PANZANELLA-recipe

Panzanella (Bread and Tomato Salad)was served one evening at the Crociani Agritourismo. I enjoyed it so much that I asked how to make this summer dish. However, because I appreciate the structure of a recipe, I recently found this on the Epicurious website and it matches pretty closely to the basic ingredients used in Italy...except I was told that a person could add any vegetable they felt appropriate. So make it yours and enjoy!

PANZANELLA
Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

3/4 pound day-old crusty peasant-style whole-grain bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 6 cups)
2 large tomatoes (about 1 pound), trimmed and each cut into 8 wedges
3/4 cup sliced unwaxed cucumber
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
10 fresh basil leaves, shredded

In a serving bowl stir together the bread, the tomatoes, the cucumber, the onion, the oil, the vinegar, the basil, and salt and pepper to taste until the salad is combined well.

Serves 4 to 6.

Taking part in the Grande Festa: Italia Campioni Del Mundo 2006!!

With my cousin Jim at the Colloseum

Toigo grandchildren, Griselda's fili (children)

With Roberta and friends the for the first time USA vs Italy futbol match

Lisa and Elsa

When in Rome

It's so hard not to say that, when you are actually in Rome as I am, here in a little internet point next to my youth hostel. It's almost ten o'clock. I spent the afternoon on a train from Montepulciano. The manager of the youth hostel said that I probably shouldn't try to go to visit the Vatican because it would close in a few hours anyway. But that was on my list of to-do's so I went as fast as I could while looking at maps and fumbling with metro-tickets. Most of the time I just followed the crowds until I found my self in the right place. I did get to see the Vatican Museum which was filled with much more than I anticipated. They lead you through halls of sculptures, paintings, tapestries, and eventually to frescoes painted by Raphael (one of which I remembered some interesting facts from my Italian Rennaissance Art History class!), and finally to the Sistine Chapel. Being there in person was special; although I probably would have seen more detail in a photo, it was worth it to feel in person the dimensions and weight of the figures that Michaelangelo rendered. The timing of my visit was perfect because after I soaked in the frescoes for about fifteen minutes, the attendants began to usher us out of the building.

This morning I had to say my goodbyes in Montepulciano which included: the dear German Elsa Toigo, her husband Enzo Toigo, their dog Stellina, Gianfranco, his daughter Roberta, his wife Alma, all sixteen peices of the artwork I've made (too expensive to ship for now so I must wait for a new wine order from the states to ship it with the wine pallet), and my "fratello" Enrico Toigo. There were more goodbyes the day before..actually they were "arrevederci" which comes from the verb "vedere"--to see--so it really means "until we see again". Tomorrow morning I say goodbye to Italy and maybe I will come back and see it again soon.

Even though this is my last post from Italy, I will write more again from home (that is, if the passport situation works out allright--you can pray for that!) finaly adding some excerpts long-overdue as well as some pictures, a recipie or two, and other "roba"--things.

Arrevederci!

Grande Festa

So what shall I write about first, my trip to Rome, Italy's win in the championship game, or maybe the fact that I finally discovered where the apostrophe button is on this Italian keyboard (the proof is behind the word Italy above and yes, keyboards are a little different here). Allora (um...so), the festa. Italy won the world cup last night. Campioni del mundo! This may or may not be in the news there but it is a huge deal here. The last time they won was early in the 80's and before that was in the 30's. Gianfranco's daughter, Roberta, invited me out with her friends again to see the game. We went to a bar/pizzeria that we went to last time to watch the Germany-Italy game where they sent up a giant screen outside. After the two 15 minute overtimes, we all stood in anticipation during the final penalty kicks. Then there was much jumping, yelling, hugging, spraying of champagne and water bottles. I was bagnata (wet from the water). More than once, I had to dash to save my camera from the spray.
In the street, cars were driving by honking, waving flags, and occasionally doing the simultaneou sbrakes and gas squeely move. As other Italian regazzi (young people) loaded onto a giant livestock truck that came from who knows where, I got into the car with Roberta, her fiance--Lorenzo, and one other friend heading on our way to Cianciano Terme half an hour away. I had no idea what we'd find there, but didn't care it was all so thrilling. People from all over had gathered in the main square with drums, noismakers, flags, children, old folks, face paint, more squealing cars and giant trucks passing by, and so much more noisemaking and celebration. It reminded me of post-basketball "celebrations" at Michigan State University, only this was totally peaceful. Italians aren't perfect, however, and there were some beer bottles strewn on the ground. We left at 2 am and I'm sure all of this went on for much longer.

Rome in comparision, doesn't seem so exciting to write about--Not that it wasn't exctiting. Allora, I took the train for just the day to meet my cousin Jim and some of the people he had brought up from the camp they work at in Naples. Jim is a lot of fun and it was great to see him. We went to the Coloseum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Fontana Treve, Piazza Venezia, and the Roman Forum (ruins). Of all of this, I most enjoyed The Roman ruins where I proceeded to take photo after photo of the carvings in the giant column pieces that were strewn everwhere. At the fontana treve, I enjoyed using my Italian to tell the many men who approached me with their flower ploy to "Va via!" (go away). They hand you flowers as if they are free, walk away, then come bakc and ask you for money. I was highly annoyed at the third through the fifth who came to harass me...one even shook flower water in my face after I vehemently said no.

Today, I've spent some extra time here in Montepulciano just scoping out he streets and sights. It's not to hard to do because all streets pretty much either go up to the top or down to the bottom where I head home.

Oh yes, in answer to your question mom, "piano" means softly or slowly.

Enough of this typing, I'm off to wander.

La Vinta!

I believe that means-victory. In case you didnt know, Italy won a very important game against germany last night in the World Cup for soccer. The only goals were scored by Italy in the last two minutes of overtime. This means that they are going to play in the final match this Sunday. I watched the game last night with Enrico Toigo, his young friend from Genova IT who loves American cars, and an older fellow from Rome who was absolutely hilarious during the game. At one point he put on a snorkel mask and pranced around the room; I dont know what he said, but as it turns out comedy is pretty standard in most languages.

Today was a neat day at the art studio da Rocchi. Someone placed a rush order on some cups, so Gianfranco asked if I would like to help paint them. Of course! While Roberta painted six or seven of the cups this afternoon, I managed to painted three. Piano, piano.

A dopo (until later)
Lisa

little moment

My father arrived in Italy in the evening the day before yesterday...so Ive had less time to escape and do the small things, like post this blog. But, alas, we have all stopped in Montepulciano... and Enrico and my father went to get something to drink so here I am. In the past few days, I went to an amazing dance club with three different levels--one for salsa/merengue, one for oldies, and one for techno...the place was filled shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of stylish beautiful Italians; I ate a very delicious fish meal by a blue, blue sea; I attended dinner with Enrico and his friend (a classic Roman uomo bello) where I ate nearly raw meat--a specialty here that I wont jump for in the future; and Ive probably drank more alcohol wine tasting than I usually have in one-two months. (My brother is rejoicing at this, I can hear him).
A day ago in the evening, I went out looking for my dad and Enrico who where out somewhere in the vineyard. Walking by the garden, I went unnoticed by three small fox playing ten feet away. After that, I saw Vasily, the Romanian help for the vineyard (sound like Under The Tuscan Sun?) and had a nice conversation--the two of us speaking about learning Italian--a language not our own. Then we saw another animal delight--a chubby anteater.

Along with my dad has come the reminder of the reality of a job search back in the states. Oh headache of headaches. A vacation is wonderful, then there is the return home, which can be a little shocking. After he leaves, Im goign to try to forget it again for a while and continue to enjoy myself.

I regret that I cant continue my story about grace nor my trip to Cinque Terre right now. But I will! Im just waiting for a little longer little moment.

Ciao

The best swim ever

It would be difficult to get the full impact of this georgeous spot by looking at this photo. Imagine that beneath that little Lisa figure is 7 feet of salty water over giant mossy rocks. About where the photographer is standing was the giant rock tiny Lisa dived off of to enter the water. mmmm.

Vacation (vacanza)

I had quite an amazing weekend away. In part, because I had was doing something so new…traveling alone and staying in a hostel. Some of these things were a little sketchy, but the only casualty I suffered was a nice sunburn from the waist down and the disappearance of my 5 Euro sunglasses.

Since it so happened that Andrea Licavoli and I were in Italy at the same time… through short phone calls we arranged to meet in Firenze (Florence). I packed my hiking backpack as light as I could for the weekend and left early Saturday morning the 24th. and taking an early train to meet Andrea. Our plan was to leave Sunday morning for Cinque Terre, a string of 5 Italian cities along the coast of the Ligurian Sea.

Firenze, as it turns out is a very hot city. People in Italy like to talk about the heat, mixing up the way they describe how hot it is. “Que Caldo!” Andrea and I spent the day in this humid heat walking around Firenze, shopping, going to the Academy to see Michaelangelo’s David and other works of art. The David was actually quite impressive—much taller than I expected. It may take three or more of me stacked high to reach from head to toe. Best of all were his “Prisoners”, a series of unfinished sculptures of male bodies emerging from marble; I would have liked to see how he would render a female prisoner.

In the evening, we met up with some students that Andrea knew, a few girls who were going to let us stay in their apartment that night. While hurrying to their place with bags in tow, we realized that according to what we had packed and how hot it was, the best idea would be to sleep in the skirts we were currently wearing, saving our shorts for hiking the next day. Reaching the apartment around 10pm, we sat down to eat dinner (usually Italians eat dinner between 7 and 8pm). Mid-salad, we ran across the town because the fireworks were starting in celebration of Firenze’s patron saint. The fireworks (fuoco) weren’t particularly amazing, but amidst the crowd packed like sardines beside a bridge in Firenze, we were laughing and cheering, sometimes at ourselves and sometimes because it was a good display. We ended up finishing dinner sometime after 11pm and decided to scrap our plan to go dancing in order to save our achy and swollen feet for hiking the next day.

I had no idea before going to Cinque Terre how beautiful it was going to be. I had been told by Gaitanno, an Italian in Lansing, that it was just created for American tourists. My dad had been there and raved about it and Andrea had heard good things from people of other countries. Certainly, it was brimming with tourists, but for good reason. Stone cliffs led down to the emerald waters of the Ligurian Sea. Each city was a collection of houses and apartments in candy colors built down steeply winding streets.

Our hostel was part of the sketchy-excitement of our vacation. Apparently the owners own 25 different hostel locations in that small town of Riomaggiore. If all of them are filled with five inhabitants nightly as ours was, then the owners are taking in over 3000 Euro nightly. Utilities shouldn’t be much because people spend their time out, and because of its condition, I only used the toilet, and chose to brush my teeth in the sink in our room. We never had our own key. There was a key kept up behind a curtain outside the door. After a struggle to lock/unlock the door from the inside, we decided that during the night we would leave the room unlocked while we slept rather than get stuck inside. It was around 3pm when we hid our valuables as best as we could, locked the door, put the key in its hiding place, and struck out in bathing suits and shorts to find the ocean or maybe start our hike.

More to come....