I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was very busy, but filled with family, friends and laughter.
Wishing everyone health and happiness in 2011.
Winter Wonderland
I know there are people that absolutely despise “the white stuff”, but I have to admit, I’m like a little kid when it snows. I just love it. To me it makes the world a magical place. So, the other night when the snow starting coming down, I may have been the only person in town who went out on their balcony just to enjoy that special hush that comes over everything when the flakes start flying.
It started snowing here on Monday night, Tuesday it melted a little bit and then we had light to heavy snowfall on and off from Wednesday evening until Thursday afternoon.
Thursday morning, our street looked like this (picture taken from my 4th floor balcony)
But the snow kept falling, so by the afternoon it looked like this
And here’s our neighbor’s persimmon tree which, starkly beautiful with its black, leafless branches and reddish-orange fruit, becomes an even more spectacular sight when covered with snow.
Here’s a close-up of the persimmon tree
In the next few days the weather is supposed to warm up and may even rain, so a white Christmas is probably out of the question. In the meantime though, I’ll enjoy the view, take a few walks in the crisp, clean air, and build a snowman with Luigi.
Red cars and macchine rosse
Even before Luigi was born, I was determined to make sure he learned how to speak English so I researched the best methods for doing so.
The most well-known method is OPOL or, in other words, One Parent, One Language. Following this method, I would speak to Luigi in English 100% of the time and O would speak to him in Italian 100% of the time. While it makes sense in a way, to me it seemed both impractical and, quite possibly, downright rude. I couldn’t imagine walking down the street and having someone stop to talk to us in Italian with me speaking only English. I tried to imagine going into a store and only speaking English to Luigi or having a family dinner and only speaking English.
Consequently, I decided to modify the OPOL approach for my own use. When Luigi and I are alone, I speak English with him. (Although I’ll admit that sometimes I slip up and speak in Italian). When we’re out speaking to people in public, at the store, restaurant, etc., then I speak Italian with him, and when we’re with friends or family, I’ll often speak a mixture of the two, saying it first in one language and then the other.
While Luigi sometimes gets things mixed up and will say words in both languages, like “red macchina” for instance, for the most part he gets it right. Once he started speaking and I began teaching him words, I started separating the two. So now he knows, that if he says “red” and I ask him what it is in Italian, he will say “rosso”. And, most importantly at this time of year, he knows that Babbo Natale is Santa Claus in English.
He also knows that he speaks English with me and Italian with his papà. The other night, for instance, he was fighting going to sleep (that’s another story) and trying to find anything to both distract me and keep himself from falling asleep. He kept telling me to turn the overhead light on and I kept saying no, it was time to go to sleep. When his papa walked in the room, he changed it to “luce” automatically. Another example: when walking down the street, if he wants me to pick him up he’ll say “Mamma carry”. If I refuse he then goes over and says “Papà porta”. So, he obviously knows when he should speak English and when he should speak Italian.
It’s really cute when he “practices”. Sometimes he’ll be sitting by himself and he’ll say a word or phrase he just learned, first in English and then in Italian (or vice versa).
Now that he is learning new things, I’ve taught him colors, shapes, letters and numbers in both languages. He slips up here and there and mixes the languages up a bit, but from everything I’ve read, it’s very common regardless of the method used.
All of this has led me to conclude that the only thing that is truly important is using both languages consistently. Our methods may be unconventional, but they do work. And most importantly, when I ask for a big hug in either language, he wraps his arms around me and squeezes.
Mellow yellow – Spaghetti with Saffron
Years ago I remember overhearing a family friend talking about a dish she made that she said was delicious. But, she said, she made it very rarely because one of the ingredients was saffron which is very expensive. She never did make that dish for us, but that conversation stuck in my mind as I tried to imagine what saffron was. It sounded so exotic, especially considering its price.
Saffron is very expensive. The average price is $1000 per pound. Now that’s a hefty price. There are two things to keep in mind though. One is that the saffron harvest process is very labor intensive thus the price is justified. The second thing, and the thing that is most important to those of us who cook, is that it takes very little saffron to give a dish a lot of color and flavor.
I’ll admit that I never used saffron until I came over to Italy, but I quickly became a fan. It’s commonly available here in little three pouch packs; and each individual pouch holds 0.1 grams. Yes, you read that right, that’s 1/10th of a gram or, in other words, less than ¼ of a teaspoon. So, even though the cost per pound price is high, it really isn’t that expensive when put into perspective.
Saffron isn’t just about flavor and color though. It also has quite a few health benefits. Some claim that it is an antioxidant as well as being good for fighting depression and asthma and helping to reduce cholesterol and triglycerides.
Since saffron is also native to Abruzzo, specifically the Aquila region, it is found in various dishes in Italy. I love it in Risotto alla Milanese, so I decided to try it with spaghetti. In order to give the dish even more flavor, I used all 3 of the pouches that come in the saffron pack. That equals 0.3 grams, or a little less than a half of a teaspoon.
Give it a try.
Ingredients
250 grams spaghetti
.3 grams – or a little less than ½ teaspoon – of saffron
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmigiano cheese
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the saffron and parsley, stir to dissolve the saffron and remove from heat.
When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it and add it to the frying pan with the oil. Toss to coat with oil, add the grated parmigiano, toss again to mix thoroughly and serve.
Enjoy a plate of neon yellow pasta!
Give Thanks
Myspace Graphics
There aren’t many songs about Thanksgiving and, thankfully, it’s one holiday we can enjoy without too much commercialism.
You may not realize it, but there is one famous poem that was written about Thanksgiving and later set to music. It may not immediately come to mind because the words have been somewhat changed and it is often lumped in with all of the Christmas songs today.
The poem was written by Lydia Maria Child and appeared in Flowers for Children Vol. 2 in 1844.
Over the river, and through the wood,
to Grandfather’s house we go;
the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.Over the river, and through the wood,
to Grandfather’s house away!
We would not stop for doll or top,
for ’tis Thanksgiving Day.Over the river, and through the wood-
oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose,
as over the ground we go.Over the river, and through the wood
and straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go extremely slow-
it is so hard to wait!Over the river, and through the wood-
when Grandmother sees us come,
She will say, “o, dear, the children are here,
bring a pie for every one.”
Over the river, and through the wood-
now Grandmothers cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
Lydia Maria (Francis) Child was an interesting woman. Born in 1802, she was educated as a teacher and taught school for some time. In 1824 her first novel, Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times, was published. From that point on, she wrote continuously and published several other works. She was a journalist; an anti-slavery, women’s rights and Indian rights activitist and an opponent of American expansionism.
Born to ride
I always said that I would never force my child into a specific gender role and, therefore, always bought Luigi gender neutral toys. His baby toy box was full of stacking toys, blocks, musical toys and stuffed animals; his first ride-on toy was a lion and his walker was actually pink – admittedly, that was a mistake that his godparents made when they bought it, but I wasn’t concerned or upset about it. What’s the big deal? Right?
All this was fine and dandy until shortly after his first birthday. Then the child went crazy for cars. And I don’t mean just that he likes them. No, this child is fascinated by them. He knows the difference between a Porsche (what Papà would like to drive) and a Peugeot (what Papà actually does drive), an Audi and a pickup truck.
But even before he had any toy cars, he pushed things along the floor and made “vroom, vroom” noises. So, of course, we gave into the inevitable and he now has lots of cars. It is also one of the tricks to keeping him quiet – just have a couple of matchbox cars stashed in my purse at all times.
The only things that can possibly trump cars are musical instruments. He’ll gladly put down the cars for the keyboard or drum. And as for girls toys, when he’s at day care he will play with the cooking toys but doesn’t show much interest in the dolls.
If he wanted a doll, I’d buy it for him. Why not? But the child shows absolutely no interest whatsoever. The only dolls he’s interested in are the Barbies that come with a car. It reminds me of that old joke about the guy who put out a personal ad saying “Wanted good woman with boat, please send picture of boat”.
Now, I have made it clear that there are some toys that I would prefer he not have or be given. In fact, if someone gives them to him I will more than likely take them away and hide them. I just don’t like the thought of guns as toys. I figure it this way. If he wants to take a stick or a paper towel tube and point it around and say “bang”, he’s at least using his imagination. Besides, we all played cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians growing up. But, a gun is a gun and has no other purpose but to shoot. Fortunately, he has no interest in such things yet. And, to be honest, I may change my stance at some point, when he’s old enough to understand….maybe…
In the meantime, there’s nothing like a big red car to make him happy.
Absolutely, positively
I’ve been on Facebook for quite a while now and, while I’m not addicted to it, I do like the fact that I can keep up with all the people in my life.
As soon as I signed up, friend requests started pouring in, many of them from people I hadn’t seen in years – and I do mean years. Some of them were people that I would have listed as acquaintances since, when we went to high school together, I wasn’t part of their group. But, people change and nostalgia leads to friends that you would never expect.
It’s definitely a mixed group though. I never know what I’ll find when I look at my News Feed. Some of my friends have political views that are completely opposite of mine and some just like to joke around. I see posts in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Swedish and German.
But, I admit, I’ve actually blocked a few friends. It sounds terrible, but there were some people who never had a single positive thing to say. One of the people I blocked was constantly complaining about something negative happening in her life. At first I felt really badly for her, but after a while I just couldn’t take it anymore. Even the silliest little things that to me might have been a mild annoyance or even something to chuckle at were broadcast as if they were major, life-threatening problems. I just couldn’t take the negativity anymore so I blocked her and others like her even though I feel a little guilty about it.
I’m a big believer in the fact that negativity feeds negativity and, obviously the reverse is true. The more positive you are, the more positive things happen in your life.
Did you ever notice how, when one thing goes wrong, everything else seems to go wrong? You wake up in the morning and stub your toe or something else happens and you think automatically that you’re day is going to be rotten because it happened. And, it usually is. Why? I truly believe that it’s because we were expecting bad things to happen from that point on so we attracted them. That’s why I always try to remain positive even when the worst happens.
I’ll admit, for a few months this year I was anything but positive and everything in my life suffered for it. But, I’m back on track and things are looking up. I take a few minutes each day to think about all of the things I’m grateful for.
The glass, once again, is half full.
Gimme a little quiche
I have to admit it, I love eggs, no matter how they’re cooked – scrambled, poached, hard boiled, sunny side up, in a frittata or an omelet…. Well, you get the picture. So, as you can probably imagine, when those “in the know” came out and said that eggs aren’t as bad for you as they’d been saying for years, I was a very happy person.
I eat eggs at least once a week – no, not for breakfast, for dinner, in place of meat. Sometimes it’s as simple as sunny side up eggs, better known here as “uova all’occhio di bue”. Other days I get a little more creative and make a frittata or a quiche, one of my favorites.
Yes, I use a store-bought crust for my quiche. I found a nice flaky kind that is easy to use and tastes great so I’m happy since that means it’s easier and takes less time to put the quiche together.
My favorite quiche pairing is spinach and feta cheese however this recipe is made with broccoli. It could just as easily be made with spinach, just substitute one for the other. When cooking with broccoli and spinach, I tend to always use frozen vegetables. Spinach is much easier to work with when it’s frozen and the broccoli is much fresher that way. Really, have you ever bought fresh broccoli and when you got it home and cooked it up it tasted like cardboard and had obviously been on the shelf in the store for a week? Frozen vegetables are frozen shortly after being harvested so, even though it sounds strange, often taste much better than so-called fresh ones.
Ingredients
1 cup frozen broccoli (or spinach) – defrosted
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
4 eggs
½ cup low fat yogurt
Salt and pepper
4 oz feta cheese
Pie crust
Heat oven to 375
In a small frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat, then add the broccoli and garlic. Cook until the broccoli is soft, then remove from heat.
Beat the eggs together, add the yogurt and a dash of salt and pepper. Don’t add too much salt because feta cheese is very salty, so you don’t want to overdo it.
Place pie crust in pie plate and prick the bottom with a fork. Add broccoli/garlic mixture to the crust, then pour the egg mixture over it. Crumble the feta over the top and fold up the pie crust to make a border.
Pop it in the oven and let it cook for 45 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes, slice and enjoy.
Sleeping triple
OK, I admit it, my son, who is now almost 29 months old, sleeps with us. Sometimes we put him in his crib first and then, when he wakes up in the middle of the night I bring him into our bed, and sometimes I just put him right into our bed.
It all started when he was teething and couldn’t sleep through the night and wanted to nurse. It was easier to just bring him on into bed. And even though I stopped nursing him when he was 23 months old, he still wakes up in the middle of the night and I still pick him up and carry him to our bed.
Maybe it’s laziness on my part. I just want to go back to sleep and I know that it’s the easiest and quickest way to accomplish it. If it is, I don’t feel guilty about it in the slightest.
I’ve heard people say that you’ll never get him out of your bed if you start letting him sleep with you but I really doubt he’ll still be sleeping in our bed when he’s ready to go off to college. At some point in time he’s going to be ready for his own space. Besides, in many cultures throughout the world, it’s normal for children to sleep with their parents for the first few years.
I do have to admit though that I never thought I would be the type of parent who would do such a thing. But then, I had definite ideas about parenting and they all changed once I brought my son home from the hospital. Reality often differs drastically from what we think we know.
Co-sleeping definitely has its advantages. I’d have to say that the best thing is this warm, sleepy little boy who wants lots of cuddles when we first wake up. And there’s nothing better than a lazy Sunday morning with the three of us all snuggled together.
I know some day he’s going to push me away and he won’t want any more kisses and hugs from mamma. So, for now I’ll enjoy all the warm, sleepy snuggles I can get.
Which way do I go?
I have to admit that I’ve been wondering where to go with this blog and debating whether or not to continue. I often have ideas of things to write, but fear that the blog will then turn into a hodgepodge of all types of different things – not that it isn’t already. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just something I need to be aware of.
When I started the blog, my goals were to talk about things that were happening in Abruzzo, places to see, festivals, sagre and the things that were unique about the region. I also wanted to give those who were interested in my town a view of what was going on and hopefully get others interested. It also meant that I would be out and about visiting places – and I had a whole list of places to visit and report on.
Then I became pregnant with my son and, as you can imagine, my priorities shifted drastically. It also made me unable to visit a lot of those places because doing so with a baby or toddler in tow is not very conducive for taking pictures and gathering information. As he gets older I’d like to continue to do this, but it will be a little while before I can get into that mode.
One of the other things I wanted to talk about on the blog was adjusting to life in Italy as an Expat. While I still have those days when I say “I can’t believe they do things that way”, for the most part, Italy is now my home, warts and all, and I’m familiar with how it works. Of course, I’m sure there will be times when I’ll be shocked by something new.
The blog turned into my ramblings about pregnancy and then motherhood, with some recipes and info about festivals thrown in, along with some other things that interested me. But, I’m still trying to decide what direction to go in. Do I just let myself ramble and talk about any topic that comes to mind or do I let it go? I wouldn’t mind it becoming a conversational point, where readers would get involved in whatever discussion popped up.
I’m working through all of these ideas and hope to come up with a new direction for this blog. In the meantime, any input is always welcome. we bloggers always like to get feedback.
