Oh how I miss you…cilantro.

By Caroline | Published: March 29, 2012

I know I have lamented ad naseum about missing foods from the US, and ingredients from the US, and well a lot of things from the US, but now I am really fired up.

I went to my lovely produce market and was hot to trot to make some spicy chicken.  The kind you need a cool yogurt sauce to go with otherwise your mouth would never forgive you.  And what goes super well with spicy chicken and yogurt sauce?  Cilantro.

Well, no cilantro for me.  They don’t have it.  They never have it.  WHAT??  How am I to enjoy these fish tacos?  Or this salsa?  Or really anything south of the border. This is a pregnant lady talking here.  I WAN’T FISH TACOS!

I guess I will have to settle for dried cilantro…though it just isn’t the same.  Or I could settle for parsley, but that just isn’t the same either.  I swear the tomatoes here are AH-MAZING and are crying out to be married with some spicy goodness with cilantro.  They are anxious to branch out from their best friend basil.

I mean look at them, aren’t they dying for some heat?

"I want some heat!"

 

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Back to School

By Caroline | Published: March 27, 2012

Buongiorno!  Hope you have all been quite well.  Thing here in Bassano have been quite busy.  Lets catch up a bit, shall we?

As I have mentioned in the past, one of my favorite parts of this journey has been the time that it has afforded me the time and mental space to think about those things that tend to get put off a lot.  Things like, “What do I want to do with my career, really?” and “How do I want to spend my free time?” I have been thinking about that first question ever since I went on maternity leave.  That was two and a half years ago.  WOW time flies.

The other thing occupying an unhealthy amount of my thinking time was the fact I wasn’t getting pregnant as our big-master-Italy-plan had penciled in to occur shortly post arrival in Italy.  Funny how those uber-mega-master-plans never seem to go quite as smoothly as you think they should, huh!  Now I must remind you that Little Man was a very blessed surprise that we discovered when we were 14 weeks pregnant, so we had never been through this “trying” process before.  Despite every effort to remain calm and not think about it, it was all I could think about.  Clearly I needed something else to think about.

This winter I began researching masters degree programs.  A long time ago I set a goal to do this, but amidst 80 hour work weeks and traveling all over to see clients, it never materialized.  Now that I do have some free time on my hands, it seemed like it could be more realistic.  I found a program at Boston University that was right up my alley – Master of Science in International Marketing Management.  I got all my ducks in a row and applied in January.

I patiently (read: not so patiently) waited and waited and waited for my judgement.  Then, on a particularly cold day in February my acceptance letter came!  I did a little happy dance on the front porch (I am sure my neighbors thought I was a bit crazy) and straightaway registered for classes and bought my books.

Right about this same time, we realized that something else might be happening.  I was pregnant!   I found the timing quite hilarious.  We are BEYOND excited about Due!  When we were pregnant with Little Man we called him Jumper since he jumped all over the place during his first sonogram.  We figured since this was our second baby, what better name than Due – meaning two in Italian!

Due waving "Ciao" to the world! SO looking forward to meeting this little pumpkin in September!

The first couple months of pregnancy haven’t been to kind to me.  Lots of nausea and tiredness.  I barely got out of bed, but thankfully that cleared up just in time for me to start classes mid-March.  My first class, Quantitative and Qualitative Decision Making, has proved to be quite the challenge.  A good challenge for sure, but a lot of work.  It is really nice to have my brain more engaged.  The Hubs has been super helpful with Little Man when I have to study on the weekends and when I need help with my homework.   Love him!  And his exceptional math skills!

So much more to catch up on including some fantastic little getaways, planning for baby 2 (promise not to overload you on that stuff) and hilarious little stories!  Stay tuned!

 

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Groceries

By Caroline | Published: January 25, 2012

So one of the things that I think is the hardest to get used to when living abroad is the change in available grocery items.  Of course the cuisine is different and thus so is the groceries, but that notion isn’t something that you would immediately think of. Sure I didn’t expect to find peanut butter or Kraft mac ‘n’ cheese, but no tomato paste?

So on this night when four of my last five meals have been powdered soups, I remember the days of whipping something together out of pantry ingredients.  My pantry ingredients today wouldn’t yield much.  And for the record, these powdered soups are quite delicious.  This is no cup ‘o’ noodles!

So here is my list of things that don’t seem to exist here or those that took me forever to figure out.

1.  Yeast.  Now I have since found it though it is still quite different from the “Fleishmans” I am used to.  I ended up smuggling a bunch back form the US.

2.  Canned soups.  Not for consuming, but for sauces, casseroles, etc.  Cream of mushroom…No.  Cream of Chicken..also no.  I can’t say I have even seen any canned soups.

3.  Along that same vein, chicken stock.  Beef stock, sure.  Vegetable, no problem.  Chicken?  Only in granules.

4.  Canned tomato products.  Now this one is funny.  Yes they have lots of canned tomato products, they are just completely different from our canned tomato products.

5.  Sugars.  First brown sugar.  Now they have lots of natural cane sugar, but no packed brown sugar..I quickly learned I could use a little maple syrup to make my white sugar serve the purpose.  And then the powdered sugar.  For months I scoured the shelves to no avail, but finally was gifted some.  It comes in a little paper packet and is called Zucchero a Velo.  No big bag for frosting making here.

I can’t tell you how many times I have wandered aimlessly through the stores looking for things.  Oh yeah and that plural reference was intentional.  Because there is no “one” store here.  I have a meat store, produce store, basics store and bread store.  I actually love going to the little produce market and having my weekly conversation with the lady who always tells me my Italian is improving, but there are times I yearn for a Whole Foods.

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Faster Wheels

By Caroline | Published: January 24, 2012

So back in November, one of The Hubs best friends came to visit, Guiba.  The Hubs was so excited to have Guiba with us and they decided they occasion called for a very special “guy” experience.  This special experience involved some very fast and very expensive cars.

Only good friends share umbrellas.

About two hours from Bassano is the town of Maranello.  Maranello is known primarily for being the home to Ferrari and a Formula One racing team.  There is a Ferrari museum, a factory, a race track and best of all, there are places you can rent a Ferrari.

The guys woke up really early on a Saturday morning and were as excited as kids in a candy store.  They couldn’t wait to get in these cars.  It was a grey day outside, but the weather didn’t dampen their spirits at all.  They arrived in Maranello and in short time had worked out a deal with one of the local Ferrari rental companies for them both to drive two different Ferrari’s – a 430 Scuderia and a 458 Italia.  The rain had cleared and the back roads of Emilia-Romagna were all theirs.

The 430 Scuderia.

The 458 Italia.

Guiba does a lot of water sports and has a video camera that is specially made for sports videos.  He had it strapped to the top of the 430 Scuderia (video).  In addition, the rental company took videos from inside the car (I love the look on The Hubs face as he starts to drive, equal parts fear and excitement).  Now I am no car expert, but when I hear the roar of that engine, even I can sense how special these cars are.  I spoke to them after the experience, they could hardly talk.  Really.  They were high from the experience and at the same time completely speechless.  When we first watched the videos I said to the guys, wow the countryside was amazing and they both laughed because neither of them had noticed.  They were driving far too fast to pay attention to anything besides the car and the road!

Tio (uncle) Guiba also brought Little Man his first Ferrari race track!  The guys couldn’t leave Ferrari land without a few presents for Little Man!  We all had a blast with Tio Guiba and can’t wait for his next visit…:)

 

Little Man was WAY excited about his Ferrari track!

He was a bit nervous abotu their construction abilities as he was anxious to play with the cars!

Time for a test run! Vinnie the wonder dog was smart to hide in his bed in the background.

 

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New foodie find!

By Caroline | Published: January 23, 2012

This weekend we met our friend Sara and her boyfriend Scotthad a very delicious meal at a new spot, Osteria Bellavista.  It is outside a town called Paderno del Grappa, which is about a half an hour away.  You might remember that Sara was our savior when we arrived in Italy as she was our local expert on finding us housing, etc.  She is with a new job now, but has been a great friend to keep in touch with…and they know LOTS of yummy restaurants in the area.

Our first impression of Bellavista was their garden, which was beautiful.  We immediately proclaimed that we must come back during better weather!  We were greeted by the owner very warmly and his first priority was ensuring Little Man had a proper place to sit at the table…they couldn’t have been more welcoming to our little gourmand.

The menu is shared table side course by course with three to six offerings for each course.  I found that I really had a hard time deciding what to order and nothing disappointed.  My starter of shrimp and local wild rice was super flavorful and my pasta course of risotto with shrimp and prosecco was so light you could hardly believe it was risotto.  Throughout lunch we spoke abotu how much we liked the restaurant and how amazing the food was.  Scott shared that the restaurant had been offered a star by Michelin, but turned it down because they thought it would bring too many demanding tourists!  Ha!  Love it!

We will definitely be going back to Osteria Bellavista very soon!

The patio in spring, can't wait to come back for dining al fresco!The dining room where we ate. Fantastic ambiance.

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