could see Lucca at the bottom of the valley, but perhaps the most spectacular view was the owner's villa which we toured.

From Tuscany with the Rents

I picked up my tired parents at the Pisa Airport Wednesday afternoon and we found our lovely little Lucca villa.  We did a little exploring around that area Wednesday evening including testing out the Bruton beer brewery.  We enjoyed that little local so much that we went back with Fabri and ate at their restaurant.  It was excellent.  I highly recommend the Fiorentine Steak which was perfectly cooked.

Happy Hour at the Bruton

From Tuscany with the Rents

Dinner at the Bruton

From Tuscany with the Rents

Thursday Mom, Dad and I went to Florence for a few hours.  They went to the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo's David.  Having seen it before, I went shopping and walked around the historical center of Florence. We met up to see a few more sites and then headed back to Lucca. 

From Tuscany with the Rents

Friday Fabri arrived with the puppy.  Olney loved the house, especially having his own garden that he could run around off the leash.  After lunch we all went down (including Olney) to walk around Lucca.  Lucca did not disappoint, it was a beautiful city.  We walked through the entire walled city, and some way along the wall as well.  It was a good city for puppies and we all had so much fun that we decided to go back on Saturday to do some more exploring and to shop at a huge antiques market taking place.

From Tuscany with the Rents

Sunday we packed up and headed to Viareggio about 30 minutes from Lucca.  Viareggio is on the sea, so Olney had his first salt water experience.  Mom & Dad got to walk with their feet in the water and Fabri and I walked along the boardwalk window shopping.  From there we continued up north to Saluzzo for a few days until Mom & Dad had their usual luck trying to head North for a couple of days in Holland.  The usual luck being, there's always a problem, this time a strike in France closed down the trains so that I drove Mom & Dad to Nice Airport to make sure they would make their flight to Holland.

Surfer Pup!

From Tuscany with the Rents

Mom and I exploring around Saluzzo

From Tuscany with the Rents

Dad, Olney & I exploring around Saluzzo

From Tuscany with the Rents

As usual there are more photos in my Picasa Web Album!