We were invited to have Christmas Eve dinner with Dante and Mariella, an invitation which we happily obliged. Dinner started at around 8 o'clock and finished well after midnight! These people know how to eat! First there were about 8 antipasti, all sorts of little nibbles like marinated anchovies, olives and a few Romanian specialties that our neighbors Radu and Donna brought with them. Then we had frutti di mare, a marinated seafood dish consisting of octopus and who knows what else came out of the sea that day. Then came the seafood risotto, a massive bowl of rice and huge prawns (with the heads on of course). Next was another huge bowl of mussels sauteed in white wine, oil and garlic and finished on top of the fireplace stove served with bread toasted over the flame in the main fireplace. Finally, the main course arrived, it was an octopus stew with potatoes, tomatoes and olives.
Eating massive amounts of food is nothing new to us Americans but the real surprise of the evening came in between courses. The music was changed from Christmas songs (in English, for some reason) to waltz music. All of a sudden, people began dancing in order to make room in their bellies for the next course. I got an impromptu lesson on what I referred to as the "box-trot" from a friend of Dante's. Unfortunately, I'm still an awful dancer. We also did some traditional folk dances as well, which were a lot of fun too.
After all of the food and wine had been finished off, more or less, we played a few games of Uno in order to pass the time before another tradition had to be observed. At midnight there is a sparkling wine toast and a little slice of panettone (a light, airy, semi-sweet, spongy cake) and everyone says Auguri! (best wishes).
Where the heck was all of the bloody meat? Well, Italian tradition is to eat seafood on Christmas Eve, so in keeping with tradition, we ate massive amounts of seafood. Everything was great, it was the first time we'd ever eaten octopus and we both really liked it and are looking forward to trying it again down the road, though I think we've had enough seafood for a week or so!
Well, we hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and that you get up and dance a little between courses! Auguri!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
We Made It!
Wow, this week was a struggle. I think we had "Light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel syndrome". Every morning we woke up and said, "Three more days; Two more days", etc. Our minds, bodies and souls are dead tired and oh so ready for our long vacation. Many of our students gave us Christmas gifts to say thank you for our time together, which was very sweet. We also got many goodbye kisses in true Italian fashion. The beautiful thing is that we truly made some new friends through our work.
This weekend we will spend some time cooking and relaxing, we will have Christmas Eve dinner with Dante and Mariella, and on Tuesday we plan to go to the Vatican Museum in the hopes that so soon after the holiday the line will be reasonable. Then, on Wednesday, we board the train for Parma! We are extremely excited for our trip, and you can expect lots of good pictures and stories when we return.
This weekend we will spend some time cooking and relaxing, we will have Christmas Eve dinner with Dante and Mariella, and on Tuesday we plan to go to the Vatican Museum in the hopes that so soon after the holiday the line will be reasonable. Then, on Wednesday, we board the train for Parma! We are extremely excited for our trip, and you can expect lots of good pictures and stories when we return.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Only One Week Left!
There are definitely some advantages to living in Italy. This will be our last week of work until January 3rd. We will be forced to lounge around the house for a week before we head off on our food binge, er, vacation on the 27th. Needless to say, we are anxiously waiting to get out of Rome and into another region of the country for some well-deserved relaxation and fun.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Time is Flying!
Well, it's happened. It got cold. Now our morning walks are much colder, and the weather definitely requires a jacket all day. The year is coming to a close rapidly, and we are gearing up for our Emilia-Romagna excursion as the start to what will probably be a year filled with trips and adventures. In the works so far is a weekend stay in Milan in January (we are going to see a rock concert while we are there) and of course Carnivale in Venice in February.
Let's see...highlights this week so far:
Allie made peanut butter cookies and they are swiftly becoming the drug of choice for us. They trigger so many memories of home, and they are extremely addictive. True American comfort food.
Allie watched a man get squished in the door of the metro at least 5 times because he was so determined to be on that particular train (the next train came in less than a minute).
Charles saw a man juggling bowling pins for money in the middle of a very busy intersection (he definitely gets points for bravery...or maybe stupidity).
Allie saw a heated argument on an overstuffed train ride between a man and woman. The woman wanted to get on the train and the man was convinced there was not room for anyone more. Most of the argument was beyond Allie's grasp of the language, but she was able to understand the man saying to the woman, "We live in Italy, not Russia"...This begs the question: are they forced to ride trains packed like cattle in Russia?
Charles' foot is feeling much better, although it is still slightly bruised and hurts occasionally.
We also now have the last season of Desperate Housewives on TV on Wednesday nights to keep us entertained. We are usually up for about the first 30 minutes of the program and then we crash out, but it's much more entertaining than the reality programs that were previously occupying the airwaves.
Hopefully this weekend we will get our Christmas tree set up. We will probably make some macaroni or popcorn garlands for decoration since we don't have any of our ornaments here. Dante and Mariella have invited us to join them for lunch on Christmas, which was a lovely gesture since we will likely be just hanging around the house. Don't expect too many Christmas pictures because we have decided to wait for the after-Christmas "saldi" to buy our loot!
Let's see...highlights this week so far:
Allie made peanut butter cookies and they are swiftly becoming the drug of choice for us. They trigger so many memories of home, and they are extremely addictive. True American comfort food.
Allie watched a man get squished in the door of the metro at least 5 times because he was so determined to be on that particular train (the next train came in less than a minute).
Charles saw a man juggling bowling pins for money in the middle of a very busy intersection (he definitely gets points for bravery...or maybe stupidity).
Allie saw a heated argument on an overstuffed train ride between a man and woman. The woman wanted to get on the train and the man was convinced there was not room for anyone more. Most of the argument was beyond Allie's grasp of the language, but she was able to understand the man saying to the woman, "We live in Italy, not Russia"...This begs the question: are they forced to ride trains packed like cattle in Russia?
Charles' foot is feeling much better, although it is still slightly bruised and hurts occasionally.
We also now have the last season of Desperate Housewives on TV on Wednesday nights to keep us entertained. We are usually up for about the first 30 minutes of the program and then we crash out, but it's much more entertaining than the reality programs that were previously occupying the airwaves.
Hopefully this weekend we will get our Christmas tree set up. We will probably make some macaroni or popcorn garlands for decoration since we don't have any of our ornaments here. Dante and Mariella have invited us to join them for lunch on Christmas, which was a lovely gesture since we will likely be just hanging around the house. Don't expect too many Christmas pictures because we have decided to wait for the after-Christmas "saldi" to buy our loot!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Cook Like an Italian
Here's an easy meal that Allie and I have been loving lately. From your local grocery store you'll need the following items: beef short ribs (2-3 per person), a bottle of cheap merlot (nothing more than 10 dollars, but drinkable), chicken stock, a carrot, a small onion, a few stalks of celery, and a few cloves of garlic. These are pretty much the only ingredients you'll need.
Preheat oven to 350.
First, sprinkle your short ribs with salt and pepper. Next, in a large pot over high heat, cover the bottom of the pot with olive oil. Get the oil smoking hot (open a window before beginning the cooking) and gently place in two ribs (meat side down) at a time using tongs. Let the ribs cook for at least 3-4 minutes on each side, don't move them around, just let them sit in the oil. Let the meat get really brown before flipping the ribs to brown the other side. after another few minutes place the ribs into a large baking pan. After repeating the process for all of the ribs, set them aside.
In that same pot with all of the delicious meaty oil, add in the roughly chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic (peeled and left whole). Cook these for a few minutes. Next step is to add the red wine and chicken stock in a 3:1 portion wine to chicken stock. Depending on the number of ribs you're cooking, it could be the full bottle, also add a small can of peeled stewed tomatoes. Bring this mixture to a boil for a few minutes. Carefully pour the contents of this pot over the ribs in the baking pan. Sprinkle some rosemary and oregano over the top and then cover with foil. Pop it in the oven for 2 - 3 hours depending on the amount of meat you've cooked. When done the meat should have pulled away from the bone, this is a very good thing.
Next, pull out all of the ribs and set aside once again. Strain the broth (now more like a sauce) from the veggies back into the big pot that you'd been using earlier. Crank the burner up to full blast and let the broth reduce by half, it will become very dark and rich.
Pour this reduced sauce over your ribs and serve with a side of mashed potatoes if you're in America or with polenta if you're in Italy!
Side note, you can do this preparation with pretty much any of the tougher, more worked cuts of meat, just ask the butcher which is the best cut for braising. Should be rather inexpensive. You can also substitute water for the wine, but that's no fun!
Preheat oven to 350.
First, sprinkle your short ribs with salt and pepper. Next, in a large pot over high heat, cover the bottom of the pot with olive oil. Get the oil smoking hot (open a window before beginning the cooking) and gently place in two ribs (meat side down) at a time using tongs. Let the ribs cook for at least 3-4 minutes on each side, don't move them around, just let them sit in the oil. Let the meat get really brown before flipping the ribs to brown the other side. after another few minutes place the ribs into a large baking pan. After repeating the process for all of the ribs, set them aside.
In that same pot with all of the delicious meaty oil, add in the roughly chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic (peeled and left whole). Cook these for a few minutes. Next step is to add the red wine and chicken stock in a 3:1 portion wine to chicken stock. Depending on the number of ribs you're cooking, it could be the full bottle, also add a small can of peeled stewed tomatoes. Bring this mixture to a boil for a few minutes. Carefully pour the contents of this pot over the ribs in the baking pan. Sprinkle some rosemary and oregano over the top and then cover with foil. Pop it in the oven for 2 - 3 hours depending on the amount of meat you've cooked. When done the meat should have pulled away from the bone, this is a very good thing.
Next, pull out all of the ribs and set aside once again. Strain the broth (now more like a sauce) from the veggies back into the big pot that you'd been using earlier. Crank the burner up to full blast and let the broth reduce by half, it will become very dark and rich.
Pour this reduced sauce over your ribs and serve with a side of mashed potatoes if you're in America or with polenta if you're in Italy!
Side note, you can do this preparation with pretty much any of the tougher, more worked cuts of meat, just ask the butcher which is the best cut for braising. Should be rather inexpensive. You can also substitute water for the wine, but that's no fun!
Saturday, December 2, 2006
For Your Entertainment
This week I (Allie) went to lunch in the Air Force mess hall with one of my students. After hearing me complain about how I eat pizza for lunch everyday (which I actually wasn't complaining about), he invited to show me the ropes of the chaotic, and could-be confusing, mess hall.
As we waited in line we discussed some of the differences between American and Italian cooking and eating habits. Such as the tendency of Italians to eat their meals in small courses, with vegetables last, and how Americans love to pile as much of each as will fit onto one plate.
As we approached the counter, he helped me order my food, and then we slid our trays along to pick our choice of vegetable. I decided on the small salad, eventhough I am not a fan of the oil and vinegar dressing. As we slid along farther I saw a shaker with parmesan cheese and I topped my pasta with a good helping of it. Naturally, I shifted the parmesan shaker over to my salad and began to shake a few drops of cheese onto the lettuce when I hear my student yell, "Noooooo!!!" It was literally like a slow-motion scene in a movie where someone jumps in front of a bullet for their friend. His outburst startled me, and I looked up to see a horrified face looking at my salad. "What?" I said, thoroughly confused.
He started laughing and explained to me that they do not use this cheese for salads, but that it was a very natural action for me to put it on my lettuce. I explained to him that, yeah it was natural, because I wanted to add a little salty flavor to a bland bowl of lettuce. He simply shook his head.
Although this may sound somewhat of an extreme reaction, you can rest assured that if you "Americanize" an Italian dish (even lettuce) they are screaming on the inside if not on the outside. They like their food as it was originally prepared, and without any changes, even if it means it will make their food tastier.
As we waited in line we discussed some of the differences between American and Italian cooking and eating habits. Such as the tendency of Italians to eat their meals in small courses, with vegetables last, and how Americans love to pile as much of each as will fit onto one plate.
As we approached the counter, he helped me order my food, and then we slid our trays along to pick our choice of vegetable. I decided on the small salad, eventhough I am not a fan of the oil and vinegar dressing. As we slid along farther I saw a shaker with parmesan cheese and I topped my pasta with a good helping of it. Naturally, I shifted the parmesan shaker over to my salad and began to shake a few drops of cheese onto the lettuce when I hear my student yell, "Noooooo!!!" It was literally like a slow-motion scene in a movie where someone jumps in front of a bullet for their friend. His outburst startled me, and I looked up to see a horrified face looking at my salad. "What?" I said, thoroughly confused.
He started laughing and explained to me that they do not use this cheese for salads, but that it was a very natural action for me to put it on my lettuce. I explained to him that, yeah it was natural, because I wanted to add a little salty flavor to a bland bowl of lettuce. He simply shook his head.
Although this may sound somewhat of an extreme reaction, you can rest assured that if you "Americanize" an Italian dish (even lettuce) they are screaming on the inside if not on the outside. They like their food as it was originally prepared, and without any changes, even if it means it will make their food tastier.
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