~~ NaTaLE iN rOmA ~~

This year for Christmas I wasn't sure what to expect. I had mixed feelings about not being able to be at home. But as Christmas came closer and closer and I began to see the lights at night, the decorations in the storefronts and the trees glowing in windows, it put me more at ease. And I did my part by playing my Christmas playlist on my ipod anywhere I went. I began doing a little shopping/present making myself. I bought Alessandro a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dwarfs set from the Disney Store (can't go a Christmas without a present from there), and gave him the book in English as well (Sidebar: he has a little obsession with the dwarfs, and I still can't remember the names in Italian...gongolo, pisolo, mammolo...don't ask me which is which). For Fabiana and Giulio I had Ale draw a picture and I cut out his hand prints from colored tissue, and then I printed some pictures of him and framed everything in a nice poster frame. It turned out fantastic, but of course it didn't come without any troubles. I had to get the pictures printed twice, at the last minute, and when I went to buy the frame they were all out, so I had to get a bigger one...everything always works out in the end, and the bigger frame was better, but...

There wasn't much anticipation for Christmas Eve as I would have hoped. The day arrived just as any other. Of course I was wrapping and making presents at the last minute like usual, and I was nervous about dinner because traditionally, every dish at the Christmas Eve feast is fish related. And everyone knows fish isn't my favorite food unless it's fried with lots of salt and ketchup. We were going to Guilio's Brother's house for dinner and I didn't want him or his wife to be offended if I didn't eat much. We got there around 8 and probably started eating about 8:30. We finished the meal at 11. We had, for starters, Breads topped with salmon and roe (i tried it...not too bad, edible), shrimp wrapped in pastry (very yummy), Russian salad (which was pretty delicious), caviar (dislike), sardines (dislike), a seafood salad which was cold, and salmon pieces with lemon (dislike)...all passed around one at a time. Then we had pasta with tuna (like), bread and FRENCH butter (who doesn't like bread and butter), and a seafood salad (I tried a few monitored scoops), complete with octopus, lobster, shrimp, clams, oysters and potatoes, etc. Then we had the main course which consisted of cooked salmon (dislike) and a puree type molded thing with cauliflower (extremely delicious recipe wanted). Diner went very well especially listening to Guilio's cousin Daniele and his crazy stories...and having wine and champagne as well.


After dinner we waited a bit before we had dessert. During this time Babo Natale made an appearance at the house. All the kids were so excited. There was four of them there. Alessandro, Elisabetta, Margherita, and Federico. It was a whirlwind from the start with the pounding on the door to the end of present opening. It all happened in a matter of 10 minutes. It was chaos. In that chaos 2 presents arrived for me unexpectedly. Guilio's parents bought me a nice sweater and I got some makeup from Guilio's brother's family. That was very thoughtful of them. But throughout this whole time I felt very at ease, and happy, much better than I thought I would feel.

At about 11:30 we brought out dessert. It was time to eat the monster Mont Blanc that Guilio and I created...

I will write about the creation process in a bit. Guilio was bragging from the time we got there about our creation, but I said, until everyone tried it, it was only Guilio's creation. It turned out that everyone approved, so I then took credit for making it. We also had fruit and after dinner liquor to top off the meal. All in all it was a great night!!!

When we came home that night and put Alessandro to bed we put the rest of the gifts for Christmas under the tree. We told Alessandro that before we left that we had to leave the door open so that Santa could come during the night. After that I skyped with my family, which was amazing, until about 3am, and then I went to bed. GREAT DAY~

Christmas morning, Ale was super excited to get his presents. He loved his Dwarf set and his book. And Guilio and Fabi were thankful for their picture that I made for them. It took Alessandro a few afternoons after school to actually get draw the picture, but we did it.


That afternoon we went to Guilio's parents for brunch. We had a relaxing afternoon with lots of food once again...tortellini, meat and potatoes, meatballs, fruit, bread, and the typical panettone, the cake for Christmas here in Italy. We listened to Christmas carols played by a symphony and played a typical Italian game of cards. Guilio, his mom and Alessandro played the piano together. Precious.

That night we came home, I skyped with my family and got to watch some presents get unwrapped, while the Wii was being setup in the other room. Guilio bought Fabiana Wii Fit for Christmas, but that also entailed buying a Wii to go along with it, but that was for everyone. After dinner we watched a movie, and then I came and skyped with my family some more...I tried watching movies to keep me awake so that I could talk to my mom and Grandma when they got to my sister's but I failed...I woke up at 4am and talked to them for a few minutes, but was half sleeping the whole time. I was wiped out.

Yesterday was our last Christmas festivity. We had another brunch at Guilio's Uncle's Villa 45 minutes outside of Rome. It's the same place that we had the May 1st Party. I was a little uncomfortable when I first got there but after a little food and drink I felt a little better. Again we had quite the meal...prosciutto and mozzarella, nuts, cheeses, olives, champagne to start...cannoloni for the first plate, a turkey meatloaf with chestnuts for second plate, and then panettone, chocolate, dried fruits, and coffee for dessert.

After brunch the kids ran around and some of us played a card game and then Tombola, which is like bingo. I lost a 1.75E, but I made up for that in Tombola. I won 6E. The games were pretty fun. The jackpot for Tombola (fullcard) was 20E. Pretty nice prize. I just one with having 5 on one line. We left the villa around 8 that night and stopped for Chinese on the way home. We watched Slumdog Millionaire later and then I passed out. I was pooped.

All in all, it was a great Christmas weekend. I had a good time. It was hard being away from my family and friends but being able to at least see and talk to them meant a lot to me. Listening to Christmas carols, like I'll be home for Christmas puts things in a whole new perspective...The true meaning of Christmas...Family...love...laughter...

~~ I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday ~~

~~ The FeAsT of The iMmaCulAte CoNcEpTioN & tHe ArRivO di NaTaLe ~~

Today in Rome was The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is usually on December 8th, and is generally a Holy Day of Obligation. The faithful are required to attend Mass, where they commemorate when Mary was graced by God to lead a life completely free of sin. Everyone usually has the day off and it is also the day that most Italians set up their nativity scenes, and put up all their decorations. In our case, only a Christmas tree. It is far from my normal amount of red and green scattered throughout my house, but when in Rome...

Also today we went to a movie in Villa Borghese, "La Cinema di Topolino." This is the story of the cinema...http://www.cinemadeipiccoli.it/storia.htm. The cinema we went to is in the Guinness book of world records as the smallest working theater. We watched a movie about the history of pizza in Naples and how it came about, "Toto Sapore e la Magica Storia della Pizza." It was fun to see and then we went out for PIZZA afterwards at a very well known Napoletana Pizzaria. Buonissima!!!

The last few days have been full of delicious food. Last night we went to a pre-Christmas potluck with about 30 people. All Sardinian. We had tons of food pasta, curry chicken, paninis, souffles, lasagna, vino, and yours truly made brownies :) Sidenote: They went over quite well, but I had to make two batches because the first one didn't turn out to well. There must be something different about the butter here, or something, we finally figured out through trial and error, that when you bake you have to cut back the butter and add more flour. It's strange. Anyway...the party was fun. There was Christmas music playing and people wearing santa hats. Alessandro was having a blast eventhough he was the only kid there. We had a gift exchange...something worth 5 euros. Guilio and Fabiana both got chocolates, Alessandro a bank, which he loved, and me...Cow salt and pepper shakers....go figure. The girl from Wisconsin gets the cow present.

Although, I am not back home where every house is littered with lights, faded plastic santas, and candy canes, there is still a feeling of Christmas in the air. There are a lot more decorations here than I thought, especially on this one street we passed tonight. I will be going back there with my Ipod blasting its christmas playlist and wandering the streets with all the lights. It made me happy. Hopefully I can get some pictures of everything. But...

After the long weekend, It's back to the grind tomorrow. Same stuff, just a different day. I believe I will be coming home around the end of January...and I can't wait!

Buonanotte a tutti!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

~~ ThINgS tO Be ThANkFuL fOR ~~ GoBbLe gObBLe ~~

This year for Thanksgiving I was a little nervous. It was going to be my first major holiday away from my family, although I have an amazing one here in Rome, I wasn't sure what the day was going to entail. About a week before, we started to talk amongst our friends about what we wanted to do. We decided to do a full out Turkey day at Erin and Paolo's house...Thanks for new lifelong friends!

I knew this wasn't going to be a "normal" thanksgiving but that's all relative. The day before I went to the grocery store to get my ingredients I needed to make the dishes I was bringing. I was making brown sugar carrots, green beans wrapped in bacon, and a Chocolate Meringue pie (everyone knows this girl dislikes both pumpkin and apple pie...so chocoalte it was). At the grocery store I went up to the butcher counter to get the prosciutto/bacon. I asked for "20 fette sottili" (pieces thinly sliced), but all I heard was thump, thump, thump while I was getting the butter. I walked backed over to the counter and saw he was cutting them by hand, and asked him to stop because I needed them very thin. He said it wasn't possible to do and that was that...I got some different stuff and proceeded on my way. I had to go to three different supermarkets to find a round pie tin before I found one. Thanks for presliced bacon and round pie tins.

I got home with all my goodies and started blanching my beans I got at the market, chopping carrots, whisking melted chocolate, weighing all my ingredients after converting them all to metric system...such a pain, and using a baby bottle to measure the liquids...I was getting nervous about the outcome of everything. Things were moving along and then I realized, after trying, I didn't know how to turn on the oven. Luckily we had a toaster oven, and I used that to cook the pie. Thanks for baby bottles to measure and toaster ovens!

After I finished the dishes, I realized I was running late, like usual, and had to change and figure out how to pack all this stuff. I had two pans of carrots and one of beans, a big pot for mulled wine, and the fragile pie. I walked the 10 minutes to the bus stop with ease, it came in 5 minutes and was able to sit down when I got on. We arrived at my stop and I got off, walked the 5 minutes to the next stop, and caught that bus with ease as well. I wasn't able to sit and everyone stared at me with all this stuff in my hands...typical. As we climbed the hill more and more people got on and I was pinned in the aisle holding the heavy food with one arm and the big pot with the other...I can't imagine what I looked like. This lasted for an excruciating 15 minutes that felt like forever and had to force my way off the bus...the entire time worrying about my pie. Thanks for buses that got me to Erin and Paolo's.

I got to Erin and Paolo's and they were just putting in the first round of 4 chickens. We didn't have enough room for a turkey, and would have to have bought it on Wednesday with no place to store it, so chickens it was. I immediately threw down the food and ran to find the Packer game...of course making sure the pie was ok first. We watched the game in streaming...and I talked to my family on skype. Thanks for technology so I could watch the game and see my family!

At this time the Packers had one a great game and everyone started arriving...old friends and new faces. People mingled and drank mulled wine while we were cooking the feast. There was so much food...6 chickens, 20 potatoes, 20 bundles of beans, 2 pans pasta al forno, 1 pan of carrots, bruschetta, gravy (i made all by myself from scratch...you proud grandmas???), 3 pies, pumpkin, apple, and chocolate...and people from all over the world...Guatemala, Austrailia, Spain, Argentina, and America. Everything was delicious! I was worried for nothing. Even though there were no mashed potatoes, we survived, and everyone had a great time. Thanks for a great international Thanksgiving in Rome and a PACKER WIN!

I of course missed my family and friends but it sounds like you all had quite a lovely holiday. I will hopefully have some pictures, but unfortunately I forgot my camera, of course. Thanks for my family and friends who love me even though I am so far away!

The following night we went out for Paolo's birthday. We had a great dinner at Luzzi's Trattoria followed by some limoncello...which they just leave the entire bottle on your table. I haven't quite figured that one out yet.

On another slightly different note: Since I started hanging out with Erin, we have been cooking up a storm. We started with Sunday Fundays and just making pizzas from scratch...then we went on to cookies, and muffins, and tortillas...(our first two attempts at chocolate chip cookies were disasters). We have mastered that problem...less butter, hotter oven, and a bit more flour...and now I have started to cook things at home more. I made brownies the other day for Guilio. They turned out pretty well, considering it was a recipe I had never made before and it called for fruity olive oil and I used regular. I was already taking a risk making olive oil brownies to begin with, but I just added an extra teaspoon of vanilla and they were good to go. I did, however, forget that I didn't know how to turn on the oven...still, and had to cook them in the toaster oven again.

I will be making brownies again for a dinner that we are going to tomorrow. I am going to make the regular chewy brownies for tomorrow...real American style :)

Also, Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas here. There are a lot more lights and decorations here then I thought there was going to be. It makes me happy. This is my favorite time of the year. This Tuesday is "festa" for the Italians. It is the day when EVERYTHING is closed, everyone is off, and they put up their decorations and tree, but it's really the day of the "Immaculate Conception." Everything will be closed Tuesday for sure, and probably tomorrow too. Tonight is St. Nick's and it will be the first Christmas without a stocking...strange. I think I might go buy a few decorations to make it feel more like home :)