Gospel in MSS

At Christmas each year some enterprising Italian group organizes gospel groups from America, arranges sites for them to perform at and provides a ‘down home’ touch for many in Italy.  In the past the concert in Monte San Savino has been held in a church near the A1 and was free.  This year there must have been a conflict.  The concert was held at the theatre in town and there was a charge.  10 Euros each.  We happened to see an ad in the paper saying that before the concert there would be a reception to meet the group at an antiques shop in town. 

 

 

Well of course we went.  I mean after all, we are part of the small group of token Americans in town.  So here are The Friendly Travelers from New Orleans.  They had just flown in to Milan that day.  With an interpreter they answered questions and sang a quick song.  Then we all had a small snack. 

 

I wondered if the shop owner had brought out this gator to make them feel at home.  We gave the group a cookie platter and  chatted with them for a few minutes.  Then we went off to dinner and so did they.  (See a different post about our dinner)

 

Then a little after 9 we were at Teatro Verde for the performance.

 

 

The theatre is gorgeous inside.  There is a stage for live performances and a screen that drops down which is used for movies.  (This is where I saw the movie Ratatouille) 

 

The Friendly Travelers were great.  We enjoyed their performance and appreciate that they took time off from their families to be here in Italy at Christmas.

Christmas In Monte San Savino

The lights are up and on in town.

 

 

The first year we were here, on Christmas Eve we came in to town to watch Santa Claus rappel down the clock town and then hand out presents by name to children of the town.  Last year he arrived on a cart pulled by a donkey, not nearly as much fun.  But this year the notices are up. 

 

 

Small poster on the door announces that Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) will be arriving on Christmas Eve and coming down a tower of one of the churches.   We will be off dog sitting so we will miss it.  But I am so glad that I got to see this the first year we were here.  Can you imagine growing up as a child in a town where something like this happens.  How special.

Firewood

Every day I roll in a wheel barrel full of wood to burn.   

 

 

 

 

 

Some days the wood is so interesting that I’m glad Ben is the one who throws it on the fire and not me.  I like the ridges in this piece.  I would probably set it to the side and not burn it.  Then we’d be cold but with a house full of pretty wood.

 

 

This is a trunk that ivy wrapped around it.  A log with kindling built in.  Pretty or not it all burns well and really warms up the house.

The Last Flowers of Summer

Still no frost and it is mid-December.  But it was supposed to turn cold over night so I picked the remaining blooming flowers. 

 

 

 

It did get cold.  The next day there was snow on the mountains that we can see from the kitchen window.   So I guess that Fall is finally over.

A Few Fall Sunsets

 

 

Some days the light is golden.

 

The New McDonalds

We saw an ad in the paper for the grand opening of a new McDonalds in Foiano by the outlet mall.  We were down that way so we decided to stop by.  The ribbon cutting was supposed to be at 3 and we arrived at 4.  The ribbon cutting still had not happened.  They had shut down the restaurant for the grand opening ceremony so my hopes of free French fries were dashed.  Once the ribbon cutting finally happened, little Italian snacks were going to be served.  We decided to just take a few pictures and leave before any of the festivities started.

 

 

So does this look like any McDonalds you have seen?

 

 

Now this looks like a McDonalds.  They don’t serve breakfast but do serve Caesar salads.  One of the weird things that I kind of miss and they are open all day and serve until mid-night.  In a country where many restaurants close at 3 and don’t open back up until 8 and then close at 11 this gives us one more good option. 

We’re Off

We are off dog sitting.  Details to be revealed soon.  While we are away, our neighbors’ overflow company is staying at the farm.  (I hope they aren’t burning all my wood!)

Anyway we have a very fast internet connection where we are staying which has allowed me to publish old posts that for some reason simply would not publish when I wrote them.  So sorry for confusion and things being somewhat out of order.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Oh to be a beloved pet…

 

 

 

I mean really!  Sprawled in front of a warming fire.  Well fed, knowing that your next meal will arrive for the asking.  Knowing that scratches and rubs are available on demand.  Knowing that a warm, dry, soft, cozy comfy beds waits at the end of the day. 

Yes, that’s Chino, our friends’, (George and Jules) cat enjoying his recent stay with us.  And that recent small earthquake in southern Tuscany and Umbria… it was Siena turning in her grave when Ben said “Do you think our next dog will be a cat?”

What is the world coming to? And other rants

 

 

 

That’s right ready to use broth is finally available.  This is the vegetable, there is beef and for some reason, chicken is combined with other meat, no just ‘chicken broth’.  But this is so much better than nothing.  And sweet potatoes are finally here too.  Two weeks after Thanksgiving but that’s okay we eat them year round.

 

Which brings up a recent tirade that I was on.  My idea for a restaurant (which I now don’t think I’ll ever get around to opening) (and which would work well in a small town or as a neighborhood place) (Ben H. are you reading?)  is for the restaurant to have professional management (i.e. someone who knows what they are doing in the front of the house and in the office) and in the kitchen a different local housewife/family style cook (notice cook, not chef) who changed every night.  For example, if I cooked on Wednesday nights I would have a following, people who knew me and enjoyed eating my beer can chicken or the made up dish of the day which would depend on whatever I had found to cook that day.  Then it would not be an overwhelming amount of work, just like throwing a dinner party once a week but with help to clean up and serve.  So essentially, this is what my  Ben enjoys that every night.  He likes to explain that when he first met me he had a size 34 waist.  Yeah right…

 

 

 

Breaded pork chop, steamed cauliflower, half a baked sweet potato, fried apples glazed with cranberry sauce.  Now wouldn’t you want to sit down to this for dinner?

Virtual Cookies

Long ago Siena came up with the idea that I could make assorted baked goods and take them to folks that she thought were deserving of them.  Of course she thought I should continue that tradition when we moved to Italy.  She was fond of her vet here, the postinas (post office ladies) who are so nice to her Ben, our doctor and our pharmacist and the list goes on and on.  I did have another Christmas tradition that I had to give up.  For over 30 years, right after Thanksgiving I would make an applesauce cake using a recipe from my grandmother on my mother’s side.  In the States applesauce is sold in many size containers from small to large.  In Italy it is sold in tiny, 3 Tablespoon cups.  The recipe calls for 2 cups of applesauce along with other hard to find ingredients, brown sugar and shortening.  So 2007 was the first year since the mid-1960s that I didn’t make the cake.  My Uncle was a benefactor of some of this cake as was my brother.  A cousin makes the cake for my Uncle.  My brother is the real one who has lost out.  But cookies continued.   For about 10 days, just after Thanksgiving, I baked and baked and baked. 

Finally it was time to make the platters.  When we lived in Virginia and our Springer spaniel, Hawthorn,  was still alive, I would have to wait for Ben to be available to make the platters.  Hawthorn who was the true definition of Springer spaniel and could leap tall buildings in a single bound especially if he thought there would be food at the end of the leap always wanted to ‘help’ me put the platters together.  Ben would have to physically hold him or trap him in another room while I made the platters.  Of course that was never a problem with Siena.  She would just sit there and watch, every now and then raising an eyebrow or making some snide comment.   But this year I didn’t even have her there.  But traditions must continue.

 

 

 

A finished platter.

 

 

 

The many finished platters.  It is always fun to deliver them.  Many people here are so truly touched when we hand them the platter.  Such a small thing helps to spread cheer and goodwill.  I wonder if next Christmas after we have moved away if anyone will miss getting cookies from us.

 

And for all those folks in Virginia that don’t get platters from me any more this is for you all too.  I’m thinking of you too. 

 

A new recipe that I tried this year which was so easy and inexpensive to make here was in The Washington Post.  Here’s a link  http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2009/12/09/tuscan-rosemary-and-pine-nut-bars/

If the link is no longer working email me and I’ll send you the recipe.  These would be so good in the summer.  I added some lemon zest to them.  Really good which is why there are no pictures.