Yes, it's true.

Yes, we have already confirmed that I am crazy.  Sì, we already know I'm up for a challenge.  Oui, I seem to have totally lost my mind.  And what has spurred on all these strange affirmations?  I have made a ridiculous decision: to make a Thanksgiving meal in Italy.  First off, I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving.  Everyone in my family will tell you my favorite part of the day is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Everyone in my family will tell you the only part of the Thanksgiving meal that I really enjoy are the rolls and the cranberry jelly that comes out of a can.  So why should I make this attempt?  Because it's true...I'm crazy.  Ciao, mi chiamo Carol e io sono pazzo!

The best part of this whole situation is three-fold.  Uno--I have never made a Thanksgiving meal.  Due--I really don't know how to cook.  Tre--Even if I were to attempt a Thanksgiving meal in America, it would be with cans of pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce from a jar, rolls from Pillsbury, pigs-in-a-blanket for hors d'oeuvres, and a turkey that I would insist someone else cooked.....all of which are impossible to find in Italy.  Well, there is heresay on my favorite Expat blog (Expats in Italy: the best place to find out everything you want to know about the realities of living in Italy!) that many items can be found around the city, but I only have 3 days until Turkey day and haven't been scouring the local supermarkets for any of these kinds of items!  I only made this irrational decision on Saturday night when I realized Thanksgiving was just around the corner, and I hadn't made any plans.

Well, at least I have one main item taken care of so far.  I found an American bakery in the center and ordered a pumpkin pie!  (Seen above from the Sugar and Spice bakery webpage)  I don't know about you, but in my opinion, it's not really Thanksgiving if there isn't at least a pumpkin pie...and I didn't want to mess that part up!  I've found recipies and advice on how to make your own pie from real pumpkins, but the Italian pumpkins aren't even the same as American pumpkins!  Additionally, all the spices required in such recipes are apparently very difficult to find in Italy and most Americans celebrating over here have brought Libbys Pumpkin pie filling and all-spice over here months before! 

So, my next task is to figure out what staples of the meal I want to attempt, and then improvise like crazy.  I realize now that this is something I've learned to do very well while living abroad.  You kinda learn that nothing you would love to do, or love to have, or try to attempt will be the same in Italy.  It takes a certain mindset to realize "Yeah, this is what I would do in America, and it would be so easy to do blah, blah, blah, but here.....hmmm....how can I make this work?"  As long as I remember that my experience here is not supposed to be like living in America, then I can just brace myself for the reality that most things here will have to be a challenge.  Thankfully I'm surrounded by people who have lived here their whole lives, so they can point me in reasonable directions and give me a hand.  Thankfully I still can get around the city with my broken Italian and a feel for the layout of the streets.  Thankfully I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to planning a holiday meal for my Italian friends who hopefully don't know any better!!!!

In the next few days my brain will be planning this little feast and we'll see if anyone even shows up!  If nothing else, I'll buy a turkey roll from the nearest Macelleria (butcher shop), roast some potatoes with rosemary, cook some green beans with butter and garlic, pick up my pie from the bakery, and call it my very own American/Italian Thanksgiving Day Feast!  Then I will set the table, force Ava to eat some turkey, and ask her what we are thankful for...and remember what she says!

Keepin Up

It's so sad to realize it's been almost a month since I last blogged!  It's really true that time flies when you're having fun...and on the run...and eating a ton....and enjoying the Autumn sun....and ok I'll stop.  On one hand it feels like we're always doing something, meeting new people, trying new things.  On the other hand we have lots of time lounging around at home, spending time with friends or family, and enjoying a nice routine here.  Sometimes it seems like we are living in a stolen reality...that this really can't all be happening.  Other times it seems that this is the way a happy life could be...and it truely is la dolce vita!

Since I last blogged about Ava going to school now, we've fallen into a really nice schedule and routine.  Monday through Friday we get up at 8am, have a quick breakfast, and I walk Ava in her stroller about 1km to her school.  Some mornings that kilometer feels like 10, but Ava is always so happy and excited to arrive to school and greet her teachers and her new friends.  There are a couple of little girls in particular who always run up to her, touch her hair and admire her like she is a foreign Princess who has arrived in their little world.  Ava quickly dismisses me, (her humble servant) with the wave of her hand, a kiss on both cheeks and always a very loud "CIAO MAMA, Ciao!  Bye...I'll see ya later...CIAO!!!"  I crack up every morning she does this.

Lately she's been insisting on eating lunch with her classmates in school.  This has it's benefits in that it gives her more time with the kids, and I hear she actually eats all her lunch (probably for fear that the poor peasants in her class will attempt to steal her food before she has finished and she will be left without any cake)!  I am just happy I don't have to make her lunch and sit with her for an hour, pleading her to eat her veggies.  And I also get an extra hour of freedom from her royal highness...hehe!  I pick her up promptly at 1pm and she is escorted back home by carriage where we arrive to our house for a leisurely nap!  Life is good. 

Since my last post Halloween came and went.  It's not very popular here in Italy, but we were invited by our neighbor to a little party at her house.  Our neighbor had lived in America for several years, and loved the holiday, so she was happy to have some Americans to share it with and she pulled out all the stops with carved pumpkins, candy, decorations, and wonderful fall food.  The little girl had two options for dressing up for Halloween mainly because I didn't want to buy or make a costume and decided to improvise with the clothes we had brought here with us.  So she could have been a black cat, or a ballerina.  After much deliberation, she natrually chose to be a ballerina for the night.  Below is Ava with our neighbor, Miss Carla, who was a great hostess for a truely American Halloween party!

So week after week we've been keeping busy with school, going to our Saturday lunches with the family, and having "Aunties" pick Ava up for some play time at least once a week.  We also have been able to bring Ava out some nights to hear Francesco play with his Cuban music group.  She absolutely is enthralled to watch the musicians, hear the live music, watch all the other adult Italians who smile and dote on her, and of course....dance!  This past week we brought Ava to the tango night again.  It was the same place we visited when we first arrived here to the city and it was wonderful to watch all the couples tango, hear the unique music, and stay up WAY past bedtime!  Another night we went to a tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant where she received many admiring smiles and encouraging "Brava"s as she danced and sang her heart out! 

It's strange to think that in less than 4 weeks we'll be flying back to America.  Things will certainly be different going back to the states, but for the moment I hope we can keep enjoying the uniqueness of our experience here.  I hope to keep more up to date with the blog now we have a nice routine, and would love to write more from Ava's perspective on this adventure!  As Ava says everyday when we leave her school with a smile and a wave..."A domani!"