Food

Some of you will remember that last Tuesday I came home from the market with a dry piece of salted cod. It has been soaking in water that was changed daily. We decided to make fish tacos this afternoon. We added some veggies and boy were they delicious. The fish was great and the veggies just added a delicious touch.

For me there is no food that is more comforting than oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins. Yumm. Well, two others agreed with me this morning so I fixed up a batch for all of us. FYI oatmeal is hard to find here. I have to go to the health food store to get it and people look at me funny when I buy two bags at a time....Once a lady asked me, "what do you do with all that oatmeal?". It wasn't the kind of question that could not be answered by saying I eat it. She wouldn't have thought of that... I just let it go. Peanut butter is the same. No one really understands why we like it.

Election Season: Candidate Posters

It is election season here and we have seen the various parties putting up posters for their candidates...just like in the US. However, there is a twist. You have to pay the city to put up your posters in a public space. If you don't then this lovely sign gets attached to your poster and you get fined.

Translated literally it means: Illicit Posting

See, it even has the official seal of the municipal police!

I guess this guy only paid for one advertisement and put up two. One is OK. The other is not. This is a candidate for Mr. Berlusconi's party. Not good PR to not pay your bills.

Port of Trani from Brian & Lisa's Terrace

Port of Trani as seen from the terrazza of Brian and Lisa's apartment. What a stunning view. Brian invited Amory and I up for coffee last week. It was the perfect day. Not to cold, not too hot.

A little to the left and we see the cathedral...

A little to the right and there is the San Paulo, the hotel we stayed in for about two weeks when we first arrived.

A little more to the right and there is the restaurant and bar area of the port.

Here is a shot of Brian and Amory looking back into the city of Trani.

Amory enjoying the sun.

Ahhh, so nice to have a man bring you coffee! Thank you Brian! Not only did he supply us with caffeine, he also loaded us up with seedlings for tomato and pepper plants. If all goes well we will be eating home grown veggies this summer!

To Market, To Market

Yuki called me yesterday and invited me to the weekly Trani outdoor market. I had no idea of what I would want but this is what I came home with for just over 10 euros:

1 kilo of black beans - have to buy them when you see them because they are rare - sun-dried tomatoes, Romano cheese

Purple Italian eggplant...too colorful to pass up... and broccoli rabe.

This piece of white fish was part of my key purchase. It is called Baccala and is a dried salted cod that is sold in long fish sized fillets. You take it home, rinse it, cut it and let it soak for a few days changing the water a few times a day. It is a very traditional Italian food that historically traveled well to areas away from the coast where the population needed to eat fish to comply with church dictates i.e. Friday fish.

I will be cooking with it either tonight or tomorrow so I will let you know what I come up with.

Italian Ski Fashion

I wish I was better organized and quicker on the draw to get my camera out because there were some great fashions on the slopes. This is our favorite. The gentleman with the long woolen coat and leggings. We all wanted to dress like him!

This was an unusual shimmery "onesy" we spotted at the cafe/bar.

Missing are pictures of the black coat with bright pink furry collar, the dark onesy with silver reflective panels and the multi colored ... and I mean bright colored ... body fitting number an Alberto Tomba lookalike was wearing! I am going to have to start wearing my camera on a string for quick access!

Skiing at Roccaraso

Roccaraso is billed as "The Biggest European Ski Area South of the Alps"! It is located about 200km east of Rome and about three hours north of Trani. We gathered a group of willing adventurers and set it as our destination for a ski/snowboard weekend. Here is the intrepid group looking forward with enthusiasm from the breakfast table the first morning...

l-r: Eileen, Jim, Brian, Lisa, Olivia, Amory, Rick

Lisa and Olivia are just finishing a snowboard run but I wanted to capture the chaos on the slopes. There were a lot of other adventurers looking for a last run of the season.

At the end of the first day Eileen reclined in one of the chairs available at the bottom of the lift. It began to snow as we were sitting there waiting for the others.

This is the Amazing Jim! He is really an excellent skier but he hung out with us anyway. He skied down the slope backwards once to film Amory's first decent on the snowboard.

Eileen and Jim at the top of one of the runs. Beautiful view, beautiful skiing.

Jim left us to go down a black run and we took the intermediate one. At the end we were so exhausted that we just had to take a break.

The Making of "The Coolest Person In Town"

Eileen's Super Haircut!

I can't remember the last time Eileen had a major hair cut. She has gorgeous long curly hair. When she lets it go "natural" she looks so Italian. Alas, she decided it was time for a change. And what a change! It is shorter than mine! She looks FANTASTIC! See the before and after pictures and the triumphal walk home on the video. She is one happy short haired camper:)

Before...

During...

After!

The Villas of Trani

Trani is a beautiful town. It has had a lot of money associated with it for many, many years. There are a lot of lovely villas outside of town. I went for a walk and got a peek at some of the houses behind the gates.

Love the ironwork!

A mix of ironwork and tiles.

And the ever present dogs behind the gates!

Mr. Dante

Dante Alighieri commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the middle ages. In Italy he is known as "The Supreme Poet" and "The Father of Italian Language". He wrote the Divine Comedy which brought us the nine circles of hell...and so much more. Trani has a Piazza Dante. As Rick and I were walking past this morning we glanced up at the Dante statue and something looked off.... Can you see it?

Someone put a breathing mask over Dante's mouth. I wonder what they were trying to say? Any ideas?

International Women's Day

Yesterday, March 8, was the 100th celebration of International Women's Day. This is an event that was started in the US but caught on big in the rest of the world. Italy celebrates by giving women beautiful mimosa flowers. These I got when I went to coffee with some friends and the cafe owner gave a corsage to each of us.

Here are Eileen and Olivia with the beautiful mimosas.

Our dear friend Gilda sent us this explanation: "New York 1908.

The women working in a textile industry went on strike
to protest against their bad conditions of work. On March 8th
the company blocked the exits imprisoning the women and
a fire killed 129 of them. March 8th became the symbol
of all the oppressions the women had to fight all along the
centuries and the starting point to redeem their own
dignity. Happy women's day!"

Beautiful Palms

This is one of my favorite scenes as I enter Trani. It is on the outskirts of town. I love the strong tall palm next to the rubble of the villa.

This palm sits in front of the post office. I was having coffee with a friend at a nearby cafe and we looked up to see the dark sky with the palm just sitting in the middle of the picture. It was pretty enough to snap a shot.

Spring is Poppies

I was walking with a friend this morning and we rounded a corner and almost bumped into these lovely poppies. We used to see fields of them in Bavaria. It also reminds me of the poppy painting Rachael did for her IB art final. The first painting she sold!

Trees, Doors and Cats

Yuki and I took the boys for a stroll on Sunday afternoon. We passes this grove of trees that did not escape the Italian Tree Trimmers!

Here are Jay, Kosei and Yuki in front of the lovely door at the Monastery.

Here are some of the wild cats that hang out at a piazza near the local high school. We counted almost ten cats at different places in the piazza.

Olivia is Official!!!

Olivia is Official. This card is her golden ticket. It says that she is a dependent of a person who has a visa and can officially live here. Yeah! She will be able to present this at Customs and will technically be allowed entry to Italy. Eileen and I, on the other hand are still in limbo. Our paperwork has been lost. We have to start again. I don't feel too bad though. Our friend, Amory, had to reapply four times. They have been here three years!

The Permesso is good for the time that Rick's visa is valid. Unfortunately, it took them so long to get this to her that it is only good until June when we all have to reapply.