Un reingraciamente tipico d'America

Our Italian friends, at least 18 of them, came to our traditional Thanksgiving dinner last Sunday afternoon. Since the Italians do not celebrate our Thanksgiving, there is no translation for all that we feel, think and do relating to that time of year. The word reingraciamente is one they have pretty much coined to describe the day. It means something to the effect of "big thanks" and many Sicilians seem to think it's a substitute for Christmas for us.

Our friends arrived with gifts in hand. Not just the traditional plate of Sicilian sweets but really nice gifts: a bud vase, a beautiful large ceramic platter and a really cute stuffed Christmas dog that sings a Christmas song. Our friend was so proud that she found one that sang a song in English. If she spoke English she probably wouldn't have picked one that sang about how lonely he was going to be this Christmas. We were quite amused. Mimma and Valentina (Roberto's wife) brought us a beautiful ceramic planter with plants in it. I hope it lasts long enough for them to see it another time when they come over. I'm terrible with plants.

Speaking of plants.....I am constantly amazed to see the plants that we consider house plants growing here the way they should naturally. Geraniums that fill the fenceline at the edge of our road, not dying over winter but flourishing and flowering year after year. The plant (we call it a weeping fig) that I gave to Jessica before we came over here was about three feet tall. We had bought it before Ken was born and I had tried my best to nurture it (but, in actuality had only allowed it to survive, barely, suffering all those years). In Giuseppe's yard is a tree that stands about thirty to fifty feet tall......yep, you guessed it. The weeping fig. But I'm off on a tangent. I came here to talk about Thanksgiving with the Italians.

For appetizers we served spinach and artichoke dip, stuffed mushrooms, several kinds of olives and pistachios (which we had plenty of, having mistakenly thought the guy at the market said they were three euro a kilo). We made up the recipe for the stuffed mushrooms because we don't have our recipe book from the B&B but they went over well and our 32 huge mushrooms all got eaten. The spinach/artichoke dip also went well. We made about four cups total and it was completely gone.

Dinner consisted of the traditional offerings of turkey, dressing, gravy (they don't have gravy here at all) mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, two kinds of cranberry sauce---no translation for cranberries in a place with almost no inland water---corn on the cob and hot rolls with butter. This photo is Giusseppe showing the turkey carcass to his grandson Fabio. Fabio thought it looked pretty gross.

Alfio helped Bob carve the turkey in the kitchen then when Bob put the platter into the oven to keep the meat warm, Alfio cut the wings, leg bones, and thigh bones off the carcass and took them to the table for people to start on. Did he think we weren't going to serve the carved meat? I don't know. However, they seemed happy with the bones. I think Sicilians do not wait patiently for anything. When they eat, the food is brought in a bit at a time from the time they sit to the table to the time they leave, which can be two or three hours.

Our food was eaten in less time than that but all were full and enjoyed the meal. Their general comments about the food was that American food is sweeter than Sicilian. The turkey, dressing, Waldorf salad, sweet potatoes, etc. Although we don't think much about it, they all do have a sweetness that is different from the food of other countries.

For dessert we had, of course, pumpkin pie, Grandma Madyline's three-day coconut cake, chocolate mousse cake and magic cookie bars. However, after that big meal no one was able to eat much dessert. We were left with one of the two pumpkin pies, half a cake and a few pieces of the chocolate cake. No one even touched the magic cookie bars (quite allright, though, I took them to school the next day and they were the hit of the day).

All in all, it was a great day and the Cool Whip was the most popular item on the table.

Thanksgiving

I do hope all who read this had a great day on Thanksgiving. We went to our friends', Bob & Joyce Brickley, house for dinner. Joyce is a great cook (they used to have a restaurant in Boston right in the historical district) and we had a wonderful meal. Being with friends doesn't take the place of family but it's very nice.

However, as I write this I realize I didn't miss my family so much on Thanksgiving as I did Bob and Billy DeMond. (over the years we and the kids have saved Christmas for our big holiday)We've been friends with Bob and Billy for over thirty years and they have been a part of almost every stage of our adult lives. From babies being born to parents dying. We don't keep in touch nearly as much as we should but they are both very special people and we love them like family.

Today we are having our own Thanksgiving with our Italian friends. Turkey and all the fixins'. I'll write and send photos so you can see. Almost everything we're having is not what Sicilians eat so it will be interesting to see their reactions.

Ten things about me

Well, I got tagged by Tracy and the first thing about me is I don't know ten people who have blogs---even counting Tracy and her brothers and sister.

*Here's how you play....once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with ten random facts, habits, or goals about yourself. At the end, choose ten people to tag, listing their names and why you chose them; don't forget to leave a comment on their page letting them know "tag you're it". You cannot tag the original people/person back that tagged you first, but let them know when you have posted so they can read your blog.

So........here goes.

1. I've always wanted to visit Italy but never dreamed I'd one day live here. I love it, have friends here and can't wait to go home.

2. Someone once asked me (mmmmm.....Tracy) "Is it possible for someone to read too much?" I love to read. Love to be taken away by the magic of books, especially to places I would never be able to or be brave enough to go in real life, i.e. Janet Evonovich's bounty hunter, Madeline L'Engle's fantasy time travel, Dicken's or Jane Austin's era England.

3. I hate talking about myself but find myself doing it a lot. I feel self conscious talking about much else. I don't talk about other people (to them, of course) because I'm afraid I'd be intruding into personal things. I don't talk about facts because I don't really feel I know a lot about much. I never even talked about my kids much when they were little. Who would want to hear how wonderful, smart, beautiful and talented my kids were except their Grandmas.

4. Speaking of Grandmas......I have always felt that my kids were cheated in that department (my mother died young and Bob's mom didn't really like the grandma-thing) and that's why it's so hard for me to be gone when my own grandkids are young. Every child needs a grandma who will love them no matter what and want to spend time with them.

5. I love to be outside but don't get there very often. My favorite thing we've ever done has been to go hiking on the trails at Roaring River State Park near Cassville, Missouri, or exploring Schermerhorn Park in Galena, Kansas.

6. I love water (lakes, oceans, seas, even ponds) but am a little bit afraid of it, too. I'm never comfortable in a boat but love to ride in them. I love to swim but want to be able to touch the bottom of the pool. Such a dichotomy.

7. I am seen as calm and cool but whenever there is an emergency situation, I'm the first to panic. I'm a real wuss when it comes to blood, injuries, pain, etc.

8. I want to be thought of by others as very intelligent but I don't really think I am. I insisted for myself that I make top grades in college but had to get up at four in the morning to study and have tutors for certain science classes to get the grades I wanted.

9. I've always had five things I've wanted to do in my lifetime. I've been able to do most: travel to England, get a college degree, see a Broadway play (it was actually in St. Louis but it was the road show of the Broadway production). Actually, I can't think of the last things but three out of five would still be great even if I could remember.

10. I would love to write a book but I can't even write a letter. Kids, do you recall when I'd send money with a note that said. "Here's your money. I love you. Mom" ? Occasionally I get inspired to write an anecdote from my life but I'm definitely not a writer.

Now for my ten people. Can you believe I know people who not only do not have a blog but not even a computer? Sue, I want to tag you because I miss your sense of humor and being a part of your life. So consider yourself tagged. Lynette, because sometimes you let Ken do the talking for you. I want to know your opinions, hopes and dreams. Christine, because I love reading when you blog. You see things in a beautiful way. Leota, if you're still blogging, I need to reconnect. I miss being in touch with you. Eunice and Rhonda--you need to blog. You'd both be great in your own ways and this would be a great start. That's the end of my list. I'm looking forward to reading Michele's and Chasity's. If I know you. If you read my blog. If you are willing to bare your soul. :) Let me know and I'll tag you, too.

Bits and Pieces of Italy

There are many photos I take and say, "I'm going to put this on our blog and say...." They often don't get on there so I decided to put up a few with a short paragraph about them.

First: We went to the market and saw this giant potato. When we asked what it was, the man told us it was "patata Americana" which our friend said meant sweet potato. We bought two and brought them home to try. Bob sliced them like french fries and fried them in oil. They were really good and tasted more like potato than sweet potato. They're also not orange inside, they're yellowish-white. I put it with a regular sized potato for the photo to show how huge it was.

As I've said before, there are two bases here. The working base with the air field (we're a Naval Air Station) and other important parts of the work here and the support base where the school, stores, recreation, etc. are located. Driving between the two is always a challenge because you usually have to wait for a flock of sheep to cross the road (and they're never in a hurry). You have to be really careful because they don't seem to have any idea a car is dangerous so they walk in, among, and around the cars in the middle of the road. The shepherd, also, is never in a hurry and you'd better not hit one of the sheep---male sheep cost you 200 Euros each and females cost 500 if you hit them. At an exchange rate of $1.43 for every Euro you just don't want to take the chance so you drive VERY SLOWLY and stop if necessary until they're completely out of the way.

When Ken and Lynette were here we were walking in Motta and looked to the right. This cloud was hovering there and was pretty much the only cloud in the sky. It looked more like a bomb blast than a cloud but it reminded me that I wanted to show a couple of interesting cloud formations. We've seen things here that really surprise us and clouds are one type of thing. They come and go so quickly, though, that you have to have a camera with you to catch them at their most interesting. The second cloud, we've seen a couple of times. (It's really not a tornado.) We're told that the moisture in the air, the dryness and warmth of the air over Mount Etna etc. etc. make this formation show up occasionally.

Just a final note: Bullet, the dog we accidentally adopted is doing well. At one year old, he's still acting like a pup and eating everything. The account of what he's eaten includes (but is not a comprehensive list by all means): the cover off the swimmimg pool, four garden hoses, four---no, more than that---of our next door neighbor's shoes (Giusseppe keeps saying, "No problemo, e' giovani" which means, no problem he's young), five decorative straw chickens from our porch (it has a gate and he still gets in), the irrigation system for the orange trees, a couple of light bulbs from our outside lights, and numerous container plants we've tried to put around for decoration (one was a very stick cactus and didn't seem to bother him). The only stomach problem we've seen from him was when he stole a trash bag that had leftover chili in it. (Or maybe it was the rabbit he caught and ate earlier that day). What a dog.........He makes life interesting. Every day on the way home from the base we wonder..........

Olive oil

Here's a new adventure we've been on that I wanted to share. Last weekend (a week ago now) we went with some friends to a factory where they process olives to make olive oil. It was VERY interesting. Not quite the factory we would see in the states but not a donkey and a stone wheel.

I just wanted to send you a few photos so you can share our experience. Here you see the back of a truck full of olives. The man is scooping the olives into a bin where they are scooped into a tunnel with a conveyor belt brought up to a fan that whooshes the leaves and sticks out.

The two large stone wheels are grinding the olives to a pulp and pushing them into something that spits the pulp out onto palattes. I know you can only see one but there really are two.

There's a guy who directs the mushed olives onto the round palattes and stacks them up about three feet high.

They are then put into a machine that slowly squeezes the oil out. When it comes out, believe it or not, it's green (like the olives) and very strong tasting.

We got five liters and were told to let it sit in the dark for a couple of weeks so the flavors could blend and settle. Of course we couldn't wait and ate some with some bread Bob had made. It was delicious. It had a bit of a bite like it had pepper in it. The bottles are sitting in our back room under a towel. I can hardly wait to see what two weeks bring.