Italy Journal
Tuesday, December 25,
2012
CHRISTMAS IN ITALY,
2012
What a beautiful Christmas Day we had…except for the
weather, which included fog thick enough at times to block our vision of
neighbors on the other side of our courtyard! Never mind…that was only the
weather! The rest of the day was wonderful!
Mid afternoon, our 3 dinner guests, students from the
university who were in Bra for Christmas, arrived with wines and other
contributions to the dinner. They were Maria Jose from Colombia with a very
interesting Colombian sweet and savory dessert, Maham from Pakestan with wonderful
custard and John from Uganda with a delicious lentil/potatoes/ black pepper
dish. Peter added some wonderful roast beef, scrumptious butter and sage
ricotta-filled ravioli, perfectly cooked broccoli and roasted cauliflower/bell
peppers/onions. After some deliberation and soul-searching, I decided I would
share the magnificent Chocolate Caprese cake that Enzo had made for us for
Christmas.
Maham was distressed when she arrived late, because she had
broken her custard and didn’t have any way to get rid of the curds and make it
smooth so it would set correctly. I
whipped out our little contraption that mixes and chops everything in sight,
and voila! It was done in a minute. She put it in the refrigerator, and I was
the first at the end of the meal to spread the yummy custard on Enzo’s
fantastic chocolate cake. I knew that would be a perfect marriage!
Peter had rearranged our living room to accommodate the
serving table, and we ate and ate with lots of sharing of everyone’s customs
from their countries. It was a good lesson in “everybody does it differently!”
Just as we were preparing to have dessert, Lee Anne showed
up at the door with some fresh fruitcake. She had been invited to dinner at a
neighbor’s house, but wanted to drop by our house afterwards. She’s the only
other one in Peter’s cohort who is still here, so we were glad to welcome her.
And, just as she got settled, Enzo and Lisa came by after eating with her
family at Ella’s house. It was so good to get together with all of them. Pay
particular attention to the picture of Lisa trying to help Enzo think of the
English word for “moose!” She’s so entertaining!
As everyone left, we got messages from Cati and Nick that
they were on a group Skype page, and we talked with all of them for a long
while. Peter missed Kyle, Victoria and Jill when he tried to Skype with them,
but we’ll try again tomorrow. It’s not the same being away from family at
Christmas, but I was pleased that we could be family for the students who were
here.
Later, our neighbor Alberto rang the bell to say he was on
his way, but needed to go by his apartment…in our complex…to pick up some wines
and cheeses. He came back a little later, and we continued our Christmas
celebration with him. He is full of information and stories about lots of
places nearby, and now we have plans to go with him to a great place near the
mountains that he wants to share with us. We have not known Alberto long, but
he is becoming a dear friend. We are glad he lives so close by. As he left, he
invited us for aperitivo at his apartment tomorrow night. We hope he will let
us bring some pasta, since we have much more than we needed for today. Also, we
asked if Lee Anne could join us, since she is alone. He readily agreed. He had
met Lee Anne this week in Bra, and was happy to have her join us at his house.
Peter and I hope that all of you are having a joyous
Christmas season.
Colleen
No comments:
Post a Comment