January recap...

January is over. It was an intense period full of new work challenges and deadlines, but also nice moments of reunion with families and friends. An example over all was our dear friends Andrea and Monica's wedding.

Finally this weekend we found the time to relax and enjoy just staying home. We could sleep longer, found the time to fix some unfinished projects and made some new recipes, like meat balls (sorry, no pictures, because they were way too good and we ate them right away!) and chocolate chips cookies! *YUMMY*

Isn't this Roman broccolo fantastic? It tastes also super good!!!

Now we are waiting for Carnival (we have planned a visit in Venice for the occasion in 3 weeks!) and St. Valentine's Day...

Happy February everybody!!

-E

Planning

Probably I didn't mention in my last posts that at Christmas my brother and I decided to gift my parents a trip to London next spring. We thought it could be also a great idea to celebrate our mom's retirment. They were absolutely amazed by this gift, that they didn't expect at all. The greatest amazement for them was given by the fact that in that moment they were having in their hands real plane tickets for London and it wasn't just an idea or an hypothesis, feeling like they were going somewhere very far and exotic ("far" and "exotic" are both relative concepts, but for my parents London is really far and exotic!! *grin*).

At that point, my parents started to get worried more day by day with the idea to go to London by themselves. Therefore they suggested that my brother and I could accompany them in this trip. I can say to know London quite well, as I have been there several times and it's also my favourite city. We coudn't not invite also our girlfriends. So, the trip that should have been a romantic gataway transformed into a messy family trip!!!

Until the end of highschool I used to travel in Italy with my parents, but then I started to travel the world on a larger scale by myself or with friends and later with Ely. After all this time, now I feel new and numb with the idea to travel again with my parents and - as I have been nominated official London guide and holiday planner for the whole family- I am basically trying to think about every possible need of my renewed travelmates. And it's not easy, because I have the idea that my concept of visiting London isn't absolutely the same that my family has in mind.

Maybe I am wrong, but some of their statements like this lately made me wonder...

Mum :" Mario, but...how we will find food in London?"
Mario :" Mum, London is a CITY, not a place in the middle of nowhere. You can eat everything you want!"
Mum :" How about...toilets?"
Mario sights and just didn't say anything!

In consideration of how tiring could be to walk around London all day and to have a total flexibility for all our needs, I found a nice but modest apartment for rent in the city centre, by walking distance of some of the most famous London's landmarks. We will have a fully equipped kitchen for preparing breakfasts and other meals, 2 rooms with 3 beds, a privite bathroom and a livingroom. And all this for a really reasonable price, especially for London!!

Now that I have booked all the plane tickets and fixed the booking of the apartment, I am thinking of all the rest to see and do, trying to do not make too much, consider plenty of time for resting, have more than an option for visits and sightseeings everyday and be in the right place at lunch and dinner time (like hisorical pubs, food markets and so on...). I have a lot of work to do yet! I usually don't plan everything like this (even if Ely's and mine travel journals are famous among our friends and relatives!)...but when it comes to be in London is like being home for me, and I just plan things by ear in consideration of what I feel to do and to go in that specific moment...

For all my friends that live in London and near it, if it happens that you are willing to meet me and my family and take part of this funny messy group around London...send me an email and we will plan something together.

London, here we come! :)

-M

Applying for the "best job in the world"...

The other day I was preparing lunch with Ely, when we saw this advertising on TV: Tourism Queensland (Australia) is looking for a Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. For just a few minor tasks that need to be taken care of and the duty to report to Tourism Queensland (and the world) what’s taking place on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef through a weekly updated blog with photos and videos, you can live in a earthly paradise on the Whitsunday Islands for 6 months with a friend or a family member. And if just having this great opportunity wasn't enough, you would also be paid AUS$ 150,000.00 (something like 75.000,00 €) for the job! Isn't it fantastic?!?!?

Everybody is eligible for this job. It's enough to record a video of presentation (maximum 1 min. long!) and then 11 candidates will be picked and asked to fly to Australia for a real interview. Only 1 out of 11 will be the lucky Great Barrier Reef Caretaker.

I figure it out that not everybody can decide to leave everything (job, family, etc...) for 6 months, but Ely and I are thinking to apply for this job. For sure the application process is a funny thing to do together (prepare the video, record it...and so on!) and for sure being picked among hundreds of thousands of applications ain't easy, but it worths the pain to try. And after all, it's nice to dream for such an exotic escape!

Some years ago I was on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and I have fantastic memories of that holiday. It was quite an experience that I hope I will be able to do it again with Ely. I loved tropical Queensland, the beautiful heavenly islands of the Great Barrier Reef, jumping from the boat and snorkeling over the clear water watching the colorful fishes and enjoying empty white coral beaches with spectacular views of the ocean and the reef.

Here are some of my photos (not digital at that time!)



And if you want to have a look at this job opportunity, click here!!

...maybe in a few months I will post from Australia!!!! :))

-M

Polenta making

These last few days after Christmas we are enjoying the warmth of the family all together at my grandparent's house in a little village in the mountain, about 1 hour drive from the city. We are relaxing, other than spending time with parents, grandparents, auncles, aunts and cousins. And what's the best moment to share than the polenta making?!? Here polenta is a traditional meal, old and poor, but can be combined with other ingredients to make it richer and delicious. One of these variants is "polenta carbonera", a particular polenta made with the add of butter, typical local sausages and cheese. The result is a rich and complete meal, to eat together with just some vegetables. The procedure of making polenta is old and not as simple as it looks like. First of all, to make it to taste right, it has to be cooked on a wood fire. Here traditional homes have this wood fire for cooking in every kitchen, with the both function of heating the kitchen and cooking the meals. Nowadays it's always together with a gas or electric kitchen, but it's essential for the perfect polenta making! Then, the polenta has to be cooked in a copper pot and during the cooking it has to be mixed continuously with a wooden cookware. First salted boiling water and yellow polenta flour is mixed together. Afterwards it needs to be cooked for about 40 minutes, continiuously mixing. At the end of the cooking, some other ingredients can be added, like butter, sausages and cheese, all cut finely, and then all cooked for some more minutes, until well mixed.

Christmas time

Merry Christmas everybody!

Here are some of the last moments before Christmas, when Ely and I did the last shopping at the Christmas markets and then we baked some ginger-cinnamon cookies for our friends and relatives. Ely decorated them with royal icing made with the confectioners' sugar that Merry gave us this summer (and the result is fantastic! Thank you, Merry!). Plus, I added some other colorful sugar decorations...and this is the result:

Ely could barely resist to eat them all!!!!! :)

Snowy 10 on 10 - December.

Here we are with our new December 10 on 10 installment. We are having an exceptional snowy weather here in Northern Italy this season. It's nice to have all covered with white soft snow...but it's also becoming a problem when it snows so much in the city. We couldn't even move the car today, under a very thick layer of snow. Forecasts says that it will keep on snowing until Sunday...and if it will be like this we will have some big problems...We will keep you updated and meanwhile...enjoy this snowy 10 on 10!!! Enjoy!!!

1. Our little Christmas tree...

2. Snow at the park...

3. ...and on the benches

4. Christmas trees on sale along the way to the grocery store

5. Heavy snowfall also means empty shops!

6/7. On the way back home...under the snow!

8. Almost arrived...

9. A cup of tea to warm up

10. Happy holidays everybody!!!!!

-M & E

Craft Fair in Milan

Last Sunday we went to Milan to visit a special Craft fair at the new Milan trade exhibition centre in Rho. We also wanted to see the buildings of this new centre designed by the italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas. It's amazing!

Here are some views of the buildings and the structure that covers the connections between them:

The fair was diveded in 4 main areas: Lombardy, Italy, Europe and Rest of the world.

Inside every area there were hundreds of stands of different kinds of crafts, art and food. There were also theme restaurants like chinese, brazilian, arabic, etc... in the "rest of the world" area, german, french, spanish, portuguese, etc... in the "Europe" area, and typical regional food from different italian regions in the "Italy" area. Ely and I chose to eat in the German area because we were attracted by the fantastic german sausages and bretzels that we found there. We also wanted to try the Austrian pastry stand, but we were too full for a slice of Sacher...

Our favourite parts of the whole fair were the arabic/african stands, because it was like being in an arabic souk market and the French stands, because it was like a Provencal market, with a nice smell of lavander. We bought a very nice tureen, which is an original pottery artwork from Israel in the "Rest of the world"area and a very nice mirror to hang in our house in the "Europe" area. The "italian" area was also very nice with a lot of food stands and we also found good ideas for little Christmas gifts for friends and relatives.

French stands entrance

Italian food stands

We really liked this craft fair and would visit it again next year.