Coffee dos and don'ts in Italy

Do, drink coffee.

Do, drink lots of coffee.

Do, drink lots of tiny cups of coffee: caffé.

Do, call the tiny cups of coffee caffé, never espresso.

Do, drink your caffé while is burning hot, two to three sips max.

Do, slurp while drinking your caffé (this is the secret to not burn your tongue and to taste more of the flavor).

Do, drink your caffé at a bar while standing up.

Do, drink other variations of coffee like caffé lungo (more water added), cappuccino (equal parts of coffee, milk and frothed milk), caffé macchiato (tinted with milk), caffé con panna, or later in the day a caffé corretto ("corrected" with liquor, usually grappa, brandy or sambuca.)

Don't, drink cappuccino after 10:00 a.m.

Don't, drink caffé before dessert.

Don't, drink caffé while eating dessert.

Don't, ask for a "Venti" latte, because they will make 20 lattes for you.

Don't, look for a Starbucks anywhere in Italy.

Do, enjoy the coffee!

What days are like...

On regular weekdays we wake up early so that we can all sit and have breakfast together. The first thing I do is to open my front door and look towards Monte Rosa to see if it is hiding in the clouds or imposing its presence over us! Moca loves to get out and smell the fresh morning air, and I like hearing the roosters announcing the new day in the farm down the hill. We have a Colombian-American-Italian breakfast and we head out to the bus stop. I should pause here and explain that even the most macho Italian man will have cookies for breakfast alongside his cappuccino; Italians just don't eat much in the morning, no eggs, no pancakes, no arepas, no "calentado", just a "brioche" at the bar with a good cup of "caffe`". We eat much more than that for breakfast, as we drink our morning coffee from mugs and not tiny little cups, and we "supplement" our bread with butter, or eggs. We also have fruit, and sometimes we go overboard and drink orange juice!!!!
After such excess we meet all the other parents at the bus stop, and usually, after the kids are on their way, we all go for coffee. I am guilty of always having a cappuccino when I have already drank my "morning coffee", but who can resist? We walk into the same bar every morning, (almost every morning, since the bar is open everyday but Tuesday, all other business choose Monday to close their doors) and the lady behind the bar acknowledges us with a warm "ciao" and a question that requires no answer: "Cappucho and caffe` lungo?" That is our usual order, for me and my friend Pien, the "regulars" in the group. Pien is from Holland and speaks fluent English, other parents include an Italian married to an American woman, and the town pharmacist, an Italian man whose everyday attire is very elegant and sometimes surprisingly colorful. We love his red pants with yellow shirt combo, accessorised by a peacock green sweater; it might sound awful but trust me, he looks very sharp wearing it.
At the bar you see people coming in and out, exchanging brief conversations, and leaving as soon as they drink their coffee. Italians drink their morning coffee standing up at the bar, tables are left for us foreigners. Truth be told, some other people sit at tables, but it is not common. By lunchtime there won't be an open table to be found! Lunch is the time to sit and have a conversation. The majority of families still meet for a home cooked meal at home, and they eat to their hearts content! This is the main reason why all business must close between 12:00 noon and 3:00 o'clock. If you must eat at a restaurant, or bar, you will enjoy the fact that no one expects you to eat fast and leave. Nobody is in a hurry! Slow-food anyone?
We can't all meet for "pranzo" together, since Fernando's work is 20' away and Nicolas is at school, but we make sure that we have an Italian style dinner together. We enjoy trying new recipes, improvising others, and eating like it is a party everyday!
I am home bound for the most part, since we can not buy a car until we get the "permesso de soggiorno" and this is not happening anytime soon. We have Fernando's company car, and we share it whenever we can. Sometimes I drive Fernando to work and keep the car, other times he rides his bicycle to work! This is quite an adventure, since he has to share small roads with all those Fittipaldis out there! He is also the only one at the office to commute this way. Bravo!
From the house it is just a short walk down the hill to the center of town, I have everything I need nearby, from the bakery to the library. I used to walk to the bakery to buy our daily bread, but now I get it delivered to my door!!!! Yes! They come every morning at about 8:30 and leave a little bag of goodies at my door. This is the life!
I am still busy organizing the house, and I have started making sketches of some of my new work. I am really excited about all this time I have to make art! I will also start some Italian classes in a week. It is a new world of discovery and learning and we are doing quite all right.

Writer's block.

I don't fancy myself a writer, but I am suffering the worst symptom a writer can experience: a blank page (computer screen in my case.) The words refuse to come out and play. This week I tried unsuccessfully to write a post about coffee in Italy; I had so much to say, yet I wrote only nonsense. I still have a draft of that post, and maybe I will be able to organize my thoughts around it and finish it; perhaps all I need is a cup of coffee!!!
I love writing this blog, it gets my creative juices going, my mind goes back and forth looking for the right word, the best description, the punch line!!! I have so much fun, that I never thought it could be difficult to do it... Yet, I sat down a couple times to finish my entry and it just did not happen! So please forgive me if I am not up to par this time around.

Living "La dolce vita"

WE HAVE INTERNET AT HOME!!!!!! AND IT WORKS!!!!!

I was waiting for the Telecom worker to show up on Wednesday morning, and he didn't. I was frustrated, but I could do nothing about it, so I just continued with my day (which included going to the "Benvenuto Varese" meeting, going to the library to get on line, picking up a package at the post office -origin unknown- and then pick up Nicolas at the bus stop at 1:30 p.m.)
The "Benvenuto Varese" is an organization of women who welcome other English speaking women to the area. They meet once a month for a morning coffee -this is their regular meeting- but they have different groups with different activities, so you can walk in the mountains or play "bridge" if that is your preference. This group is key to us newcomers, since it will connect us with lots of different people, and it will give us the opportunity to get advice about the joys of living in Italy.
The September meeting is the first meeting of the year (school year) and it is CROWDED AND LOUD. I went to the meeting with my friend Mannie, who has just arrived from Canada with her husband (who also works for Wonderware -where Fernando works at). We tried to mingle and we were sometimes successful and others not so much... I had the intention of creating a running club, so I have brought a sign up sheet, and I waited unsuccessfully for someone to feel like they just HAD TO JOIN a RUNNING group!!!! I guess I will have better luck next time, when people have calmed down from all the excitement of summer vacation.
After the meeting Mannie droped me off at the library, where the librarian treats me like family now, for my daily dose of WEB. The library closes at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, but it is open from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Saturday on the other hand it opens from 9:00 to 2:00. (Got that?). At one o'clock sharp I walked to the post office, which I knew would be open, because I had tried to pick up the package the previous afternoon and found it closed. Post office schedule: Mon-Fr from 8:30 to 2:00, and Sat from 9:00 to 12:00. I should point out that almost everything else closes at 12:30 and opens again at 3:00 or 3:30. Confused? Just wait. Nicolas' days at school change too. Mon, Tue, and Th. are long days (he comes back at 4:45 on the bus) but Wed. and Fr. are short days (he arrives at 1:30). Mondays in Azzate, you will find that all commercial business are closed in the morning. If you go further south, they might choose Tuesday mornings as their mornings off.
I have been to too many places at the wrong time, but I am learning... or at least, I hope so.
Well, I arrived at the post office to pick up my mystery package and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was from Telecom! My modem had arrived! Happiness in a box.
It was a good day after all!

What I miss...

My friends (You know who you are), Mexican Food (specially Taco Mesa in Mission Viejo), NPR, INTERNET, Santiago Peak driving up Marguerite, the beach (Laguna, Mission Viejo Lake), a good juicy hamburger (DeeAnn's fire grilled -while camping-kind of hamburger), TJ Maxx, sunny California , Bob's pool and Bob's margaritas, TJ (Tijuana), Coulter kids playing outside my door, Trader Joe's, apple pie, traffic on the 405 (just kidding!), the two Tustin Blimp hangars , the desert, movies in english, Monk, Target, garage sales, the Santa Anas, and so much more...

All about Nicolas

Here we are again, at the Internet cafe in Varese. We haven't received our modem, hence we find ourselves with no Internet yet. I am learning to write only what is important, and I am not even spellchecking anything... please forgive my mistakes. There are also no new pictures (sometime soon).

We had a special weekend as Saturday was Nicolas' birthday. We have planned to go camping nearby, just the 3 of us and the dog. We were not planning a big adventure, just something different to celebrate our boy's tenth birthday. I made him his favorite breakfast of nutella and banana crepes accompanied by fresh squeezed orange juice. Our first mishap of the day was our gift: we have purchased an electronic gadget thinking that it would work with his American bought game, but it did not work!!!

Later we decided to go to the local library (which has Internet access) to check his e-mail and see who had written to him. We got to the library as it was closing, so we explained the reason why we were there; the librarian not only let us in, but found something to give Nicolas as a present! Isn't Italy nice?

After that we went to Nick's favorite restaurant (tons of pasta and great desserts) and after lunch we left for the camping area (15 to 20 minutes from home). As we arrived, we realized that the place was not as nice as we thought it was, and worst of all, it was very crowded. So we decided against staying the night, and we drove back with a car full of our camping gear, a bicycle rack with all our bikes, a very surprised dog and a little disappointed boy. What can I say? We like to improvise.

Our next big idea was to rent a movie and watch it at home with some good butter popcorn, and some other "gourmet" choices made by Nick (m&ms, Cheetos, etc.). Fernando assured us that the movie would work on our portable DVD player, and that we were going to be able to watch it on our big TV... We ended up watching the movie on our computer! We are not giving up yet! We will master all these little differences in schedules, electronic systems, and language. You will see!

On Sunday we had guests in the afternoon, since we had invited Nicolas' friends for some cake. We also invited our neighbors (our landlords). It was nice to have someone with whom to share a happy event. Nicolas was very excited, and he got some presents that he liked a lot. (I will post pictures later). After everyone left we went downtown, since this weekend is the beginning of the "festa del paese" or the town's celebration. We had dinner at a "gastronomic festival" -the name is much more impressive than the food- and we got to hang out with all the town's people. Luca and Paulo (Nick's friends) were there with their parents and grandfather; we all had dinner together, and the children played. Nicolas made some new friends, and he had a lot of fun.

After dinner we went to a special concert at the church; one in a series of concerts focused on baroque music played on antique organs. They have one every week in a different town. I can't describe how beautiful it was. The church is a small one but it has every single inch of its interior painted with some kind of ornamentation. The music was beautiful, and the organist was a master with a very impressive resume. Not a bad ending for our interesting weekend.