Christmas Feast

After getting home at 3am the night before then waking up at 7am to skype with family, Dan and I decided to go back to bed and sleep in a little. When we woke up, snow was on the ground, lunch was ready and Christmas supper was in preparation. I could not believe it was time to eat AGAIN. Zia Teresa excused herself as she said lunch wasn’t much because we had a big supper to eat this evening. We were more worried about having to eat again than not having an elaborate lunch before another feast. After lunch, Gian-Luca’s girlfriend, Elise and her dog Camilla, Elisabetta and her husband Michele and their dog Marte came over for Christmas supper. You may think it’s funny I included the dogs but no lie they eat with us. I’ve seen maybe dogs get scraps fed to them under the table but I have never seen a dog get spaghetti fresh from the pot toppled with sauce and a few meatballs, then freshly grated cheese on top. It’s dog heaven in Italy! These dogs do not get scraps but their own dish! It’s was pretty funny. We had a nice evening together after eating another feast, again seafood eyes included. We took a family picture in front of the Christmas tree. From Dan to the left it Michele, Elise and her Dog Camilla, Gian-Luca, and Zio Mimmo. In front is Elisabetta and her dog Marte and Zia Teresa.

Christmas Eve Feast

Where to begin? Well, we went to Zio Mimmo’s brother’s house, Peppino (that’s a nickname for Guiseppe (Joe)-weird I know but cute and fitting). We were joined by another 21 family members. When we arrived, I headed straight to the kitchen with all of the other women to get cooking and preparing for the feast while Dan followed Zio Mimmo to the living room with all the other stallions. I loved being in the kitchen getting my hands dirty. All of the older women seemed to love it, I mean I did get my cheeks pinched for the first time since arriving in Italy. I have a love-hate emotion when it comes to cheek pinching. So once everyone arrived and the sound level got a few decibels higher, it was time to let the eating begin. Here’s our menu.

Pre-antipasto

A variety of olives, cheese, nuts (including ceci -Enzo, we found them but no one put them in their orange juice!)

Martinis

L’antipasto

Fruit skewers of grapes, kiwi, cantaloupe, mandarin, pineapple

Baked brie cheese (one 3 inch diameter wheel per person)

Lox on orange slices

Seafood salad served in scallop shells

Ribs

Vino

Il primo

Ravioli in noce sauce (creamy walnut sauce)

Vino

Il secondo

Scapece (small type of fish)- served whole, eyeballs and all.

Vino

Il contorno

Spinach salad with pomegranate and walnuts

Potato salad

Coleslaw

Mixed vegetables

Vino

Il dolce

Frutti

Nuts

Caragnole ( a special dessert originated from Casacalenda!

Torroncini

Panettoni

Pandoro

Scrapelle (also originated from Casacalenda!)

Chocolate

Champagne

Needless to say, we were the guests and we didn’t really have much of a choice whether we ate or not. Aldo made sure our plates were always full and by midway through our 3 hours meal, our stomachs were in pain but our mouths were happy. I hope on our next visit, I will not be considered a guest. The rest of the evening was filled with a visit from Babbo Natale and 2 hours of opening gifts. Everyone was so sweet and made sure we had a few packages to open up. We cleaned up the kitchen and then ate again…I know, I know! It was a night to remember.

Pizzelles!!! Remember these guys???

Later on today, I had the privilege of baking pizzelles (or Ostie) with my Zia Teresa using the old school method (or so I thought it was old school. She makes them like this all the time.). For most of my family and friends, you know what cookies I am talking about. They have been a staple in my life since I was still in the womb. (Alex, I wish you could have been there. You would have really enjoyed this.) So normally, we make pizzelles using an electric waffle-like iron where we make 2-4 cookies at a time. My grandma is a machine and uses 2 electric irons at once. But back in Italy, my zia Teresa bakes one pizzelle at a time over the flame of her gas stove using a heavy long-handled iron. It was fun for me since my grandma's "old school" iron has been used many times as the object of my show-and-tell, for demonstrations, projects and I have even used it in my teaching. It's close to my heart and I hope to whip it out and bake a few pizzelles with my grandma this way when I get back to Canada. We'll save a little on electricity and make a few more cookies. Coming to visit then Alex???

Castello di Rivoli

So we got a chance to explore Rivoli a little bit today. We made our way through the streets and ended up at Castello di Rivoli. This was once a very important castle. It is also home to the largest snowball in all of Italy. Modern art, who would of known. The view from here was magnificent as we could see the Alps surrounding us. It was a beautiful day and we soaked up the sun and enjoyed the fresh air.

Walking Around Rivoli

Rivoli is a little town just outside of Torino where my Zia Teresa and Zio Mimmo live. Today we spent lots of time walking around the streets, checking out the Christmas market, visiting a few churches and popping in and out of little shops as you will not find shopping malls in Italy, only small little shops...nice but expensive. We only bought postcards! The Christmas market set up was very similar to those found in Germany expect here they had a Casa de Natale where you could get your picture taken with Babbo Natale himself. The line was long and the outside of the house was littered with empty strollers. This Market was especially nice with an outside skating rink. My heart sunk a little when I saw it as it made me miss skating at Hawrelak Park in Edmonton, a favourite activity of mine as soon as the ice is thick enough. We passed a few traffic directors which was neat to see. It was total chaos with the streets polluted with cars and pedestrians. They were blowing their whistles and waving their hands around as cars honked their horns and pedestrians cautiously crossed the road no trusting the stop signs. It is a beautiful city but I am looking forward to visiting some smaller cities with dirt roads. To see Italy the way my grandma has explained it to me, that is what I am really looking forward to. We leave to Termoli to visit my Zia Conni and Zio Enzo December 27th which is only about 14 km outside of Casacalenda where my grandma grew up. Here are a few pictures from around Rivoli. Chestnuts roasting over an open fire anyone?

Finally made it to Torino!

After leaving our new home in Fritzlar at 6:15pm on Thursday, taking an hour and a half train to Frankfurt and an hour bus ride we made it to the Frankfurt Hahn airport around 10:30pm Thursday night only to have to wait until 6:55am Friday morning to board our hour and fifteen minute flight to Bergamo, Italy. The wait in the airport was an experience to say the least. We thought it would be worth it to save the money and sleep in the airport, well not at this airport it wasn’t. It was cold and packed with people. We started off with a nice spot to “camp out” for the night at a table with a plug in so we could watch movies on our laptop but that area was quickly shut down after we were all set up and comfortable. So needless to say, there were no places left, no empty chairs and they had bars along most of the walls so you couldn’t even sit up against them. After about an hour of circling the airport we found our “home base” for the next 5 hours. It was the “cozy” little nook of an abandoned MasterCard booth. (See picture below) The floor was dirty and ice cold but we didn’t have much choice. We made the best of it by unpacking jackets to sit on and the Schultz travel pillow came in handy as well. (Thanks Harvey and Betty!) Once the first cafe shop opened up, we were their first customers, longing for the warm cushioned booth. So we had a butter croissant, some delicious yogurt and two HeiBe Schokolade to warm up our bodies from the inside out. Once we made it to Bergamo, it was a quick 5 minutes after we grabbed our bags that we were aboard our second bus, this time to the Milano Centrale Stazione. The traffic was crazy busy which allowed our bus driver to text on his cell the whole time! (picture below;picture of a building I took while on the bus) When we arrived at Milano Centrale Stazione we then boarded our second train which after an hour and a half let us off at our final destination, Torino. (Picture of the Swiss Alps from the train. Beautiful!) We found Zia Teresa and Zio Mimmo right away and were showered with kisses. It was SO good to see family. They were very excited to see us, it was very memorable! I am so happy to finally be in Italy, a dream come true for me (Laura). I am really looking forward to seeing the sites and then to be able to see where my grandma grew up. I wish she was here with me...maybe this summer.

Weihnachten is here!

So, the Christmas season has arrived. We have been getting snow every few days but it never seems to last too long. The weather here is very similar to that of my hometown Duncan. Wet. Yes, I complain about the cold here too but in a way I am liking the change of scenery and weather from that of Edmonton.
Last weekend while we were in Bergen for youth again we got to go to our first Christmas market in Celle. It was quite the experience. There were people everywhere, the town was all decorated and there was Gluhwein to be had by all. (Gluhwein is a hot spiced wine served only at Christmas time). We tried some, but neither Dan nor I were big fans.) It had snowed the night before so when we got up it was white out which really put us in the Christmas spirit, well me at least. We spent the whole afternoon walking the streets of Celle stopping by all the booth to check out what they were selling. There was lots of yummy food for sale, sausages, sweets, drinks, cookies and cakes. We walked from one great smell to the next. There were also so many Advent calendars here filled with all sorts of things. It was pretty cool. It was all so nice and traditional looking, nothing too tacky until we hit what was like the midway at a traveling fair. I couldn't believe it. There where rides for kids, a big ferris wheel and even carnies. It seems that carnies everywhere have the same look. Take a look at the picture. This part seemed so out of place.
All in all we had a great time and are looking forward to our own smaller Weihnachtsmarkt in Fritzlar this weekend. The Bible school sets up their own booth and hands out free coffee, cookies and decorations. We tell about what is happening at the school, the programs we run for youth and kids. We also inform people about KHW (kinderhilfswerk) and what Christmas is really all about. Pictures to come! ( In the picture with Santa are two other students , Sarina and Judith and Judith's mom Barbel, which some of you in Edmonton should know. She is who we have been staying with in Bergen. She is like a mom to us here and treats us so well. She made us candied almonds and gave us advent calendars before we left the last time. Such a wonderful woman!)