Mangiando in Italia

Buon Giorno!

It's a lovely sunny morning here in Caserta... I can see the sunshine from our windows on the 3rd floor of the apartment complex. I thought Italy would be the solution to my compulsive need for scarves, long underwear and extra sweaters, but the temperatures here are comparable to Walla Walla much of the time and my Italian family's aversion to turning on the heat has been impressive so far, ha! If I could type while wearing my mittens I would.

So many stories to tell! What an experience this has been to truly integrate into a different culture! I've lived in other countries before, but I never realized how very separate my experiences were from how people actually live. This is authentic Italian city life.

For starters, coffee is essential. Espresso to be specific. If I were to add as much milk as Starbucks puts in their lattes, I would be laughed out of town. Every time I enter a home, an espresso is shortly in my hand. I think I had four yesterday. My family has an espresso machine, and I have already learned the proper protocols. My tiny espresso cup and saucer sit empty on the desk next to me. Delizioso!

Next:  PASTA!! Italians are Godfather-serious about their pasta--I have yet to go a day without at least one meal of pasta, and often it's twice a day. Yesterday it was pasta shells and beans! I didn't realize that there is a science to pasta preparation, but the quantity of pasta to be cooked must be weighed, and then a timer is set to cook the pasta to perfection. Each type of pasta has a different, specific cook time. On Sunday night, the grandparents, aunts, and uncles were over for the evening and pizza was ordered. You do not serve  yourself food here, it is served and placed in front of you, but the 16" pizza on each plate seemed a bit much! Everyone finished their pizzas long before I was halfway through my margherita. So delicious, but so much food!

The children have a pet... a snail who lives in a glass cup with tin foil over the top. His name is 'snail,' and he is well-loved by Bruno and Chiara. It will be a sad day when he gives up the shell, so to speak.

Regarding shells, we had a Neopolitan speciality on Sunday beyond the range of my cast-iron stomach. An entire pot of quarter-sized clams, cooked in at least 3 cups of olive oil and then mixed in with the pasta! I did try one bite, but it was more than I could handle, and I stuck with the bread for that meal. I also learned that the thinly sliced cured meat Chiara was eating yesterday was horse meat, apparently a delicacy. Yum!

I am realizing that this has become a food blog, so I will have to share more stories of my family later. For now, I am going to run up and down the stairs of our five story apartment complex to balance out my impressive eating regimen, haha! Francesca and Domenico think I'm crazy. They're probably right, but my tennis shoes weren't stolen so I'm obliged to use them! They've come too far to sit collecting volcanic dust from Vesuvius.

Have a wonderful day! Abbracci e bacetti a tutti!