Liverpool--here we come!

Our home-exchangers from Liverpool arrived yesterday to settle into our house, meet the dogs and spend a little time with us over some good food and wine.  This morning they caught the 7:20 train to Naples and then will head onto one night in lovely, lemony Sorrento, with perhaps a few hours in Positano.  They'll return tomorrow night.  On Thursday morning...early!... we head to Ciampino, Rome's "low-cost airline" airport to fly to their home in Liverpool.

The weather in Liverpool appears to have been wet and cool lately, but we have our fingers crossed for some sunny days ahead.  On Saturday night we'll see the "Bootleg Beatles" in the Liverpool Philharmonic, and on Sunday/Monday there's the Mathew Street Festival.  On Wednesday September 1st we'll head to London (which is a 3hour trip each way) in order to see "Wicked" which everyone says is phenomenal.  In between, Pio hopes to at least see a few golf courses (Liverpool is on England's "Golf Coast") but he's afraid his game isn't good enough for the challenging courses he's seen on the internet.  It's been recommended we also see the Lakes District and perhaps even northern Wales which isn't that far away.  Of course, we first have to feel comfortable driving on the LEFT side of the road!!  Perhaps we'll stick to the trains?

Our upcoming Homeschool Adventure! Why...and How?

This September we'll start home schooling Dante (and home exchanging while we're at it--since we're both retired, why not?).   Despite the fact that I've got several teaching certifications from New York State and taught for years there, it's a somewhat scary leap into the unknown.

The decision to home school  took a while to evolve.  It wasn't a decision we took lightly.  There's little support out here in the Italian countryside where "scuola familiare" is almost unheard of (though legal--read http://homeschoolinitaly.blogspot.com for a British woman's experiences).  As we began to mention it here and there people shook their heads, didn't understand, encouraged us to look at other options--like other local  public and private schools.  To tell the truth, when we looked, they didn't look all that different from our village school, from which we desperately needed a change.

What I was looking for was something more creative, innovative, flexible--all things which don't come easily in public schools anywhere.  Also, five days a week (instead of the six we've been living with) and homework that makes sense and doesn't last all night would be nice.  Unfortunately, the most promising local school was no longer accepting Middle School students and the international schools in Rome cost a  fortune for tuition and on top of that we'd need a small apartment since Rome is just too far for a daily school run.

Slowly the idea of homeschooling came into focus.  It would be much cheaper than an international school, and as creative and flexible as designed.  So I started researching.

There is an overabundance of information and initially it was confusing.  The spectrum runs from unschooling to school-in-a-box, buy your own prepackaged materials or piece it together here and there,  spend a lot, buy on ebay, or join a charter school which will give you the online curriculum for free, but attach strings--like restricting traveling.

 There's  secular and Christian curricula--and even a site for pagan homeschooling families.   On Amazon you can find lots of homeschooling books and there are  State-wide association which offer support and field trips  for home schoolers (such as this support group in South Carolina  which we'll be using when we home-exchange there for three months this fall), blogs  and homeschool laws which differ from state to state (but what if you're not a resident of any state?).  For a while my head spun round and round!

After researching for several months, we decided to take the plunge and enroll in  Oak Meadow,  a long-distance private homeschool --with teacher support, grading and transcript (in case we decide to return to Italian public school next year ) and creative options when it comes to assignments.  By mixing 6th and 7th grade materials and adding in some library books, I can almost match what he would have been studying here in Italy. I'll supplement also with piano lessons, Spanish and keyboarding--and find a native Italian to tutor him once a week to keep him up with his Italian literature and grammar.   For socialization (the first thing that most people ask about) we've joined two homeschool groups near where we'll be exchanging and Dante has a wealth of options--to start he'll  be taking art and music classes with other kids.

If it works out I'd love to continue homeschooling at least through Middle School, mixing his education and family travel through home exchange....  OK, one step at a time!  Right now we're very excited and looking forward to beginning our grand adventure!!

You know you're an Italian woman from the countryside when you explain your less-than-spotless house and clothing by saying, "We did the tomatoes today!". And so that was yesterday's excuse for my home's "lived-in" look (breakfast dishes still around come lunchtime) and the very casual, red-splotched old shirt and shorts I was wearing.

We only did 27 jars (instead of our usual 100+) first, because we won't be here all of next year (they'll be another post on that), secondly because we used only our organic, home-grown tomatoes (usually we buy a couple of bushels--but the flavor and quality doesn't compare) and thirdly because doing 100+ jars all at once means it's A LOT of work for several people (washing, rewashing, cutting, putting some through the food mill, filling the jars, sealing them, boiling them--etc.). Every year we'd loose about 15% because they didn't seal properly. Probably because the huge container in which we boil them was overfull. 27 jars was almost ... easy! And a great excuse, even if it only explains one day's dust.

P.S. If you look very closely to the left of the tomato jars you can see a little "Buddha's hand" lemon tree. They are still green, but are the STRANGEST looking fruit I've ever seen! They look like five small, skinny lemons growing in a bunch, like bananas. Can't wait to see how they taste this winter!

Early June flower pictures...

I've seen some beautiful cactus blooms this spring, have a new geranium with burgundy/green leaves and tiny orange flowers (what was mother nature thinking?) and my favorite blue of all time--the morning glory --is beginning to circle the orto fence.

Been back a while...

We returned from our three-week New York holiday almost a month ago! My how time flies. I've been thinking lately about what it is exactly we miss about there when we are here. Aside from the obvious "family and friends" (which we'd really like to see more of!) I miss familiarity, a vague word that covers a lot but really does sum it up succintly! More specifically, I miss: big, free libraries with books, audiobooks, music CDs, computers, newspapers, magazines, a children's section, movies, etc. etc; flagels, especially those that have sesame or poppy seeds on BOTH sides of the flattened bagel; diners, which often have kitschy themes (try little octopus lamps hanging over the booths and electronicly projected fish tanks on the walls!); listening to NPR radio while I'm commuting to work; knitting classes, teachers and space with HELP! when I get stuck; anything and everything in English :); yoga class and gyms that open at 6 am; BIG cups of 7-11 tea (which I can brew as long as I like and add as much milk as I want); stores with reasonable return policies (here it's a rarity). OK, in Italy the weather, scenery and food is better than what I got in New York, so I guess that's why, for now, we're still here (oh, and yea, we've got a house, a dog, a cat, two turtles and two aquariums here-- and none back there!).

Thanksgiving Dinner catastrophe (almost)!

All I wanted was a small fresh turkey, to be picked up on Friday so I could brine it overnight, then cook it on Saturday for our belated Thanksgiving celebration. Not too much to ask...right?

Well, on Friday the butcher said the turkey would arrive Saturday at 10 a.m. OK, forget the brining. Then the truck that was bringing my butcher his meat delivery was stopped by the police at a random truck inspection, failed and was impounded. "Not a problem," said the butcher, who drove off to meet it about 30 minutes away. "No way!" said the police who wouldn't let said butcher remove anything from the truck. "OK, get a large chicken" I told my husband on his cellphone at the butcher shop. "What about a couple of turkey drumsticks and half a turkey breast?" my husband relayed from the butcher. OK, we'll make it work (goodbye to stuffing cooked inside the bird).

So, my husband gets home with two 5 lb drumsticks (10 pounds of dark meat from two turkey legs!) and a 3 lb. half-breast. OK, not bad. I brined it for a few hours, then threw it in the oven.

I sweated making a piecrust earlier in the morning for my pumpkin cheese pie (recipe thanks to Betty Crocker, 1968 cookbook) but it was a piece of cake (figuratively speaking). The gravy was another story.

OK, so I hate to make gravy. My mother and grandmother could take a couple of tablespoons of turkey drippings and make a gallon of gravy. And so they always made the gravy. And I've always had a mental block. So....my nephew brought me too envelopes of cheat-gravy, you know, just add water. So I dutifully followed the directions and it wasn't half bad (stirred it and all and cooked it for three minutes!). Then I decided to flavor it up with the turkey drippings...then I decided to thicken it up (now that I had watered it down) and added some "cornstarch" in a bit of cold water. INSTANT VOLCANO! What!?!? Didn't expect that reaction. I took at better look at the "cornstarch" container and saw that it was BAKING SODA! Oh no. Ruined, way too salty tasting gravy. Well, that's the best part of the meal for me so I was majorly disappointed.

OK, I decided how hard could making gravy be? I got out my "Gravy 1,2,3" recipe and thought I'd give it a try. I didn't let the fear of lumps cause too much anxiety (I have a strainer after all and that's what they're for, right?) and collected the rest of the pan drippings. OK, Nanny always started with some onions. I sautéed onions in the drippings. Added some chicken fat I had in the refrigerator. Added a tablespoon of flour, stirred, added water, more flour, more water, etc. Strained it and...it was GREAT! OK, gravy isn't really that hard, it just is last minute.

OK, so the mashed potatoes were a great hit with the Italian guests, as was the gravy and the pumpkin pie. The turkey and dressing too. The only thing that didn't get rave reviews was the apple crumble desert, which was way too sweet for them (well, that crumble topping was made out of mostly sugar ...and if they knew how much butter they would have fainted!). All in all, a nice evening. Today we eat leftovers (hurray!!).

Funghi Fantasy...

I came home from work today to find this mound of mushrooms sitting on a large platter on the kitchen counter. Obviously someone...a neighbor perhaps....was out picking early this morning. The porcini mushrooms ended a few weeks ago (still have about a kilo frozen however) but now other mushrooms (these have very long stems) have come into season. Surprised to see them as it hasn't rained in weeks, but perhaps it has rained recently up the mountains where most people go mushrooming. You need a license to pick mushrooms (and to have passed a test regarding poisononous and non) so I'm quite certain these beauties are safe. YUM!

OOPS! I stand corrected by hubby. You only need a license to pick porcini mushrooms. In any case, we fried up a pan full of these last night and ate them...and I'm still here to write about it in the morning. They were delicious!!

Yes, that's Tuscan Kale...

surrounded by some pansies. Usually I enjoy Tuscan Kale on my dinner plate and pansies in the spring, but I was inspired by two, yes TWO different gardening magazine articles I saw this month where Tuscan Kale was featured as an ornamental. OK, I wasn't about to dig out a 4' x 6' bed (especially after being sick all week with the flu!), so I settled for this. I dug the kale out of the garden (hope it takes!) and bought about six white pansies (small flower type) to plant around the edge. I like it. It was nice to finally get out into some of this sunny, 70F weather we've been having.

I've got to start thinking about Turkey Day. We'll celebrate it with some neighbors and relatives coming over a couple of days later (no one could make it Thursday, including me, as I have to work). Still need to order the turkey (and NO, I don't want a 40 pounder like last time!!!) and see if I can find sweet potatoes without going into Rome...but I've got the apple and pumpkin pie recipes dusted off and ready to go this time next week. We'll probably have some Tuscan Kale too, mashed potatoes, corn...umm, I'm getting hungry!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!

Ischia, sweet Ischia!

Do warm baths relax you? Could you stay in one all day, especially if it never cooled off? You'd love Ischia!

Ischia is an island off the coast of Naples, not that far from Capri in nautical miles, but much less known, and therefore, in my book, much better.

Back in late August my friend Janice from California visited me for a few days. She wanted to see where I lived, and then go someplace nice for a couple of nights. She left it totally up to me.

Well, I wanted to find a place we could get to by public transportation. Someplace where she could get seafood and someplace that wouldn't be crawling with tourists the 21st and 22nd of August--still part of the famous ferragosta vacation period when nearly all Italians head to the coast or the mountains.

I also wanted to go someplace that I hadn't been before but that wasn't more than a few hours away.

The only place that seemed to fit the bill was Ischia. I reserved us a room at a quiet hotel with water view near Panza We took the train from Frosinone to Naples (2 hours), negotiated with a cab driver to take us from the train station to the ferry terminal (15 Euros) and took the ferry over to the island (about 1 hour). From the ferry terminal we took the local bus around the island until we got to Panza, then called the hotel and they came to pick us up.

We were exhausted when we first arrived, so we ate a lunch at the hotel, looking out at the sea, then went down to enjoy the pool. Later we napped, then walked down the road to visit the "Baia di Sorget0", a natural hot springs beach. There are wide stairs winding down to this little cove and a snack bar which was just closing up when we arrived. I've read that it's possible to actually cook food by burying it in the sand in aluminum foil, but when the snack bar is open it's prohibited to bring in your own food.

The water is literally boiling as you step off the sand (well, ok, 194 degrees F). You need to use these little bridges which take you out a bit further where the cooler sea water mixes with the hot springs to varying degrees of tolerable and heavenly. Wow! We only stuck our feet in as we weren't wearing our suits, but it was nice and a place I'd love to return to.

The next day we headed out early for Negombo, one of two big hot spring parks on the island (there are numerous other, smaller parks, and hotels with pools too). We spent all day there, enjoying the sun, dipping in and out of every pool there, most more than once, eating a tasty lunch and we both had a fantastic reflexology session at the health center. It was highly relaxing.

When we left we walked toward Lacco Ameno, a pretty town, full of little shops (I got a great light blue linen sun dress for only 15 Euros) a large flower-filled piazza, fancy and picturesque hotels and restaurants. We tried to get a good pizza (Janice was dying for a Neopolitan pizza ever since reading that book about a woman's search for self in Italy, Bali and India...what was it called?). I say we tried to get a good pizza because we kept asking for them with Bufala mozzarella and I think it was just too wet to give us a crispy crust. But in any case, Janice had two that night...one at a restaurant right near the beach in Lacco Ameno, then one later at a pizzeria our hotel recommended to us (ultimately, she liked best the ones she had right across the street from our house in Giglio). After eating, we wanted to take a taxi back to our hotel, but they wanted 30 Euros. Way overpriced! We took the bus for 1 Euro each and then called the hotel from Panza once again (after we had gotten that pizza that is).

On our last morning on Ischia we headed out with our suitcases (again on the bus) to Giardini La Mortella. Janice isn't that much into gardens anymore, but nevertheless she liked it well enough and I kept wishing I had a way to visit the garden store next to it and bring home some stuff for my empty garden beds... They were kind enough to hold our suitcases at the entrance for us and we spent all morning walking around and sipping exotic teas in the pergola-covered snack bar. Very nice despite the high humidity.

Finally, we splurged on a taxi to take us and our suitcases back to the ferry terminal and the start of our trip back home.

I'm already thinking about when I can get back there! Though next time I'd probably stay longer, visit more of the island (we only saw about half of it), and stay at a more central hotel since the buses are crowded and the taxis expensive.

Back from Sorrento and a quick drive on the Amalfi coast

We spent a quick two nights in Sorrento with Pio's son, daughter-in-law and grandson. They went to Pompeii one day, we mostly hung out by the pool (which at the Hilton Sorrento Palace was easy to do, with six of them, connected by small waterfalls!) We always ate well, but our last evening was memorable.

Pio saw a little tin sign on a stone wall near our hotel. He decided then and there that we weren't going to eat at a "recommended restaurant" again as we had our first evening, (I check Slowtalk, of course!) but instead at this little "hole-in-the-wall" place that was near our hotel.

Well, we followed a very narrow road up and up, turning here, then there, always following the signs. We envisioned a cheap, home-cooked authentic meal awaited us around every bend. Then we thought maybe the lady closed up shop, went out of business. Where was this restaurant? We continued on after a local lady assured us it was up ahead and the food was good.

Finally--we arrived, only to find that DONNA SOFIA's wasn't a cheap, home-cooking place, but rather a rather well-known place with high prices, fancy dishes and tiny portions. We persevered. The food was quite good. The prices too high (8 Euros for a tiny, tiny plate of penne with tomato sauce for Dante...in fact, he easily ate two of them for 16Euros. )
If you're a foodie and have a special ocassion to celebrate while in Sorrento (or money is no object) than the restaurant, dedicated to Sofia Loren, is worth it. The owner will also pick you up and/or drop you off back at your hotel for free, because in the dark it would be hard to find your way.

The next morning we decided to take the long way home, driving along the Amalfi coast. The road was crowded with cars and buses, but I noticed they now have people with 2-way radios communicating ahead if a bus is coming--cars are stopped so that buses can negotiate the hairpin curves with a little more ease. That was a definite improvement! I'd love to stay in Positano or one of the other small towns clinging to the cliffs, but I'm not sure how relaxing it would be with all that traffic! Would I ever leave the hotel? How would I get there and leave?

In fact, the 2-way radio system isn't perfect and we had to stop on one downhill, hairpin curve so that a bus could negotiate it from the opposite direction (I won't mention all the cars that were parked on both sides, willy nilly). Suddenly a man on a racing bike slammed into the back of our car! OK, maybe slammed is too stong a word, but he hit us. We, of course, were concerned about how he was, but he picked himself up and said he was fine. Luckily his friends were ahead, just around the bend, already putting their bikes on the car to head home and were heading back to help him. No doubt he had some aches, pains and bruises that night.

Ice Tea came to visit

No, not the rapper Ice-T, but my cyper-friend and blogging buddy from Arizona! She's been on an exciting European vacation, including time in Italy, time in France, and a cruise from Basel to Amsterdam (Linda, correct me on the details!). All of this with her parents. Then, her parents continued on to Norway to visit as-yet-unmet relatives and she came back to Italy for another six days. We picked her up at FCO and she squeezed in a side trip to my little out-of-the-way home in Veroli for one night. Then she was off to Sorrento for a few days and eventually a flight to Venice and home. Whew!

It was nice meeting her in person and we found a lot to talk about. She was so kind as to bring me a little bottle of original cologne from Cologne, a bar of artisanal chocolate (yum yum) and .... a box of THIN MINT Girl Scout cookies! How did she know? Now they are a special treat for us all. Thank you, again, Linda and hope you are enjoying your last few days in Europe!

Of Cactus and London and this 'n that...

Haven't written here in ages, but people are still visiting (and even linking to me--thanks!) so I guess I'd better start writing again!

With the spring life has gotten very busy. We've been having work done to finish up the outside...brick and stone work on the front of the house, a cement driveway (and it's a long one), finishing up/off the upstairs... and because we use people who have other jobs, that work gets done almost exclusively on Saturdays only...so it's been a long drawn out process and is still not finished.

Gardening fever has also struck and I've got supina (hanging) petunias in my long front flower box (aout ten plants) and tons of perenial daisies along the wall of our upper driveway (OK, 30 plants total!) and we planted 44, yes 44 cyprus trees! They're babies, only about 18 inches tall, but one day, watch out Tuscany! We have two vegetable gardings going too, full of lettuce, eggplants, tomatoes, peas, beans, potatoes and herbs. I want to put in some brussel sprouts and black-leaf dinosaur kale too, but I think we'll wait until July so they can grow in the cooler fall months. Oh, and my cactus had three blooms at the same time! It's only about a foot tall, but it sits above a retaining wall that I have at the upper entrance to my driveway. Another cactus nearby promises to be a blooming spectacle soon (note all the buds!).

I'm still working three full days a week, and my students are busy preparing for a Cambridge Business English exam in early June. It's not easy and they are working hard (though many of them would prefer to forget the exam and just have conversation!). I'm working hard to keep all the photocopies organized, practice tests scored and remembering which class is which!

The menagerie here slowly grows, with our platy tank having two new members (2 sunset plattys) which brings the number in that tank to 10 fish, which includes two babies who have survived. We have another pregnant female (a mickey mouse platty) and hope at least one of her babies will survive too (they seem to be irrisistible snacks when tiny, even to their mom!).

At Easter we went to London and had a grand ole' time. Absolutely loved it. Dante was a little low-energy for the first couple of days as he initially didn't sleep well in the hotel, but once he got into the swing of things, he loved it too. My favorite thing (aside from finally meeting Big Ben in person) was Lion King in the theatre ("on Broadway" I would say if this were in NY, so what do I say when I see a show in London?). The theatre was beautiful, we laughed, ate ice cream in our seats during intermission, went to the martini bar across the street afterwards (and had typical roast beef with yorkshire pudding next door beforehand) and shopped in Coventry Gardens both before and after. Reminded me of the States in some ways, only waaaaaay closer. Yea! (See pictures on facebook.)

Got to run. I'm in an organizing, cleaning, moving furniture around mood (yes, Pio, things have changed a little in the week you've been in NY). I want to accomplish a lot today as tomorrow it will be back to working on the gardens, then Tuesday back to work. Whew! Have a good one, and thanks for reading, Diane