Tennis with Mara/Ashley at La Torre

Italy Journal

November 29, 2012

Peter met today with a Slow Food representative to talk about how he could help them when we are in Atlanta. He offered to escort the man to Atlanta in February to attend a fundraising dinner there with people that Peter knows. Sounds like an up-and-coming new project to me!! He was very excited about it.

Tennis, Anyone?

I met Mara, from our Pasta Shop this afternoon to play tennis on some indoor courts at a Tennis Club not far from Bra! I haven’t played in such a long time, and it was good for me to get back on the court. Although Mara only started tennis lessons 2 years ago, and I have played since I was 10, we were very well matched. Afterwards, we both agreed that we should do this more often. We already reserved the court again for next Tuesday in the early afternoon. Sounds like a good pattern for both of us!!!

Peter ate something that didn’t agree with him today, so he skipped our Italian lesson this afternoon. He says he’s excited to work on his Italian harder when the classes end in mid-December. They all have so much homework to do until then. He felt better later in the day, and we went for a stroll around the block. Who did we run into? Our Italian tutor Sara! I’m sure she thought he was just skipping her class.

November 30, 2012

A Day with Ashley

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Ashley, who I met last week and is in the new masters class at the University, came over mid-morning, and we took off walking to the Big Store. It kept threatening rain, but we stayed dry the whole way. We retrieved Peter’s laundry, only to find a second prepaid card that gave me 2 more shirts! Peter’s been saying he’s missing some shirts, but now we have found the card that lets us retrieve them. Finally!

La Torre

Ashley was interested in knowing what was in the BigStore, so I gave her a quick tour. Afterwards, we gathered up some groceries Peter had asked for, then walked back home, and took off for Cherasco to have lunch at La Torre, one of my favorite restaurants! The pictures you will see are from that meal. (Except the first one was taken because of the Manitoba reference…Ashley is from Canada!) Ashley and I agreed that we wanted to taste as much as possible, so we shared each plate - an order of an appetizer combination of 3 very small plates, then gnocchi, then roast beef with veggies. The pictures tell it all. They were every bit as delicious as they look.

I look forward to our Puglia dinner tonight at the Gastronomic Society! We don’t miss meals here!

Ciao! Colleen

Chocolate Christmas Cake! Wow!

Italy Journal

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

I have spent mornings this week with Sara, enjoying swapping off languages and taking notes on the things we are learning. We went back to Alba one day, and I learned about the levels of architecture on the duomo that were added when a new era came. Our country is so new that it’s hard to realize that in Italy a church might have only one floor above ground, then 200 years later another floor was added using the style of that day. Later, another floor is added with another change in architecture, and then a final (maybe?) 4^th floor years later with yet another architectural change. You would think it would not go together, and it does not exactly match, but it makes the building very interesting. It especially strains my imagination when I see a structure that has a before Christ date on it. It’s not unusual for their structures to have been renovated 20 times, whereas the US buildings might have 2-4 renovations. We ended up at VinCafe and had a lovely lunch before heading back to Bra.

Today, we talked a long time about my tennis match tomorrow with Mara, so now I know how to keep score, talk about the racket and court and to congratulate Mara on a good serve! I’m ready for my 2:15 tennis date on Thursday, followed by my Italian lesson with Sara! Wish me luck on the tennis match!

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We went into the Grimaldi Pasta Shop today, and Mara had made the most amazing Chocolate Christmas Cake. I’ll send you a picture, but it doesn’t come close to showing what a dynamic cake it was. She was very proud of it, and I could see why.

It has been raining pretty consistently the last two days, and even though I have taken long walks in the rain, I have also come home with wet shoes. Today, I came home and had a long, hot shower to warm up. It felt great!

Colleen

Paaaaarty!

Italy Journal

Friday, November 23, 2012

Sara (tutor) picked me up at 9:30 to go to Alba for another tour practice. I always learn lots of new things about the area and am entertained on these excursions. They are great fun.

This was the afternoon for me to take Stephen and Lori’s food package from New Orleans to Anna at Molina di Geminella. As always, I had a great snack and conversation with her, and she LOVED the package that Stephen and Lori sent to her with all sorts of New Orleans food. I also took her one of my Nonna P’ease books. I hope she’ll enjoy that. She seemed pleased to receive it. Anna gave me some great ideas about Peter’s tour business that I hadn’t considered. I’m looking forward to discussing them with him when he returns from Scotland tomorrow night.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

After a fantastic, long walk and a visit to the Piazza Giolito Farmer’s Market with Ashley, we went home for more leftovers. She probably thinks I never serve my guests anything but leftovers. She seemed to really enjoy them, though. We made a date later in the week for a lunch with Sara. They were both very interested to meet each other, and they have a lot in common.

Before I took off for Malpensa Airport MXP to retrieve Peter from Scotland, I went by Ella and Gionni’s house for a short visit. It’s been a long time since I have seen them, and as always we had a fine time. Enzo and Lisa were there as well; and Alice, Elettra, Rebeccah, and Rossella all dropped by during my visit to say hello. I was glad to hear from Rossella that her husband Teresio has finished his cortisone treatments for his 2 herniated discs in his spine and would return to work as a PE coach at the high school on Monday. He’s been in a lot of pain, and Rossella has been stressed trying to care for him, go to her work and take care of all the other things going on in her life. He is still going to have to be very careful with his back, but I’m glad he’s better.

It was good to see Peter; and on the way home, I heard lots of great stories about what they saw and did in Scotland. It seems that they spent 2 ½ hours at one farm only walking in the fields with the farmer and hearing all about their history. Peter was asked to drive the van for the group, and they drive on the left side of the road, so he had to get used to that. He did fine after the first few round-abouts, and he was glad to help out that way. He showed me lots of pictures, and in each one everyone was doing something interesting and fun. It looked like they were really enjoying their time in Scotland. I was so pleased to hear all about it.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

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There are blind wine tasting events…and then, there are BLIND WINE TASTING EVENTS. Peter saw our neighbor Alberto when he went next door to get coffee today. Alberto was going to a party hosted by the wine maker at the Marchesi di Greysi Vineyard. The wine maker, Jeffrey Chilcott (New Zealander, but an Italian winemaker for 20 years), was leaving for a 2-month vacation, and he wanted to get together with his friends before he left. Five other local wine makers and some other friends were going to be there, and Alberto invited us to join them. Peter paused, remembering the tall list of homework that was waiting, then eagerly accepted his kind invitation, struck with the powerful impact this could have on our tours in this area later and the fun we anticipated. We were pleased to find out that Jess from Peter’s class was invited, too. We always enjoy our time with her. My only regret from the whole evening was that the weather was very foggy, which made it hard to take advantage of the 225 degree panorama which could be seen on a clear day at Jeffrey’s house, high on a Piemonte mountaintop promontory.

My mistake was not taking any pictures, but Peter came to the rescue. We were caught up in the evening, which included feasting on constantly replenished plates of everything delicious (chicken, lardo, salumi and prociutto cotto with bread, cheese plates with fresh pears, Peter’s roasted vegetables, a traditional, savory beef and beans soup, cakes of onion and of eggplant, sweet cakes and fresh pineapple with dried fig salad drenched with grappa)… AND… tasting  (are you ready?) 27 different wines during the 6-hour meal from 4:30 to 10:30! We were told that the most they had ever tasted in one evening was 33. I sort of regretted that we had stopped at 27…so close to the record! Of course, we left at 10:30, but they were only just getting into the dessert, so maybe they did keep going to 33 or beyond! I’ll have to ask Alberto about that! (UPDATE: JESS SAID THEY DID DO 33 AND MATCHED THE RECORD!)

With each new wine; it was tasted, then discussed at length, and everyone was given an opportunity to guess what kind it was, where it was made and the year. The 6 winemakers that were there all contributed their own bottles of surprise wine, and most of them enjoyed center stage when their wines were tasted and the identities were revealed.

It was a truly memorable night. Thank you so much, Alberto, for honoring us with an invitation. And, thanks to Jeffrey and all of the other new friends we met there.

What a special time we had together!

Colleen

Dinners with Enzo/Lisa and the Thanksgiving group

Italy Journal

Tues-Thurs, November 20-22, 2012

Tuesday was my day to have my Italian lesson. I must be getting much better at Italian or else Sara is speaking much slower. I seem to be understanding more and more of what she is saying. She almost always speaks Italian to me in class.

I’m also meeting with Sara as often as possible now to help her get ready to do her local tours in perfect English. We have a great time working on this, and I’m getting lots of super information from her tours. Thanks, Sara, for including me in this fun.

My massage today was super. Stephanie did a warm treatment with my left wrist and hand that really made it feel so much more supple than it has. I will ask her to include that in the future, until my wrist is all the way better. I’m realizing, too, that typing on the computer makes my fingers and wrist stiff, so I’m trying to hold my hands more like playing a piano when I type. It’s not an option to stop writing my journal, though.

Tonight’s dinner with Ashley, a student in the new masters program that starts tomorrow was really nice. We had leftovers from some of Peter’s cooking, which is always good. It was fun to get to know her a little better. She’s from Canada and is excited about the program. She likes to go for long walks, like me, so I plan to include her in my Pocopaglia (“poe koe PAH lia”) hike on Saturday morning.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

I had a treat today. I went into Grimaldi’s Pasta Shop that is owned by our friends Mara and Valerio, and I got to meet Mara’s parents Peter and Terry. Neither spoke any English to me, but he especially got by teasing me well enough in Italian. He told me that it’s always better to smile than to frown, and I was very good at smiling. I told him he taught me well! I was so glad to meet both of them, and I hope we can see more of them, as well as Mara and Valerio and crew.

I went by the street market on the way home to buy some beautiful fresh flowers to cheer up the house for our Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow. I was very pleased with what I found. I’m so glad Peter got a flower vase from IKEA when we first arrived in Italy. We use it a lot.

In the afternoon, I picked up Alida from the University, and Elizabeth was with her. Elizabeth was invited to come to dinner tomorrow, so Alida invited her to go shopping with us at Eataly this afternoon. We just HAVE TO HAVE brussel sprouts., and we did find some very nice ones there. I’m glad I can drive the other students there. It’s a great place to get fresh foods, and it’s too far away to walk.

Enzo and Lisa invited me for supper tonight, and I really enjoyed visiting with them, as always. Enzo made the wonderful cheese with prosciutto wrapped in pastry that I love so much, and he followed it with some of his great pasta. I took half of the magnificent frutta del bosco and albicocca (berries and apricot) torta that Mara had made for me, and Lisa’s daughter Alice (pronounced “ah LEE chay”) was there to join us for the meal. It was nice of all of them to include me.

Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012

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It’s Thanksgiving Day, and I received a text from Mara earlier that said there was not a tennis court available for us today, so we will play next Thursday. I really needed some exercise, and I took off for a long walk. I made a stop in a makeup store (Yes, really!) on the way and found the exact color of lipstick that I have been searching for about 3 weeks. That was great!

Alida called for me to come around the corner to her apartment and help her bring her food to my house about 1:30, and the fun began. She’s an independent chef, so I went about cleaning the house and setting up the table while she started prepping all the food. She decided that we would probably have one or two more than the current number of 8, so I put all the leaves in the dining room table so that it was very easy to just set another place when Anika did appear asking if she could join us. Of course, we were glad to include her…and her nice bottle of wine.

Alida made cranberry sauce with orange, the turkey, stuffing with chestnuts, gravy, small baked sweet potatoes and delicious leeks. As the rest of the group appeared at 7:30, we added cornbread and pecan pie made by Chiara, Conny’s raisin bread and rice with chard yummy dish, Elizabeth’s buttery brussel sprouts, creamy mashed potatoes from our next door neighbors Bianca and Nora, and Veronika’s German apple strudel. Peter had left some wine in the refrigerator, so we served that to those who wanted it. We all had such a wonderful time. Conny helped to cut the turkey and took a turkey leg/thigh as his well-deserved payment. It was great to get to know everyone.  They all said they had a wonderful time. We missed Peter, but everyone left their leftovers with me, so Peter will have his share when he gets home tomorrow night… not a moment too soon!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Colleen

Dinner with Sara Tutor

Italy Journal 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Monday was the day to go to the airport to deposit Peter for his trip to Scotland. He was pleased that the group was in a great mood to be there. Even the weather was predicted to be better than they had announced a couple of weeks before.

I was pleased to receive a call during a break on my drive back to Bra from Alida, a new friend we met at some of the Pop-up Cafes during the weekend. She wanted to have a Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday and wondered if she could have it at my house, where the stove is extra large. I told her I was on my way back and would be there by noon. That was fine with her because she was going to a doctor’s appointment to check on her diabetes and would be home by 13,00. I invited her to come to our house and enjoy some of Peter’s leftovers with me. In the mean time, I had sent Immobiliare Luca a text saying that we were finding mold on the ceiling in the back bathroom, and I would be home by noon. He contacted the owner, and at noon sharp, the owner rang our bell. I showed him our concern, and he assured me that it was going to be corrected…in two weeks. In the mean time, we could wipe the ceiling and spread ammonia on it. I told him I didn’t have access to a ladder and for him to please get someone here as soon as possible. He admired the way we had decorated our apartment and asked if we didn’t want to stay another year…or 3…or 5…or 10? I told him we were still waiting for the fold out couch he had promised us, and I noted that we had requested 8 lights to be replaced 2 months ago. He said he would take care of that, too. As my mother would say, “We’ll see!”

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with Alida. Like all the other students I have met from the University in Pollenzo, she has a very interesting story to tell. We talked a long time while we enjoyed Peter’s roasted veggies, fish, pear sauce and pasta. Then, we looked at options about Thanksgiving. I told her I had a tennis match Thursday afternoon and she was welcome to use my house. After much thought and deliberation about how to keep the group small enough to be more intimate, she decided to keep the guest list very small… just her, me, my new neighbors (and her classmates) Nora and Bianca, and a couple of her other very best friends that I haven’t met. All of Peter’s class is in Great Britain, but there are still many others in the undergraduate programs and the other master programs that she and I know. Although we both felt bad about leaving anyone out, she decided just to keep the group very small, which would be less stressful on her and much easier to pull together in 3 days. We both know other people who have talked about organizing a dinner for Thanksgiving, but no one else had contacted either of us with plans. We will go ahead with our plans and let others do the same. We made a list of the menu and ingredients we wanted and made a schedule of when to purchase what. She even sent text messages to the four others whom she wanted to invite, including what we would suggest that they bring. Alida is from Canada, and her Thanksgiving traditional foods are very different than what I am used to, so I am really looking forward to a new experience. Turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and cornbread recipes are close to the same. Leek is brand new to me, but pecan pie is on their menu. I’m just going with the flow. It will be delicious.

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In the evening, I took off for Cherasco (6km) and ate supper with my Italian tutor Sara and her little boy and girl. Sara’s husband has gone to Bangkok for work this week, and Sara was so nice to include me in their evening. The children are precious and did…what all children do…played, sang, read books, and we all enjoyed an authentic Pirates’ Supper! Everyone should do one of those sometime, especially with a 1 year old and a 4 year old. Great fun! We started the evening at 5:30, and I left at 8:15 when the children were getting tired. That made a nice way to start my week with Peter in Scotland.