The Dish on Drying

What? No dishwasher? No worries...instead we have the next best thing: a cabinet drying rack thing from IKEA. It doubles, in our case, as storage for our dishes until they are used again at the next meal.

The bottom is hollow and the water from the dishes falls down onto the drip tray. That's right, you can put away your dishes wet. With a sophisticated ammenity like this, you must sacrifice the alternative...a window above the sink!

While this contraption is quaint and clever, I still miss the dishwasher!

Siblings?

Did you know that most Italians that we meet think we are brother and sister? No, it's not because we are starting to look alike after 5 1/2 years of married life! But, they see our passports or hear our last names and proceed to ask if we are siblings! The reason for this assumption is that Italian women retain their maiden name after they get married. How funny!

We love Bergamo

Bergamo lies nestled in the foothills of the alps 20 miles to the northeast of here. It has a walled "alta citta" (high city) which is really a beautiful place to visit. No new fab concrete retaining walls here. You get the feeling that everything took decades to build. Along the cobbled streets are exquisitely designed window displays for the fashion conscious and pastry shops on every corner with enticing apertifs for the ravenous American palate. The brioches (basically jelly filled croissants ...only better) are delicious with a steaming hot cappuccino.

Today the sky was clear blue and old man winter dropped the temperature enough to have a beautiful view of the alps. We haven't yet mastered the art of being both fashionable and warm. Here, fashion is mandatory and warmth and practicality are optional and quite secondary! We're still going with warm.

Gas prices aren't so bad after all...

Enough whining about gas prices, dear friends and family in our homeland! You don't have it so bad after all. We did the math and the conversions to bring you some facts that might just make you feel lucky and smug! A gallon of gas (3.785 liters) costs 4.54 £...almost $6! That's why the Smart cars are actually pretty smart and public transportation are really efficient people movers.

Bikes may be a good investment! I saw an ad in an English publication the other day that had a used bike for sale and it mentioned that the bell would be included in the price! This is a benefit because instead of warning pedestrians ahead of you that you will soon be passing them, you just ring the bell and they get out of your way!

The importance of coffee

This is an image of what the standard coffee makers are here in Italia - this is we use at our place too! I'm told that these were the standard many moons ago in the US too! They are aluminum (so we are likely to get Alzheimer's any day now - in fact I think it might be happening already).

There is a phrase here about how important coffee (cafe) is. 'A good meal deserves coffee, a bad meal needs coffee!'

Popcorn Party

So, what do you do on a Friday night in a foreign country, with cruddy weather and lack of language fluency? (Oh yeah, I must add one clue...no microwave on the premises.) Give up? Make stovetop popcorn. We had to dig into our brain files from our childhood to remember how to make it this way...that is, before the electric popcorn makers with the butter melter on top!

I decided to attempt a resemblance of kettle corn and threw in a little sugar with the oil. Not too bad, actually! Then, we moved the party to the living room with our respective library books from the English section. Don't worry, our party didn't get too rowdy!

Sweet Sendoff

After over a month in the states, we were anxious to go back "home" to Italia. Just wanted to share a little heartwarming story and pic. Here goes: before we came to Italia the first time, I reconnected with my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Aul. This happened because I was collecting letters of recommendation for the au pair (nanny) job I had when we first came. I called her because I babysat her kids when I was in highschool. She promptly provided a letter and we promised each other to stay in touch. She has been following this blog since then. When she learned we would be in the St. Louis area, she asked if we could get together. So we made plans to meet for coffee at the airport before our flight left the morning of the 1st.

You see, Mrs. Aul's earliest memories of me was when I got sick all over her desk. This just happened to be her first year of teaching. Thank goodness she has been gracious enough to forgive me for this mishap. You're the best, Mrs. Aul!