First Italian Thanksgiving is a Huge Success

November 25, 2006

After many trials and some discouragements, our Thanksgiving Party for Europeans was a victory for all. I started baking on thursday, making pumpkin bread with the ingredients that Heidi and Cynthia sent me (thanks ladies). Some trouble arose, when the gas in our building was turned off in the middle of the day and when I couldn't find a can opener. But all problems were resolved and the pumpkin bread was baked as well as some brownies. That night, Thanksgiving night, Ben and I and Catherine went to a restaurant that served a turkey dinner and had American football on a big screen. We had a good time, but there's something not right about eating thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant.

The next day, i stayed home all day and made an apple pie, (with crust from scratch), and stuffing (from scratch as well, it is not fun to cut up 10 cups of bread), and cranberry sauce. I found the cranberry sauce at the Asian store in tiny jars, so I bought two and added pears and clementines to the sauce. Catherine came over that night to make chocolate chip cookies, which was tough because she had to make brown sugar by mixing molassas and white sugar. She also brought over the turkey she had ordered and picked up from a butcher. It was 6 kilos (13 pounds) and looked weird (see picture). It wasn't tied up at all and was all stretched out, plus it still had some feathers on it. Yum!

The big day arrived and Ben and I woke up early to start figuring out what to do with the turkey. We plucked it as best we could and stuffed it with vegatables and covered it with butter and put it in the oven. Then we made the green beans, mashed potatoes (Ben's speciality), and cooked the stuffing. I also made stuffed mushrooms and Catherine made devilled eggs.
The first guests to arrive were Diana and her boyfriend Maximilliano. Diana works in the administration of Ben's school and is from Genova. Maximilliano (Massi) is from Milan and works as a broker for shipping companies. They were hesitant to try the devilled eggs, but eventually really liked them. Then Bryan arrived, a classmate of Ben's who is from Western Canada and is an ex-pro hockey player. Then Elisa, one of Catherine's collegues from her job who is French. And finally Leo came, an Italian from southern Italy who is also at Ben's school.

They were all shocked to see the turkey and how big it was and were very interested to know what everything was and how they were supposed to eat it. We all sat down and dug in. Everything was great and despite being very worried about the turkey (there being no button or meat thermomoter) it was delicious!!!!!
It was such a fun party, and I don't think I've ever had so much fun at one of my own parties. I am so grateful to have friends in this new place and for them to be so fun. Dinner started at 4pm and they just all left at around 11pm. The food was great and everyone enjoyed getting to know one another. Yay! Enjoy the pictures. Our camera is terrible at indoor shots, but we did the best we could. Ciao!

Stuffed

November 19, 2006

Ben and I just returned from quite an Italian day! A guy Ben rides with, Patrizio, introduced him to the Francesco Moser riding team here in Milan and he's been on a couple of rides with them. They invited him and me to their end of the year luncheon which was today. At 11:30, we walked to the nearest bike shop to meet Patrizio, because we had to walk outside the city limits to meet his friend who was going to pick us up. Apparently there was a ban on cars driving in the city today because of pollution. It doesn't really make sense, since one day of no cars won't really help the overall problem, but whatever. So the three of us walked to right outside the city limits. Patrizio's english is pretty good, but it takes us a long time to understand him and vice versa. Ben says he's a really good rider and is around 40 years old.

We were picked up by an older couple, Roberto and Mille and drove southeast to the suburbs. We arrived at a restaurant about 20 minutes from Milano and I get to meet some of the riders Ben has been biking with. They are almost all over the age of 50 and have their fashionable wives with them. We met a lot of people and some who knew a little english. Our dictionary came in handy many many times.

So we finally sit down and the president of the club who is the sweetest old man welcomes us and it seems like everyone thinks it's really funny that we are there. Which is the response I get all the time at dance class. My teacher will spot me come in and say "Hello Melissa." and then everyone will laugh. It's a little disconcerting, but what are you going to do? So, thus begins a long chain of foods delivered to us and speeches given and trophies handed out. It was touching to see all the men so proud of their accomplishments and it made me think of my dad in his running club. But...5 hours later, Ben and I had Italian food coming out of our ears and were tired of people coming up and making jokes that we pretended we understood. I don't know if any of you have ever eaten for 5 hours straight, but it is a weird feeling. We had 15 courses and lots of wine. Here's the list: Prosciutto crudo, salame nostrano, coppa piacentina, cosciotto salmistrato, sottaceti, (antipasti, and all sorts of cured meats)
Crostino all ciociara ( little pizza),
Mais con crema di salmone ( basically-grits with salmon sauce),
Risotto canadi con fughi porcini e salsiccia (rice with mushrooms),
Penne capricciose (pasta with meat sauce),
Fesa di vitello giambonata (veal),
Brasato con polenta (slow cooked meat with polenta),
Tagliata agli aromi (rare beef slices),
Patate al forno e finocchi gratinati (potatoes and fennel),
Sorbetto (lemon sorbet),
Dolce della casa (cake)

I was ready to quit before we even got the Prima course (which is the pasta course), but I ate everything and of course Ben did too. Just the logistics in the kitchen were baffling, the group of 75 people must have used 100s of plates and silverware.

We sat next to the only girl on the team who knew English a little and that was nice. During the awards, which went on throughout the entire time, the President at one point looked at me and asked Ben if he could kiss me, which he did. They were all really nice and jolly. Oh and at some point they handed out packages to just the ladies and I received a strange crystal clock (that doesn't work). Ben and I had conversations about America, nutrition, italian food and marriage with the Italians around us, but mostly talked with each other. It is exhausting to try and figure out what people are saying from 3 words out of the hundreds that they say to you. But everyone is so happy when an idea is understood, but it is always followed by awkwardness since now you must begin working on the next one.

A word about bathrooms in Italy. Some of the "bathrooms", even in nice restaurants, are just a hole in the floor- for women and men. It's pretty weird and we don't understand how older ladies deal with it. So if you are planning on coming to visit us, you have been warned!

We had a good time and the food was all really good, but I don't know when I will able to eat something again. It was a good experience to observe and be a part of real Italian's lives. So, Buon Appetito!

Autumn Days

November 18, 2006

Life is going well for us in Milan. We haven't had any trips lately because Ben has been studying for mid-terms. School keeps him pretty busy, but he is excited about all he is learning.
Another subway strike yesterday kept us in watching movies and cooking. We still haven't found a good restaurant to go to, which is odd, but our neighborhood is not too hip.
Last weekend, Catherine and I tried to go to a Mozart concert, but when we arrived, of course, they announced there had been a misprint and there was no concert, but they would show an Australian movie (dubbed into Italian) about mental patients learning a Mozart Opera, and Oh, they were missing the first 5 minutes of the film. Typical occurrence here, and I am starting to expect something to go wrong everywhere I go. I find that I have slowed down a lot since being here and the constant urgency of living in New York has faded a little.
We are planning on having a Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment next saturday with some Italians. They are baffled by the idea of having a big meal in the late afternoon, and I'm sure some of the food will seem funny for them. I am also planning on educating my students on Thanksgiving, since they have never heard of it.
It remains mild weather here, which is nice, although sometimes it is foggy.
I have been taking lots of ballet class and are starting to make friends with some of the dancers.
We have started to go to an Anglican church here which is good. It is English speaking and most of the parishioners are British and American. We are looking forward to their annual Christmas Bizarre which happens in December.
We are missing all our loved ones thinking about the upcoming holidays. Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Lugano, Switzerland

November 7, 2006

Catherine, Ben and I went to Lugano last weekend and had a wonderful time. I had been before in 2000, and it was just how I remembered it. It's has steep cobbled stone streets leading down into the piazzas on the gorgeous lakes. The mountains around the lake are a lot taller than the ones at Como. And you can see the giant, rocky Alps in the distance.
We rented bikes and rode around the lake. Even though Lugano is only an hour and half from Milan, I could really tell we were out of Italy. Things are cleaner, brighter and people are more helpful.
We took a funicular to the top of one of the mountains and enjoyed the spectacular views from up there. I really love the mountains and the lakes. It was pretty cold there, we were wearing coats, hats and gloves.
Then we had a great meal and found some swiss chocolates to buy. They were delicious.
I really like Switzerland and we hope to get back for one of the famous Christmas Markets before the holidays!