Mondavi'/Sunflowers/Verduno dai Bercau

Italy Journal

Saturday, July 28, 2012

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Peter was in charge today, and we visited Mondavi’ where none of us has ever been. It was an ancient hill town, first built in the 1100’s. Now it has a funicular that you can ride from the hill town down to the urban sprawl in the valley.  Very cool! We stayed in the older part, which had a clock tower with a sundial on it. The clock only had hands for the hour.  When the clocks on the churches ring, you can look at the clock tower to know which hour it’s talking about. It was a lovely old town.

On our way to lunch, we found a sunflower field with live sunflowers in it. Most of the sunflowers we’ve seen lately are dying, but we got some great photos of these beauties.

We found our lunch destination at Baladin not open until 1700. This week, they have a concert in Piozzo every night, so the beer bar opens from 1700-200! Anyway, we tried to get into La Torre…still closed for vacation, and we finally went to Verduno to dai Berdau, where Cinzia recommended for us before. The food was soooooo good again, and we just told them to serve us some tastes of goods for lunch. Great idea! A short walk to the expansive view at the top of the hill after lunch made for a great exercise and a beautiful overlook.

Shopping for supper with Stephen and Lori brought us to another wonderful dinner. Today is the Aucoin’s last day before leaving for MXP. Oh, how we will miss them!

Thank you, Aucoins,

Colleen

Street Market/San Silvestro Vineyard with Anna/Giolito Cheese Tasting

Italy Journal

Friday, July 27, 2012

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What a great start to another great day! Demi and Beci met Victoria and Valerie at our house to stroll around in the street market. Before it was all over, we had bought a watermelon, and they joined us to eat it at our house.

The trip to San Silvestro Vineyard was super, too. We went by to get Anna at Il Mulino de Geminella. She showed all of us her rooms for rent. Then we had some coffee, and off we went to the vineyard where her nephew works. Claudio gave us a great tour with some superb stories about the place and then treated us to some wine tasting. Unfortunately, as we were preparing to leave, a huge storm came up and delayed us about 30 minutes. We were supposed to be at Giolito’s for Cheese Tasting, but we called to say we would be about 20 minutes late. In addition, we found a fantastic double sided rainbow and HAD to stop for pictures.

The cheese tasting was a private party, and we invited Claudio from the vineyard to join us. He came later…just in time to relieve Lucia and Maria Cristina, who were doing the training and translations. Eight cheeses and 3 wines later, we ambled over to the gelato shop before going through the Aperitivo in the Streets craziness to get home. Valerie and Victoria again met Elettra, Demi and Beci to enjoy what was going on in town. Those girls have been so very nice.

It’s so nice to have the Aucoins to play with this week!

Colleen

Shopping/Magliano/Aperitivo with Charlotte

Italy Journal

Thursday, July 26, 2012

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Run, Colleen and Lori, run! See Colleen and Lori run!  We had great fun on our run this morning. Of course, we were inspired by the promise of bakery goods when we returned home.

Off we went to purchase the clothes Victoria found at the corner store with Lisa’s 20% off card (Thank you, Lisa) and to find a bakery that Stephen loved. The Calabrese pane was at least 2 feel long and a little over a foot wide. The woman cut off a chunk of it for us to take home. We added 2 of everything else, and we were golden. Then, we stopped by our favorite chocolate/beer shop, and finally found a kilo of dark chocolate with whole nocciola all in it. We had small chunks of that yummy bark for lunch.

Peter and I left the group to go to our Italian lesson, and it was the best review we have had. Peter especially showed all sorts of improvement in understanding grammar details. He made sentences correctly all morning long. I think there’s hope for both of us!!!

After another great meal of Stephen’s left over jumbalaya, with some focaccia on the side, we left with Cristina to spend the afternoon with Lisa’s parents Ella and Giovani. Elettra met us there as official translator, too, while Demi and Beci went to swim with Victoria and Valerie. We had a lovely time, and we learned all sorts of things about the history of their family and of Bra. It seems that before there was Bra, Pollenzo had 40,000 inhabitants! That was unbelievable. Pollenzo now has 250 people, and 125 of those are university students and staff. Evidently, the whole populations of Pollenzo moved to the hill and renamed their town Bra. Giovani’s decendants actually dug up some of the remnants of the original Pollenzo town and have put them in the Archeological&Art Museum here in Bra… the one that I went to earlier. They had ancient books and stories to tell about foods and their family histories. We had a wonderful time with those dear people, and I hope to find a recipe book from Georgia to take them when we come back in September.

Valerie and Victoria now have invitations for tomorrow from Elettra and the twins to go to the street market in the morning, and join them for Aperitivo in the Streets after our cheese tasting in the evening. What a life!!! Elettra’s parents decided to delay a trip to Paris and Germany by one day so that all the girls could spend a little more time together. How lovely!

We had to rush around to get to Charlotte’s in time for aperitivo, only to find out that we had the time wrong, and we were 30 minutes early. She was gracious about that, and we thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful carrot spread with unbelievable bread, red onion tart, tomatoes and basil with black olives that Victoria claimed as her very own, and wine. It was so nice of her to invite all of us to join her for aperitivo. Thank you so much, Charlotte!

It was good to settle in for the evening, but even better when Lori and Stephen went out to move their car away from the lot where the street market will be tomorrow and came home with a large box of…gelato! Chocolate, limone and mint. YUM! Thank you, Lori and Stephen. You have made our day complete.

Buona notte!

Colleen

Return to Noli

Italy Journal

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

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Beautiful day! Good morning, Pidge! She has taught Stephen not to sit on the balcony until she has finished getting her drink each morning. Everyone enjoyed sneaking a peak at her this morning.

We were early taking off to the Mediterranean beach at Noli. The day was gorgeous, and everybody…except Peter…had a toe in the Sea. Later, we ate a luscious lunch with Silvio at da Ines, with gelato for dessert, window shopped for a while…siesta time…and headed back to Bra for a try at the Vestebene Factory Store with our 90% discount!

Lori ended up with a dress for Kyle’s wedding that she bought for a little more than she expected, but still at a super price! It is gorgeous!. She also got a couple more things. Valerie now has a great jeans jacket, and I got 2 fun jackets and 4 nice tops for 50 euro…can’t beat that!

When we finally returned home, Lori and Victoria went down to the place I got my great skirt yesterday to see if there were anything interesting for Victoria. And a good time was had by all.

Colleen

Happy Birthday, HC!/Shopping/Jumbalaya

Italy Journal

Monday, July 24, 2012

What a fantastic dinner we had at Il Mulino di Geminella last night with Anna. We arrived in time for Mira to show us how to make Tajarin pasta (like tagliatelle, but thinner like spaghetti. We enjoyed great appetizers (mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, ham chuncks, etc.) while we “worked.’ After we made the dough, all of us took turns cranking the pasta through the little machine until it was thin and cut into spaghetti strips. Then, Anna cooked it perfectly, added our pesto from the Eataly store, and VOILA! We realized that we had brought a whole meal to add to the pasta, AND Anna had misunderstood and prepared a whole meal , too. We then proceeded through 10 courses (We counted them!) of pasta (of course), baked rabbit and chicken, roasted vegetables, thin slices of ham, cheeses with Cogna (local confit like jam made with fig, apple, pear, peach and spices!), limone gelato, an offer of seconds of limone gelato, panna cotta, coffee and grappa. Rossella, Elettra, a colleague of Rossella’s,  Anna’s niece, Anna’s cousin and Mira all enjoyed the fun and delicious eatables! We then stumbled out to the car after being invited to come by and get Anna on Friday at 3, and we will go to her nephew’s vineyard for a tour. Also, Elettra invited Valerie and Victoria to swim at her grandparents’ pool on Tuesday. What lovely new friends.

Happy Birthday, Harldur, Nonno and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Italian books and playing games with you by Skype today. Thank you for inviting us to come and play for a while. We love you!

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The morning Italian lesson was super. Sara and I got it all worked out that she would stay as our teacher, and I learned some more about pronouns. I have to study during this break. Peter and I will meet with her on Thursday, but then we will have about 5 weeks of summer break.

On the way home, I asked Wild Dan to meet me in the street, and he gave me directions to the 2^nd hand stores in Bra. I took Lori, Victoria and Valerie to both of them and found a great pair of shorts for Victoria and a pair of school shoes for Valerie.  We also found a store with a “Tutti 5euro-15euro” sign on the door. I found an orange sherbet colored all weather coat for fall. When I went to pay, the man charged me 20euro, but I told him that the sign said 5-15 euro. He then showed me the tag on the jacket that said 87E. I said no, the sign says 5-15, and I put down the jacket and turned to leave. He said, “15.” I said oh, ok, and paid him 15 E. Ah, Italiano!

Then, we went to a store that we will forever call “Miss Lisa’s Store.” I didn’t realize there was a Vestebene in Bra, but we found it, and we will get 90% OFF with Lisa’s 20% discount. What a deal. Victoria found some great shoes, and I found some sunglasses that we left at the counter for Lisa to go with us to get the extra 20% off this afternoon.

Stephen and Peter spent the morning shopping for food to prepare for dinner for 14 tonight. We first nvited Enzo and Lisa, then 6 other students from the University were left in town, not leaving for vacation yet. So, we all joined forces and had a lovely dinner of  jumbalaya, and all sorts of other goodies. Everyone took home lots of leftovers, and Wild Dan promised to come back on Sunday to fix us breakfast!! Sounds like fun to us!!!

Great day for all!

Colleen

Harldur's bday/Whisker Jack's/Lori's

Italy Journal

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Cont’d.

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Ophelia (from Ireland) showed up at our house to print her boarding pass for vacation. She had in her hand a lovely bag with a cloth ribbon, and it the bag were some chocolates made with nociolla paste. She told me that she knew I loved chocolate with the actual nuts in them, but that she hoped these would be ok. It was so sweet of her, and of course, the candies were delicious! Thank you, Ophelia.

We spent about 2 hours on Skype with Harldur’s birthday party in the backyard of Cati and Arne’s apartment building. They had a super time with good snacks, things for the children to play, dancing, and singing. I was so pleased to be “invited” to the party, and I appreciated Arne’s video to me later whith Arne reading the Italian book I sent to him. It was fun to watch Hugo during the party, too. His little legs were going a mile a minute, even when he was being held. It looks like he is already practicing running! Cati told me he took his first step recently (at 7 months!), so he may just skip straight to running. Thanks for including us in the party. We love you. Happy birthday Harldur!

Love, Nonna and Nonno

Italy Journal

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Peter got up early today to go to Wild Dan’s house to help serve breakfast to those who came for a Whisker Jack’s Brunch. He seemed to really enjoy helping out, and after I finished cleaning the house, I went over there for brunch. My spinach pie was especially good with a fried egg on top. Lots of people were there, saying goodbye before leaving for summer vacation. Everyone will have such great stories to tell!

It was so good to talk with Kyle today and to wish him a happy birthday. I hope you have many, many more, Kyle. Our love to you and to Victoria. We’re looking forward to your wedding in September! Speaking of lovely birthday presents. Peter can’t think of any better birthday present on his birthday than for you to marry a lovely woman that we all adore. Happy birthday, Peter, on Sept. 29! And, happy wedding to you and Victoria.

Lori and Stephen’s family arrived at the train station about 8:30PM, as planned. They had come from Paris today, and were happy to have a short walk on the way home. Peter had dinner ready. He just needed to cook the pasta…3 minutes tops! But then, Peter lifted the glass lid off the pasta water, and the glass shattered all in the pasta. Fortunately, the large pan of roasted vegetables had just been taken out to the table. Stephen, Victoria and I went across the street and ordered 3 pizzas to “take away,” and we were good to go. Supper was saved, with Dan’s donated gelato and roasted peach halves for dessert! YUM!

We’re so glad you’re here, Lori, Stephen, Victoria, and Valerie. We’re looking forward to our time with you.

Colleen

Italy Journal

Monday, July 23, 2012

Lori and I did our 30 minute run, and Peter couldn’t keep up by walking , so he turned back. We were way too speedy for him…or something. It was a clear day, but when we got to the place where we can see the Alps on a clear day, we found only clouds on the horizon…maybe another time we will see those beauties!

While Peter and Stephen were doing the espresso/pick up the rental car/prepare lunch tasks; Valerie, Victoria, Lori and I went with Elettra and her twin sisters Demi and Beci on a tour of their school and some of the churches in Bra. They particularly liked the Santa Chiara church, with the triple domes over the various areas in the sanctuary. So beautiful!

We had a very pleasant time at lunch with some roasted veggies, focaccia with mixed toppings, and the girls had brought gelato for dessert. YUM! It was such fun to spend some time with all of them. Stephen and Peter especially enjoyed the language discussions that went on. Such fun! Elettra invited Valerie and Victoria to get together some time this week to meet some of her friends. They were all excited about that invitation, and we assured them that my calendar for the week was up for any change they wanted to make. We look forward to dinner with the girls and their parents tonight at Il Mulino della Geminella. Anna sent me an email to come at 5:30 so we’d have time to make pasta together, so off we went early.

We are anticipating more great fun as the week progresses.

Colleen