My First Thanksgiving

venerdi, 24 novembre

Yesterday I celebrated my first Thanksgiving in Italy.  I decided to celebrate with a traditional American Thanksgiving and invite a few cousins to join me.  I knew it would take some planning so I began the preparations well over a month ago. I have to give a shout out to my dear childhood friend, JoAnn Blitz Pisani.  She is a fabulous cook.  She helped me plan the menu, figure out how to cook it all in my very small kitchen and give morale support all along the way.  Numerous video calls were made between us. She is a lifesaver!!  

I had to plan the menu ensuring I could find all the necessary ingredients.  Thank goodness I started early as the menu changed a few times as I would look for specific ingredients - and would find out they did not exist in southern Italy.  For example fresh cranberries are not available.  Late in the game I did find dried cranberries but more on that later.  Also poultry seasoning is non-existent.  So I googled it and discovered your could make your own by combining various spices - who knew?  Also sweet potatoes are not real prevalent.  Cousin Angela was pretty sure a friend who has a farm would have them and they would be organic.  OK - works for me.  

I knew I wanted Turkey and with the help of Angela we went to the local butcher shop and ordered the turkey.  It would be a fresh turkey.  He said it would most likely be 5 kilo grams - which equals about 12 pounds.  I asked for a smaller one if possible but he could not guarantee it.  Oh well there might be lots of leftovers - time would tell.  I could pick it up on Wednesday the 22nd.  Perfect!

So my menu would be as follows:

Aperitivo (before dinner drink and snack - meaning 1 appetizer).  I chose to serve Aperol Spritzes and prosciutto wrapped bread sticks.  Easy to fix and not too filling.  I also had some peanuts to snack on.

The main meal would consist of:
Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts, fig compote (I wanted to serve cranberry relish but no can do) and dinner rolls.  For dessert I would buy a beautiful ricotta and pear torte from the local pastry shop.  Pumpkin pies (or any other pie for that matter) don't exist here either.  And even if I wanted to try and make one from scratch (which was a no go right from the start) you can't find the pumpkin filling.  So a ricotta torte it would be.

When I discovered fresh cranberries were not available JoAnn recommended a Fig Compote. That would be perfect.  My neighbor had just given me a package of dried figs from this season's harvest.  So I picked out a pretty easy Fig Compote recipe on line (thank you Martha Stewart) and was able to find all the necessary ingredients.  Earlier this week while doing one of many shopping trips for the ingredients I discovered there were dried cranberries in the store.  I thought, too bad I couldn't find fresh.  Back on line later in the day I found a different Fig compote recipe - that called for fresh/frozen cranberries.  I decided to get brave and changed my recipe so I would add the dried cranberries to the Fig Compote.  My tutor JoAnn agreed I could use dried and maybe also add some nuts to the mixture.   I must say the end result was fabulous.  I will keep this recipe for future use.

So my menu is planned and my shopping is done.  It took quite a few trips to the stores - that is multiple.  As one grocery store would only have certain items while the other grocery store would have others.  

With JoAnn's encouragement she convinces me the only way this would work is if I make all the sides ahead of time.  My stove/oven is small and there is no way I can do everything that day.  So the Fig Compote would be first to be made on Tuesday night.   I was pleasantly surprised that it worked out as well as it did.   One down!

Balsamic Cranberry-Fig Compote

Wednesday would be the big push to make the other sides, set my table and get the house prepared.  I would also pick up my turkey and find out how big it was.  Based on the weight I could then determine how early I would need to get up to get the bird stuffed and in the oven.

I did my last minute running on Wednesday morning.  I went to the bakery, the pastry shop and of course the butcher.   Arriving at the butcher he pulled the fresh bird from his cooler - it looked awful big - and big it was - 5.9 kilo grams or 13 pounds.  Yikes - oh well leftovers for all. It was so fun watching him try and wrap this bird as he does other meat products.  You could tell this was new for him and he doesn't normally sell things this large.  He tried wrapping it with his butcher paper and when that didn't work he changed direction.  He got two large plastic bags - put the bird in one bag and put the butcher paper around the bird inside the bag - then pulled the other bag over the other end.  Now in the U.S. 13 pounds is not considered a big turkey - here in southern Italy - this is HUGE!  I paid for the bird (one thing that is not cheap here).  This bird was 44 euros ($52.36) or $4.02 per pound.   It was well worth the price.  So fun too that the butcher carried the bird to my car for me.  He thought it was too heavy for me.  I love service!!!! 

The bird wrapped from the butcher!

The cooking could now commence.  The Brussel sprouts were no issue - other than the one store that sells them was out when I went to buy them.  I asked the produce worker and he said he had them and would bring them out.  In Italy that means on his time - not mine.  So for the next 45 minutes I finished my shopping and then wandered around the store waiting for him to go to the back room and bring them out.   Only in Italy!  Luckily they did have them but I was starting to think - ok green beans can always work - Yuck!  Oh don't get me wrong - I like green beans but they are common in Italy. I wanted something different.  

So with the brussel sprouts made it is now time to make the mashed sweet potatoes.  I mentioned above the organic farm.  Take a peek at these potatoes.  I have a large orange next to them so you can see the size.  They were huge.  They also were not exactly what I was expecting and then when I started to peel and cut them I really realized they were NOT what I expected at all.  They were not like our sweet potatoes.  A bit too late to do anything now. I would just have to hope they would work out.  They did but I must say they were rather mild.  I do like our sweet potatoes better - more flavor.

Fresh organic "Italian" sweet potatoes

Looks a lot like our normal potatoes
Consistency a bit different than both our white and sweet potatoes
Flavor similar to our sweet potatoes but less intense

Stuffing was next and thankfully the only issue there is WOW the recipe made a lot.  This would be a challenge on Thanksgiving morning.  But for now the food is made, table set, house cleaned.  Bring on Thanksgiving Day!!

Now let me tell you a secret.  I think I have only cooked a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with Turkey, one time in my life.  I believe I was living in Cleveland at the time.  I have always been invited to friends for Thanksgiving and I have always gratefully accepted their invitations.  So there was a bit of trepidation on my part!  Haha!  But my tutor JoAnn had instilled lots of confidence in me.  Thank goodness!!  And in the end if it all failed we could just go out for pizza!!

I arose early but unfortunately no Macy's parade to watch while I cooked.  The 7 hour time difference was no fun today!  I had determined my timeline the night before - turkey must be in the oven before 10 a.m.  But the turkey almost did not fit in the oven.  There was no room to spare.  In fact the turkey leg was touching the side of the oven and I had to wrap it in foil as it was starting to burn just a few minutes into the cooking time.  OMG!!!   The other issue is I realized I had way too much stuffing for the bird.  I would now have to cook some of it in the oven which meant a change in how I would reheat the potatoes and Brussel sprouts. It all worked out but still a bit amazed that it did.   

Turkey stuffed and ready for the oven.
Almost too big for my roasting pan

It just barely fits!!!

Turkey in the oven I was on schedule and made last minute preps for heating up the sides and prepping the aperativo.  

My guests arrived at 1:00.  I anticipated eating around 2:00.  I was pretty darn close to that and would have been on time but when I was ready to serve the food I realized Luigi was no longer here.   "Dov'e Luigi?" I ask.  Apparently Angela and Luigi bought a bottle of Prosecco to have with dessert but Luigi forgot it in the refrigerator at home.  While I was cooking he left the house and went down the mountain to their house to get it.  HaHa!  Ok stall for a bit - no problem I could do that.  He returned with Prosecco in hand and I was ready to serve the meal.  I gave a little speech in Italian.  I told them today was a very special day - a day in which we give thanks for our blessings.  I told them there were 5 blessings sitting around the table with me and I was so grateful and thankful for their support and help during my first 6 months in Italy.   With that it was "mangiamo"!!! The food turned out great - a bit to my surprise.  They all had seconds and believe it or not there was not much turkey left!!!  I guess they liked it!!  

So my first Thanksgiving is a memory now and a beautiful one at that.  I told them they are invited each year as I celebrate an important American holiday and tradition.   They all agreed they would return.  

My guests chatting while I was cooking in the kitchen

Yummy looking turkey right out of the oven

My guests anxiously awaiting to eat

I learned I do not know how to carve a turkey....
no matter how many instructions you read on line. haha!

Luigi loved that turkey!

The infamous Prosecco
and of course Antonio is the first one to taste it

Happy Thanksgiving - 2017!

Bring on Christmas!!

My 6 Month Update!

mercoledi, 8 novembre

Today marks the end of the first 6 months in Italy.  Wow - where did that time go.  But when I think back on everything I have accomplished and experienced it does seem like I have been here longer.

My house is coming together - although much more to do.  My recent addition of a full wall armadio (wardrobe) is really making a difference as I am finally getting things out of plastic tubs and corners of every room.  To those following me on Facebook, apologies for some duplication here.  This unit was built by hand and installed by my cousin Antonio and his nephew Giulio,  (the son of my cousin Emilio).  The craftsmanship is fabulous.   Check out the pictures of the finished product and the wonderful craftsmen.

Cousin Antonio and Giulio - the craftsmen

My "furnace" is ready and I finally found a screen.  With the cooler weather I had to fire it up for the first time.  It keeps the main living/dining room nice and warm.  I will use a space heater for the bathroom.

This really keeps me warm on chilly days

I have a list of other projects that will most likely take me a few years to finish.  But isn't that what everyone has.  My next project after the holiday season will be a pergola (or gazebo as they call them here) outside and some landscaping work on the garden.  I'm hoping that will cut down on the dust/dirt that seems to get into every crack and crevice of the house.   I do love this house and see no reason to really do anything but to stay here and enjoy the view!!

I have met some wonderful friends outside of family - which I know is important.  In addition I am staying active not only by working out at the fitness center but now I am taking yoga and learning how to play tennis.  I am also planning a few golf get aways with friends.  The "good" golf courses are a few hours away at least.  But so blessed to have found people that enjoy participative sports!

The language is coming along. My cousins say I am speaking much better but I have such a long way to go.  I make small improvements daily yet I have little patience for "small improvements". I want to wake up one day and be fluent - haha- that ain't happenin' - darn!!!  Sometimes I amaze myself and other days I just want to bang my head against a brick wall as I can't seem to say anything correct.  At night my brain "flat lines" as I say.  It is so tired after talking or trying to talk Italian all day.  It just goes numb.  That is usually when I find a movie in English on TV or put one in my DVD player from my great romance comedy collection.   Oh and yes my DVDs work here BUT I had to buy what is called a non-region DVD player.  It supports DVDs from all regions of the world.  And I also found a small CD player so I can play all my music. It is not the great quality of my stereo system I left behind but it will work for a year or two until I decide if I want to invest in something bigger/better quality.  

Oscar has finally turned the corner after 6 months. It was a rough start for my buddy.  The summer heat and humidity was brutal for him.  And he has put on some weight - not a good thing.  We found a new vet - an hour away.  But the clinic is very large and has everything we might need.  I really like the new vet.  Oscar has a few problems we are addressing and unfortunately for him he is on a diet. I must get the weight off him for his health.  We've done it before when he first came to me at 4 years old - we can do it again!!  He has made friends with many of the dogs in Acquavella.  Lulu (a male dog that lives next door) is his best buddy. My house is completely fenced in so I can let Oscar run off lead and Lulu somehow gets inside our fence - and comes to play with Oscar. I am trying to get a video of them - it is so cute.  But here is a still of them when we are on a walk.

Lulu and Oscar - best buddies

Guess who claimed the one and only chair in the house

I have had some Minnesota friends visit already - and I think they have all recovered from culture shock!!  It has allowed me to explore a bit more and learn about all the things to do and see in southern Italy.  There is still so much more to uncover.  I also took a trip up to Tuscany with my cousin.  That will most likely become at least an annual trip.  Looking forward to next July and going to the Palio di Siena (the horse race around the Piazza del Campo).  From there I may jump over to the Umbria Jazz Fest - one of the best Jazz festivals in the world - held in July.  I'm liking this thing called retirement!!

A beautiful view just 10 minutes into a long trail called "Sentiero degli Innamorati"
in Ascea. The total time to hike the entire trail is about 2 hours and it goes much higher.
On my list of things to do - complete the hike

So with that I will close my update.  I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving and will post about that later.  I'm inviting a few cousins to celebrate the holiday with me.  Then it will be Christmas - oh my I can't wait for that.  Christmas in Italy is really something special. 

Hope you are all enjoying my Year of Firsts!!

Fall Update and a Trip to Palinuro

lunedi, 30 ottobre

I have heard that winter has arrived early for my Minnesota friends.  I am truly sorry as I sit on my porch and admire my rose bush that is blooming again - in late October.  No I am not rubbing it in but just confirmation that I love the southern Italian climate.  I do hope winter is kind to you.  

You can tell the seasons are changing as there are some trees that change color - but not many here in the south.  The temperatures are now in the 60's during the day and cooler at night.  But not too cold where you can't sit outside for dinner.  Last night Angela, Luigi and I ate at the Rosticceria and sat outside under the stars.  Layering and a scarf around your neck and you are all set.  It was heaven.  

So now how about an update on a few of my house projects? I thought you might also enjoy a little site seeing from southern Italy.  A few Minnesota friends visited for a week and I took them on a boat excursion to Palinuro.  More on that in a minute.  But first the house projects.

My fireplace is almost ready to use.  My new screen is here - now just waiting for the grate for the logs.  I am holding off as long as I can to put a fire in the fireplace - similar to the urge to turn on the furnace back in MN - you want to wait as long as you can.   Oscar's ready!

Also I hired my cousin Antonio, the carpenter, to build closets (armadi) for me in the office/spare room.  This will provide some much needed storage for clothes, Christmas decorations, luggage, etc.  It will be a full wall of storage.  I got a sneak peak of the progress on Saturday as I needed to pick out the handles for the doors/drawers.  His workmanship is amazing.  Check out the pictures.  Installation is scheduled for next Monday and I can't wait.  I am so excited.  They are solid wood!  I will send another picture when they are installed.  

The two closets without the doors. Notice the closet
on the right will have 4 drawers.

These are the cabinets that will be on top of the closets
They will also have doors and will go all the way to the ceiling.
I am using every bit of space.

The drawers with a sample of the handles I picked out.

I was excited to have two Minnesota friends visit recently.  One day we took a boat excursion to Palinuro.

From Wikipedia "Palinuro is part of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, an area of "shrubland" typical of Mediterranean countries.

It is popular with tourists, especially in summer, due to the cleanliness of its waters and beautiful beaches; and is regularly awarded five stars Blue Flag^[2]
The town is also famous for the caves along its coast,^[3] which are regularly visited, especially by frogmen."

The boat leaves the port of Marina di Casal Velino in the morning and takes a slow ride down the beautiful coast. It takes a few hours.  Once we get close to Palinuro the boat stops and then starts to off load everyone into smaller boats.  Some people will go relax on a beach/or go swimming as many of the young Germans on holiday did that were on the boat.  Or some people chose to go snorkeling - the boat provides all the wetsuits as the water has cooled over the past month.  My friends and I chose to relax on the beach.  We also took a hike up the mountain trail that takes you to a hotel.  The path is supposedly to be used only by hotel patrons but the hotel is closed for the winter so we chose to ignore the signs telling us to stay out.  As in Italy - rules are made to be broken.  HAHA!!

Carol and Susan enjoying the small boat ride to the beach

Enjoying the beach while the younger tourists enjoy the water 

A view as we start to climb the 444 steps to the hotel at the top

Picturesque coastline

A view down to the beach

Many are surprised by the rocky coastline

Bellissimo mare

The color is amazing

The smaller boats pick us up after a few hours and on the way back to the large boat we explore the grottoes that are famous in this area.  There are three that we visited.  The Sulfur Grotto - there is a smell of sulfur and an underwater sulfuric flow - notice the movement in the water in the video.

https://youtu.be/tFwS751A1QM

Next is the Blood Grotto - due to the redish color on the outside and inside of the grotto.  The color comes from the iron deposits on the rock formations.

https://youtu.be/C74z9sSHxwg

The third Grotto is the most beautiful and of course I had a phone/camera malfunction when I was trying to video so I only got a still photo of it.  The name comes from the effect from the sunlight penetrating into the grotto from an opening that is 100 feet deep in the water.  The color is so beautiful!

Inside the Blue Grotto

Small boat ride along the coast as we tour the grottoes

Beautiful rock formations

The large excursion boat waiting for its passengers to return

Palinuro is a must see for anyone visiting southern Italy!  

Fino alla prossima volta!!

My First Olive Harvest

martedi, 10 ottobre

Today's adventure was my first day of olive harvest season.  I just returned last night from a 5 day trip to Tuscany with my cousin Angela and Oscar.  I will blog on that later but I have posted some things on Facebook for those following me there.

I have been looking forward to today for years. I have always wanted to experience the olive harvest from start to finish.  Today I did and what a great experience it was.  I will try to explain as best I can in words, pictures and videos.  

Angela, Luigi and I left around 9 a.m. and headed to the country land.  There are many areas of olive groves that need to be harvested. Today we will work on land that was owned by Angela's father.  While we were gone this past weekend Luigi and Francesco (Angela's brother and my cousin) started to work this part.  They did about half of the trees so today we will finish.  There is also land that Luigi owns that needs to be harvested, as well as the land behind my house - about 10 trees.  Angela's land, which is the old Gentile family land, will not be harvested.  She lost 40 trees in the fires of this past summer.  Many Gentile cousins lost trees in this area - it is so sad.  Angela can't bring herself to even visit the land to see the damage.  Another cousin lost over 100 trees.  Luckily the trees we are harvesting are nice and full.  What I don't know is if the damaged trees will ever produce fruit again.  

The first video is our short drive down the "country road" to the land.  This is maybe 5-10 minutes from my house.  Note as the car slows the road is washed out on the right side.  I always hold my breath when driving on this road.  I am always a passenger - I will never drive it!

https://youtu.be/PPYWCYmcb7A


Once there I thought - gee not a bad view from my "office" for today's work.  :)

The first step is to lay nets down under the trees that you will be working.  Note this land is not flat so attention is needed to make sure you are on solid footing.  

Once the nets are in place the work begins.  Angela and I work on the lower branches - literally picking the olives by hand - pulling them off the branches and letting them fall into the netting.  Luigi and Francesco use a machine that is like hands that grabs the branches and shakes and loosen the olives.  I did try my hand at the machine as well.

But Luigi and Francesco are the pros.  

https://youtu.be/dhg1-jdPXO4

https://youtu.be/ovCkkPp-xak


When a tree is done you need to gather the olives so you pull the netting so the olives gather in one spot.  You empty the olives from the netting into buckets and shake the buckets so the leaves, twigs, sticks will rise to the top. You want to pull out as much of this type of material before bagging the olives.  The remainder will be separated at the pressing plant but doing an initial pass is necessary.  Once cleaned you then empty the bucket into bags.  

While we were harvesting many others are doing the same thing - you can hear the sounds of voices and machines across the land.  Right next to us were friends of the family.  Interesting as they did not have the modern machine but were using the old fashion method of a long stick.  You take the stick and literally beat it in the tree to get the olives to fall.  Now THAT is a lot of work.

Once the olives are picked and bagged it is on to the press company.  It is a busy place these days.  Everyone is bringing their harvest for pressing.  And of course we run into cousin Antonio who is harvesting today too.

Upon arriving the workers take your olives - either from containers or bags and empty them into large square plastic bins.  These bins can then be lifted with a fork lift so they are weighed before the pressing starts.  They are also labeled with your name. 

When your turn arrives the olives are dumped into the machine for washing and separating the leaves, twigs, etc.  See the video below.

https://youtu.be/Y6-So5OLTHw


Once cleaned and separated they enter the press machine which is inside the building.  I am not quite sure how it works but this machine holds multiple peoples olives as they are processed. 

 As they are pressed they turn into a paste - see the short video - part 5

https://youtu.be/0UhzOK4vulk

When your batch is ready the oil is pulled from the machine into the containers that are then used to fill your smaller containers. 

https://youtu.be/RSP1d7ufVEg

 The whole thing is quite amazing and I am so curious as to how the large machines work.  I am going to see if someone can take the time to explain it to me with our next batch.  Today it was so busy I did not want to bother anyone.  Another amazing bit of information - check out the list of the different types of olives just grown in the region of Campania.  66 different types - who knew?

Today we harvested 7 trees, in about 6 hours.  We gathered 140 kilograms of olives - which equals 308+ pounds.  That then turned into 30 liters of extra virgin olive oil or 7.4 gallons.  

There are more days ahead of olive harvest.  I will say it is a lot of work but it truly is a labor of love for the people of southern Italy.  I can't wait to taste it!!