Last phase of aventura italiana...

Tuesday, March 18, 2014
It's been a long time, but I am determined to document everything for my sake.   Those of you who follow, put on your seat belts....

I'm pretty sure the last time I wrote was when I was very sick with a wicked cold and the weather was dreary and I was cooped up in the hotel, practically 24/7.  Well, my banking situation at home after all the hacking and trying to breach my WF accounts, I decided I had to go home and straighten everything out.   No payments were being made, I was getting all kinds of "late" warnings, and you can imagine the rest.  TEP even threatened to cut off my service!   It was pretty traumatic and nothing to do from here, Florence.   The time difference is ungodly and hard to manage long phone calls and being put on hold, etc.etc.etc.  So, I bought a ticket and flew to Phoenix for the month of February.    After all, it would be less expensive to fly home than to pay another month's rent.  So, off I go.  I landed in Phoenix so that my girlfriend Jody could lend me a car to get around in.... I sold my car before I left.   Then, I had to go to San Diego to pick up some things my friend, Paco, had taken when he returned.   While in the hotel, I'm pretty sure something bit me on my left left, close to the ankle.  I started to itch a lot, but by the time I got to Tucson, I knew something was really wrong.  I had these huge, marble-sized, lumps, full of yucky stuff, and pain, pain, pain....  I decided to go to the corner clinic, and they told me to go straight to an emergency room.   So, I drove myself to the emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital and was admitted.  I was in the hospital 10 days with a series of bodily malfunctions due to the bite.  Apparently, because no one would really tell me, a brown recluse spider bit me and created real chaos in my body.   My liver function shut down, and when they finally stabilized it, my kidney functions shut down to 10%.  It was pretty scary, and I was being pumped with so many antibiotics that my body just couldn't handle it.  My potassium levels were dangerous, and the kidneys couldn't handle them.   I was on a "renal diet" for 10 days.... if you don't think that's bad stuff, you better think again.  Finally, after many many pokes of my veins, my kidneys began to function, 14%, 20% and when I was given the clearance to leave, I was at 48%.  So, after I straightened everything out with the banks and the hospital I flew back to Milano to meet my friend, Ramon.  I actually missed him in Milano but met up with him in Florence and we went off to Napoli.  We had, of course, the bestest pizza, and did some sightseeing in Capri and around Napoli.   Then we went to Rome, specifially Frascati, and did the sights there.   I had to leave him in Rome and go to Milano to meet my girlfriend, Carmen, who is staying here until it's time to go home on March 29, and that will be the end of the aventura italiana for Cecilia.
In Frascati, we were wined and dined by my friends from Venezuela who own a fabulous restaurant and we managed to have some of the best meals ever!   We did the "musts", the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Square, etc., etc., etc....   Ramon was great to be with, and he was soooo helpful with luggage and trains and so forth.  He's a true gentleman and a really good friend.  I'm lucky to have him in my life.
So, then I go off to Milano again to meet my friend, Carmen on the 13th.  We had opera tickets to the Teatro alla Scala for the 14th and we enjoyed a very unique and interesting opera, La Spousa delle Zar, a classic opera, but performed in modern times.   I am still not sure whether it was some sort of masterpiece or not.  But, it was great singing and, after all, it was LA SCALA....    OMG!  We took the train to Firenze and that's where we are right now.  Yesterday, we went to the market and shopped away and had a great time.   Today, we went to see the David and other works by Michaelangelo.  There are no words to describe his genius, but he was VERY bad tempered, and a sort of bully.   ????
Tomorrow, we're off to the Uffizi galleries to see Renaissance art, and Boticelli's Birth of Venus, a very famous painting.  Then on Thursday, we're off to Napoli....   the trip ends with 6 nights in Rome at the very plush Marriott Grande Flora on the Via Veneto......    thank God for those points on the credit cards!
I will continue to write and put up some pictures very soon.....   thanks to all and your good wishes and interest in all this.   Even though I am not 100%, I am lucky to have come out of all this pretty unscathed, except for diminished energy....  which I am working on....   plugging on.  Except for February, I have been here 5 months and they have been definitely memorable.   I am sooo glad to have done this.  At some point, I never thought I could pull it off!   Bravo, Cecilia
More later.... and more pictures....
Cecilia

Money Woes - Part II

Friday, January 31, 2014

Well, I have been pretty quiet, huh?   Not much to share except rain and grey skies, brrrrrrrr.
Actually, my money woes are getting worse.    Some hacked into my (previous) account again.... and took a bunch of money.   On top of that, because of that Target data breach, now my checking account and all my accounts with Wells Fargo have been compromised.  Everything if FROZEN!   No payments can be made, no deposits can come in (pension check, SS check, where are you?) and I am already getting overdue notices and charges all over the place on my e-mail account.   Ayayay, what a nightmare.   So, I'm leaving for the States on Sunday to straighten out this mess.   I simply cannot stay here two more months with that situation at home.   So, I estimate that I will be in Tucson for most of February.  I am due to return at the end of February to Milano to go to the Opera at Teatro alla Scala.
My friend, Ramon, will be here for 13 days, and then I wait for my friend, Carmen for two weeks, and then we both fly home together at the end of March.   So, you see, I'm not done with Italy YET!!!!!
I intend to return and finish some unfinished plans.   Still have lots of places to go.....
In any case, I'll see you in "blogspace" upon my return, pictures and all.
Arrivederci,
Chechilia

Cooking class and Vicenza

The The Three Amigas ready to go!

Davide, our chef/instructor.  He's very animated, lots of fun and
is an excellent teacher!

Whip those eggs!

Peaks, peaks, peaks!

This is the right consistency for the custard....

Measure about 450 grams (1/2 lb) of mascarpone and fold
carefully into the egg and whipped cream mixture.

Carefully....

Softly....

Assembly...

Dip the hard cookies into cold, strong coffee (you can add your favorite
liqueur here, if you like, Davide likes Amaretto or
Grand Marnier).   Start by layering the cookies, then the
custard and sprinkle each layer with dark cocoa powder.

I'm layering, I'm layering....

Tiramisu masterpiece!

Okay, I don't know how these pictures got all goofed up and out of order, please use your imagination and 
enjoy!

Monday, January 27, 2014  (This should have been read first)

Buona sera, friends and family....
It's been a while, but since I have been nursing this wicked cold (and I'm not out of the woods yet) I have tried to be really careful about using my defenses and energy to fight it.   I feel like it's on the way out....   keep your finges crossed.
Today was a day to stay indoors.... it's raining and it's windy.
Tomorrow, there shall be sunshine (keep those fingers crossed) so I will go out and do a little shopping.  Now that I have decided to go to the States, dreams of guacamole, chorizo, soft tortillas, tacos al vapor, etc.etc.etc.... have hounded me!   I haven't had the smallest bit of avocado since I got here.   They have them here, but not the Haas ones.   They have the shiny, green ones....   can't make guacamole with those...    Oh well, soon enough.
Last week was lots of fun.   First I went to that cooking class and it was fabulous!    We started by making tiramisu, which I have never enjoyed, but we made the BEST I have ever tasted.   The other two ladies agreed.  We had to start with tiramisu because it needs 2 hours of refrigeration before you can eat it.   Then, Davide (our teacher/chef) taught us to make bolognese sauce.  We are participating of course, you'll see in the pictures.   After the sauce got going, we went to make our own pasta.   You will get the gist of it from the pictures.   After we made our raviolis and our tagliatelle, Davide cooked the pasta and then we proceeded to eat everything we made.    Wow, it was yummy.   If you want to start planning a potluck, I can bring the tiramisu.  All these years I have been trying it and have never liked it, until now.   My next class is going to be how to make gelato!  

I have some interesting pictures about things around here, the hotel and then we'll do the ones from the cooking class and finally from my weekend in Vicenza with my friend, Therese.

See this fancy menu?  It's hand written on a piece of brown paper bag.
Very sophisticated...   I can't even read the menu items!

Gigi's is the restaurante near the hotel where I go have vegetable soup.
It's where that very fine menu is from.  This is the more
formal menu.

Zuppa di verduri, yummy!

Those slightly friied vegetables that I am crazy about.

This spinach and potato soup is from Nebrone's at the Central Market.
It's where I have been to lunch several times.   They are famous
for their tripe a la florentine dishes.   In other words, much like
menudo.

So, let me tell you about the cooking class.   We started at the Central Market to do some shopping and to do some olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting along with some pestos and cheeses.   We bought everything (well, the guide did) we needed for our class.   It sure made us feel like the rest of the locals buying everything for that day's lunch.  

This is the stand where we are going to taste different Italian
condiments and cheeses.

Parmesano-Reggiano, with a little drizzle of that
fabulous balsamic, OMG!

Next, fold the custard with the whipped cream...

and fold carefully.

Dip the cookies, hard cookies, into the cold coffee (you may add any type of liqueur
that you like to this coffee mixture.... he likes Amaretto and Grand Marnier.   We
did not add any.

You layer cookies, custard, sprinkle dark cocoa powder and keep
going until the dessert dish is full or your Pyrex or whatever
you're using.  

Soaking the cookies...

Beautiful creation, off to the refrigerator!

Now, we move on to the kitchen to make the bolognese sauce.

Start by finely chopping a large onion, several stalks of celery and carrots,
one garlic clove and in the center is the ground beef and pork.

He's showing us the "knuckle-so-that-you-don't-end-up-without-fingers"
technique.

Our turn

Look at how carefully I am trying to keep my fingers out of the way!

After a little bit of olive oil, everything into the pan for caramelizing.

Add your finely miced garlic here.   Davide says that
bolognese sauce really doesn't need garlic, but that people
like to add it, so he asked us if we wanted it, and all said YES!

Now, let's brown the meats....  He poured about 1/2 bottle of chianti
into the pan and to deglaze and mix all the flavors.  He added a little bit of
stock and let the sauce simmering until reduced by about one half.

This is my portion of flour and my egg to make the pasta.  It's about 3/4 cup of flour
and one large egg.   You will also need 1 teaspoon of olive oil.

First you make a well in your flour.

Then you crack your egg in the well.

Add the teaspoon of olive oil and start whipping the egg with the olive oil.  Then
you start incorporating the flour into the egg until you can form a ball of
dough.

Forming the ball

Need to make it into the shape of a mushroom.   Reminds me of making
tortillas.

Wrap it tightly in saran paper to get all the air out and rest for a little
bit, otherwise the pasta will be hard.

So, I begin....

Pretty good, huh?

All wrapped up.... 

Okay, now for the hard part.... actually making the pasta.

The rolling pin... notice where his thumbs are, that's where they belong
and you will use your thumbs for the rolling.

The pasta must be stretched to the size of the rolling pin.

It's folded carefully...

All of it.....

This is our ricotta and spinach mixture for the raviolis.

After you fold the pasta, you cut it in strips, notice the placing of the
ricotta on one of the strips.   the other strip will be on top.

Pinch, pinch, pinch

We're cutting everything with a pizza cutter, and when you've pinched
carefully getting all the air out, you take the fork and you
crimp all the edges.   I made round raviolis, another made square ones.

This takes a lot of strength!

After you make the raviolis, you cut the strips for the tagliatelle.
Those are my tagliatelle drying a little bit on top of the
roller.

Masterpieces!

Beautiful raviolis!

This is what all three of us made.

This tagliatelle will become our lunch.   The secondo piato.

This is how our lunch started, but my camera conked out on my, AGAIN, so it's all I could
do... of course a nice antipasto of bruschetta al pomodoro.  Continued with the raviolis, and finally the tagliatelle
a la bolognese and culminating with that incredible tiramisu.   All in all, a wonderful, fun and learning
experience.   Now off to gelato-making class!

 These following pictures are also out of order, this is our tasting of goodies at the Central Market.
That's how our class began.

Parmesano

Three types of balsamic vinegar by age.   Notice the golden "coins" on the labels?
Every golden coin means 2 years of aging.  The first one would be 14 years old.
The middle one would be 12 years old, and the third one would be 4 years old.  
You just would not believe what these taste like!  These are not your Costco balsamics!

Here, she's pouring some of the year's harvest EV olive oil for us to taste on pieces
of bread.

The Three Amigas ready to tackle the class!  Sorry, this picture should be after
the next one, I don't know how it got in here.   Just switch the order with the bowl one.

This is Davide, our chef/instructor.   He's very animated and
a very good teacher, and I must conclude, chef.  He went to
culinary school and does this class 4-5 times a week.

Whip those eggs!
This is the beginning of the tiramisu.

Peaks, peaks, peaks for those egg whites.

This is the correct consistency of the "custard"

Okay, well now that I managed to good all the cooking class pictures, let's see what I do with the

Vicenza pictures.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Like a total grown-up, I get my little overnight bag ready and I head to the Central Station to catch the train to Vicenza with a changeover at Padva.  (Padua).  Off I go feeling so confident and ready to make my way up north.   I go in, sit down and start reading the International New York Times.  About an hour goes by.   I just thought I would ask a lady what time we would be arriving in Padva, so I could get ready, and she tells me:   "This train doesn't go to Padva!"    Ayayay, I got on the wrong train!!!!    So, crestfallen and not feeling very grown up, I had to return to Florence and make another attempt the next day, which I did to much success (grown-up again!).   Therese was waiting for me at the train station.  You're never happier than when you see the person you're supposed to meet!  So, here's our Vicenza adventure.

Vicenza is north of Florence, about a 2-hr train ride.  It is a walled city with the city center being totally a pedestrian zone, which is so nice for walking.   The day was gloriously sunny and bright.

Let me add some pictures so I can show you....

The main street which takes you to the main square.

This is the main museum. The building is gorgeous and was designed
in the 1540's by Palladio, a very famous Italian architect who has
a lot of influence at the time, and later on...

If you can picture it, this is the town's main square.

The bell tower right next to the museum

The courthouse

One of the many lovely, cobblestoned streets

That's Therese standing in front of Il Duomo, or the main cathedral
of Vicenza.

Incredible architecture

Inside a church, not the Cathedral.   Sorry, don't remember the name.

The altar...

Another bell tower...

This legend explains all about that building where the museum is now.

Interesting potting soil.....

Your guess is as good as mine!

Incredible building!

Notice the ornamentation on the balconies.

This is Monte Berico, the highest point in Vicenza.   There is a lovely
lookout and that is the Basilia de Maria de Monte Berico.

Vicenza from the Monte Berico

Lovely.... the beautiful skies, the warm color of all the roof
tiles...  just gorgeous!

It's not a huge Basilica, but a very beautiful one.

That's me, up there.

Another view from Monte Berico....

Dinner time.... pizza margherita, yummy!

Lovely outdoor cafe where we had our capuccinos in the morning.

This is the Teatro Olimpico built by the Romans and still used for
performances.

The gardens of the Teatro Olimpico.

Notice the date it was built and who built it.

Okay, the next day, Therese has planned an outing to a small town called Piazzola Sulbrenta, and every Sunday, they have a gargantuan antiques market, outdoors.  Again, heaven gifted us with a beautiful day.   Off we go, TomTom ready.

This is the town's cathedral.  Since it was Sunday, services were being
held.  

Totally awesome...

 And now, the wonder begins.   This open air antiques market must cover the equivalent of not one, but TWO football fields.   After it fills up this huge center square, it spreads into all the side streets that emanate from the center.   It's almost endless!   And, really fun to walk around.   There are things that look like they just got rescued from the garbage and then some things that look like real Renaissance paintings.   The furniture is incredible!

Jewelry....

One of the many alleys

This used to be a palace, now it's a museum.   A beautiful building.

This is the entrance, and there is a gorgeous fountain right in the middle.  I think
you may be able to see it.

There it is.  The name of the Palace is Contarini Palace and it was built,
again, by Palladio in 1540 or so.   That Palladio got around!

This is Therese in one of those streets where the stands go on forever and ever.

At this point, it was time to head back to the house to pick up my overnight bag (like a grown-up)

to head back to the train station.  She dropped me off and off I go back to Florence.   Not so fast, she says....   The connection from Padva to Florence is VERY tight, and the first train was 15 minutes late, so I knew I was going to miss the Padva to Florence leg of the trip, and so I did!   Well, it was a matter of waiting for the next one, 40 minutes, and I finally made it to the hotel at 9:30 pm, instead of 8:30 pm safe and sound.   All in all a terrific weekend.  Therese was a lovely hostess and she has a beautiful apartment in Vicenza and a car!   So, we enjoyed ourselves and promised to do it again.   It's very likely, she's here for three years.

I want to make it to Assissi and Cortona this week.  Let's see what the weather looks like.   If I do, you'll get the scoop.  If I don't, well I'm off to the States on Sunday.    Go Broncos!

Ciao per naio,

Chechilia