We've all had a busy week! Grammy Gray is visiting, and Thomas has been loving all the attention. On Thursday we went to an agriturismo in Gialle. Agriturismi are farms (usually organic) that offer tours, cooking classes, and meals to help educate people about specific types of farming and production methods. At this one we got to look at the crops (not very exciting, if you ask me - but that part was brief), then we made zucca giallo (Italian pumpking) lasagna. Then we were provided an entire million course lunch. The food was good - all local including the meats. We ate a Sicilian hamburger specialty - polpette. They look like small meatloaves and are grilled between two lemon leaves. I thought they were good, although too undercooked for my taste. We also had some fabulous chocolate and vanilla cannoli at the end of the meal.
The trip was quite exciting! We followed the bus, and the bus driver managed to crash it into a wall right in front of us! Luckily, it was minor, but the front door wouldn't open and some passengers jumped out the emergency exit once we reached our destination - pretty funny.
We also ran the Turkey Trot on the base and won a 12 lb turkey for our Thanksgiving meal! Pretty exciting.
Tomorrow we are going to Taormina (again - Bret's favorite place) for a visit provided the weather cooperates! The wind is horrendous. It was blowing us sideways during our run today...LOL!
Attempting to locate a picture of those Sicilian burgers. Will post when I can find one.
Ciao for now!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Lots of happenings...
It's been difficult updating the blog lately. Our internet access crapped out about a week and a half ago and was out for 10 days. The modem Telecom provided was old and we couldn't use more than one computer at a time. Telecom was going to update the modem, but in the meantime blocked our access?!?!?! Luckily, we have a very savvy bilingual tech who sorted everything out. We are online now whenever we have power.
Yes, you heard correctly. Power. It's an issue. We had heard that power surges were rampant in summer due to increased draw from a/c units, but we had no idea that using more than one appliance at a time and/or a clock radio and a hair dryer would trip our fuse box and shut down power to the ENTIRE house! It happened five times the other day!!! Thomas and I came home from the base to find that the crock pot wasn't cooking and the fridge had been off for three hours - yuck. We are supposedly on the highest plan but our house can't handle the power. We have taken to turning off all the power strips and unplugging anything we aren't using. It's very annoying. I guess Italians don't have more than one tv or something?!?!
We also had some furniture mishaps from the move and have been unsuccessful at finding a repairman/shop. Consequently, we bought new sofas for the living room only to have the furniture delivery guy look at the old sofa and say that he could fix it! So now we have five sofas! This house is big, but five sofas is insane for only three people.
Thomas is becoming such a big boy. He starts preschool in two weeks for three days per week (maybe more if I can part with him). He'll go for half days. I think he'll like it. He seems to enjoy playing with other kids.
Will update and post more pictures when time! Our roses are blooming like crazy. I have cut fresh bouquets twice already this week. Volcanic soil seems to be good for the plants and crops here.
Scrivera presto!
Ciao per ora
Yes, you heard correctly. Power. It's an issue. We had heard that power surges were rampant in summer due to increased draw from a/c units, but we had no idea that using more than one appliance at a time and/or a clock radio and a hair dryer would trip our fuse box and shut down power to the ENTIRE house! It happened five times the other day!!! Thomas and I came home from the base to find that the crock pot wasn't cooking and the fridge had been off for three hours - yuck. We are supposedly on the highest plan but our house can't handle the power. We have taken to turning off all the power strips and unplugging anything we aren't using. It's very annoying. I guess Italians don't have more than one tv or something?!?!
We also had some furniture mishaps from the move and have been unsuccessful at finding a repairman/shop. Consequently, we bought new sofas for the living room only to have the furniture delivery guy look at the old sofa and say that he could fix it! So now we have five sofas! This house is big, but five sofas is insane for only three people.
Thomas is becoming such a big boy. He starts preschool in two weeks for three days per week (maybe more if I can part with him). He'll go for half days. I think he'll like it. He seems to enjoy playing with other kids.
Will update and post more pictures when time! Our roses are blooming like crazy. I have cut fresh bouquets twice already this week. Volcanic soil seems to be good for the plants and crops here.
Scrivera presto!
Ciao per ora
Teatro Greco
Thomas is very proud that he climbed to the top of this rock!
The Greek Theatre. Etna is thru this view just behind the clouds!We visited Taormina again today and went to the Greek Theater! It was an unusually clear day, so we got some great pictures.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)