It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...And Santa Lucia Day

A beautiful arrangement over the top of one of the stores.

I am officially the worst blogger ever.  I just want to say, in my defense, that most of my days go like this.  Ryan wakes up at 6.  If he has to go to school, then we all get up.  If he doesn't, Aaron sends me back to bed so that I don't kill anyone.  Once we're up, there's breakfasts, getting dressed, Emily goes down for a  nap a few hours after waking up.  Then I look at a lot of stuff on Facebook (I bet you guys didn't know that part), take a shower, whatever won't wake up the baby.  Ryan sleeps like the dead.  The boy could sleep through a train running through the middle of our house and not even crack an eyelid.  But the minute that he starts tromping down the stairs, Emily is up and demanding "mimi" (that's milk in Emily language).  I don't think she actually likes sleep.  She would much rather be up and doing stuff.  Any stuff.  So if I make too much noise while she's napping, then we don't get a nap.  And that girl is like her mom (see above where Aaron sends me back to get my beauty sleep so there are no homicides committed).

The tree in front of the
Artigianale Birreria

Garland over the street in Citta Alta

So after the Emily nap there's lunch and then Emily demands her shoes, hat and jacket and goes to the door and decides its time for a walk.  So we go for a walk.  Sometimes just around and sometimes to the park.  At 3:30 we pick up Ryan (who is usually exhausted.  Naps stopped when school started... yay).  Then back home, dinner around 5, baths, bed... then kid free time after 7 or 7:30.

The only difference is that I get to do all this in Italy, (yay!).  It just makes it difficult to do touristy stuff (boo!).  We have gotten to see a lot of Bergamo. Emily and I are bus riding regulars.  They have a lot of sidewalk markets here that are pretty fun.  And trying to find things can sometimes be a little like a treasure hunt.  They don't really have craft stores here so anything you might need that is crafty you have to figure out... "where would I buy that if Michael's didn't exist?".  Tissue paper?  A paper store.  Felt?  A fabric store.  Yarn?  A yarn store.  Yes, it would seem obvious if I didn't come from a country where some genius just put all that together in one store.

The window display in the
Maglieria artigianale
(sweater store)

The tree in front of one
of the clothing stores
in Citta Alta and my
personal favorite.
I love the puffballs and
may steal them for use
on a later tree.

Also.  I cannot find gift boxes here.  You know those cheap little paper ones that Target sells in value packs?  Don't exist in Italy.  What does exist is boxes from stores at €1.50 a piece.  Or those really nice gift boxes at €4 or €5 a piece.  Um.  I don't think so. So I apologize to all those getting gifts this year when your really nice sweater is just swaddled in wrapping paper.  That's so Italian of me!

The great thing about this time of year though, is the Christmas decorations.  Italians (but specifically Bergamascans) do not slouch when it comes to Christmas.  I think I've mentioned before that we live in a rather touristy place which makes for some really awesome Christmas decorations.  We have garland strung across the roads over head from building to building, huge stars lighting up the intersections, personalized Christmas trees in front of every store, Christmas music piped through all of Citta Alta, advertisements for Cioccolata Calda con panna (that's hot chocolate with whipped cream but it totally sounds better in Italian), roasted chestnuts, decorated windows, garland and lights all over the buildings, a Christmas tree in our courtyard.  Let me tell you, these Italians do it up right.  I can't wait to see London.

Let me also tell you that calling it a holiday "season" is not an exaggeration either.  First we have the Festa della Immaculata on Dec 8.  This signifies when Mary found out she was pregnant with (by?) the Immaculate conception.  Don't try and do any kind of math that makes it work for Jesus to be born on Dec 25th.

Edit:  My amazing Aunt Mary helped me learn more about the Immaculate Conception.  Apparently Mary was actually conceived by her parents with God's grace so as to be free of original sin so that she could then have Jesus so many years later.  That makes so much more sense! This was quite a long term plan God had.

A depiction of Santa Lucia
arriving at a house with a
sleigh full of gifts.

Then we have the Festa de Santa Lucia on Dec 13th.  Let me tell you about this chick (is it disrespectful to call a Saint a chick?).  She shows up on the night of the 12th riding a donkey.  Kids are supposed to leave out water and refreshments for her along with a bucket of water and hay for the donkey.  In return, she leaves them presents.  However (and this is kind of a BIG however), if the kids don't go to bed, if they see Santa Lucia when she shows up at their house, she BLINDS them.  And takes back all the presents.  She does not play around.  Needless to say, after talking with a grown man who grew up with this story, kids are in bed asleep as fast as possible, terrified that they will wake up too early and be blinded.  So there's that.

All joking aside, this is a pretty big holiday for them.  It is only celebrated in Bergamo and a few other cities in the eastern part of Lombardy (the region that Bergamo is in.  It's kind of like a state but not really).  The kids visit a tomb here and leave letters for Santa Lucia.  They can also leave their letters in the blue box in the picture to the left.  That is a scene depicting Santa Lucia visiting a house with gifts for the children.  Ryan's school took a field trip there so the kids could give their letters to Santa Lucia and they also had Santa Lucia visit their classroom to drop off some presents.  I don't know what she brought exactly because Ryan said "yeah, I think she came, I don't remember what she brought though, except oranges, but I don't like oranges so I didn't take one".  So as far as I know, I contributed  €12 for some oranges that Ryan didn't take.  Sweet.

After reading about it online, it looks like Santa Lucia also visits many Scandinavian children as well.  It's kind of fascinating that two areas that are so far apart celebrate the same Saint in similar ways.

Decorated with wings.

12 days later is Christmas.  Santa Claus (or Bobba Natale) is not nearly the celebrity here as he is in the states.  But who can compete with Santa Lucia and her awesome blinding powers.  Ryan actually asked me what happens if he sees Santa.  I said I wasn't sure.  Then Ryan said that "Daddy told me to eat Santa if I see him".  After I picked myself up off the floor from laughing so hard, Aaron denies ever saying this.  As much as I love the kid, I am with Aaron on this one.

And wait, there's more.

Snow flakes and candles

The tree in front of the bookshop.
All of the ornaments are made
from newsprint or pages from a
book or something.
I thought it was a great idea.

On Jan 6, the wise men finally show up to greet the baby Jesus.  They also bring gifts to the kids.  I'm not sure how kids in Italy wound up making out so well.  Jesus only got Frankincense, Myrrh and gold.  These kids get three days of toys and candy.  I feel like we all know who wins in this deal.  From chatting with locals it seems that the wise men prefer to visit the southern parts of Italy more than the northern parts. Perhaps they like the cannoli down there better.  I know I do.

So that's about as much as I know about the Holiday Season in Bergamo.  It is also pretty cold here so it actually feels like winter.  We did get snow, big, beautiful, fat flakes coming down one morning so that was awesome.  Nothing stuck, but I kind of feel like the falling is the beautiful part and the sticking is just a big mess and nightmare.

Italians love Starbucks and The Milan Expo (or How to Cram 250,000 People in a Tiny Area...)

250,000 people who have no idea what a line is.  People who don't understand that second hand smoke is a really horrible thing and you probably shouldn't be holding your cigarette at the same height as most children's faces or blowing that smoke behind you into those said children's same faces.

Ryan and Emily on the train

I would love to say that the Expo was awesome.  I was totally prepared to be awed and inspired.  I didn't mind forking over 80€ to see this amazing ode to all things green, environmentally conscious, and of course all the food.

Sadly, we didn't get there until after noon.  Part of that was having to ride the train and the subway to get there rather than having the car, and part of it is having two kids and being happy to be out of the house, dressed, before 9:30.  By the time we got there, we were starving, the kids were hungry (aka cranky and whiny) and we knew we had to get food first.  The geniuses of the Expo put 3 whole tiny food stalls right at the entrance.  So after standing in line for 30 minutes while Aaron entertained the children, we finally got a couple Piadinas (tortillas with meat inside), some french fries and some (admittedly delicious) fried onion strips for 30€ (read mediocre food for way too  much money.  Yay for captive audiences).

Ireland Pavilion

Finally, after everyone was fed, we began our journey into the Expo.  At first it didn't seem so crowded.  We walked through the Ireland pavilion relatively quickly.  We had been told to bring our strollers with the children in them in order to get ushered past the long queues and into the express lines.  Unfortunately, many others had been alerted to that trick as well and as we progressed down the boulevard, the "express" lines were sometimes as long as the regular lines and I couldn't find the end of them to even stand in.  According to a friend when the line for the Japanese pavilion was upwards of 8 hours, they finally closed it.  For a country where standing in line is something they don't seem to understand, having an 8 hour queue is mind boggling.

Belgium Pavilion

The expo was organized as one long "road" with the pavilions on either side.  Some smaller countries were grouped together for the coffee display, the fruits and legumes display, the chocolate display and other products.  I managed to take pictures of some of the interesting country pavilions.  Italy had the largest pavilion, but I don't think we even made it there before I turned to Aaron and said we should just leave.  I don't mind crowds when they are well organized and have a flow to them.  This crowd was insane.  People were walking up and down the main avenue on the left and the right.  They were crossing it to get to the pavilions for food and treats or bathrooms.  They were pushing aside our strollers.  At one point, I turned to take a picture of a pavilion, looked back ahead of me and Aaron had been swallowed by the crowd.

Vietnam Pavilion

Map of the Expo 

I wish I could tell you more about the Expo.  But all we saw was the entrance, some cool fountains, the Ireland pavilion and people.  So many people.  I am less dissapointed by the waste of a ticket than I am that I got to see nothing of this once in a lifetime (for an American) chance.  The Expo people should have conferred with Disney or some other company that knows how to manage huge crowds in tiny spaces.

Milan's Open Subway Trains

We did however get to ride the Milan subway and they have these amazing open trains.  You could see all the way down from one end to the other.  It made things much easier to traverse.

The line at Arnold's Coffee was out the door.
If you enlarge the picture, you can see all the
same Starbucks drinks you adore on the menu
at Arnold's.  

We also went to Arnold's Coffee Shop which is an American style coffee shop, basically Starbucks in Italy.  Italy doesn't have Starbucks yet, but it has been all abuzz for the past week as the owner of one of the soccer teams here has promised Italians that he will be bringing Starbucks here.  I cannot tell you how excited people are.  I had a chance to talk to an Italian who has done a fair bit of travelling and he said the novelty of Starbucks has people excited.  We decided that it is less about considering Starbucks coffee (we also decided that people won't give up their normal Italian coffee) and more about the drinks Starbucks creates that happen to have coffee in them.  If Arnold's is any indication, Starbucks is missing out on a HUGE opportunity here.

All in all, it was another opportunity to see Milan.  It's nice to get out of Bergamo and see new things.  Also, here's a cute picture of Emily sleeping.

Italians love street fairs and know how to do Street Fair Food

The Sunday morning crowd.

So we went to a street fair this weekend. Italians seem to love street fairs because there have been at least 4 in the time we have been here.  This one was the biggest by far, featuring food from around europe.  Gyros from Greece, pretzels from Germany and Austria, BBQ'ed meat from Brazil, Sausages and Bratwurst from Germany, Coconut puffs from Belgium and lots of other stuff.  And from the length of the lines, even at noon, (I say even at noon because usually Italians don't seem to eat lunch at noon.  It's closer to 1 or even later) Italians love foreign food.  

A Bratwurst with cabbage and mustard.

This was the crowd on Sunday.  And even though Sunday is the day to go to church, it doesn't seem like many people go.  Or perhaps if they do go, its early in the morning or late at night.  The line  for the Funicular to go up to Citta Alta was nearly a block long.  

There were stalls and stalls of cheese and salami.  Smoked meats, sweets and candies.  

The grill at the Gyro stall.  Everything was grilled fresh to order

So much meat!  Sausages, kabobs, gyro meat.

 I was lucky to be able to eat at the fair Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I had a German Bratwurst with homemade sauerkraut.  The saurkraut was the nice thinly shredded kind that I like.  The Bratwurst was "spicy" even though that seems to mean with spices and not hot enough to burn your lips.  I had a Greek Gyro with chicken that they sliced right off one of those big cylinders of meat.  You could choose between Pork or chicken.  They did not have one of those brownish-greyish cylinders of meat that we get in the US at the Mall Food Court Gyro place.  The Gyro came with fresh yogurt sauce, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, feta cheese and french fries.  I chose not to get the french fries on mine because that is just wierd.  French Fries stand on their own.  I don't understand this Italian predilection to put it on pizza, burgers, gyros... or anything else.

I also had a chicken burger that was OK, but the notable thing about the BBQ Burger stall was that they had real, American style bacon.  That is pretty rare to find here.  Like Cheddar cheese, the grocery store we shop at has one brand of American style bacon.  If you don't like that, you're stuck with prosciutto (which is delicious, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't crisp up like American bacon. Mmmm... Bacon).  And then today, since it was the last day, I had another Gyro.  I also tried a german pretzel, but I got a sweet one.  Technically, as Aaron said, it wasn't really a pretzel so much as a giant pretzel shaped donut.  Sprinkled with sugar, it was delicious.

Hand painted Italian ceramic vase

The other cool thing at this fair was the stalls of handmade items.  There are stalls of hand woven Italian wool ponchos, bags made from Italian leather.  There was an amazing stall that had German wooden Nutcrackers and those little things that spin around when you put a candle on them. Hand carved ornaments with Christmas scenes burned into them.

There was Sicilian pottery hand painted in bright colors.  Bags from India woven with rainbows of colors.  Cookware from France with every utensil one might need including a Madeline pan.  I finally found my spring loaded tongs at that stall.  I have searched many Italian cooking stores and only could find wimpy plastic tongs that can't grip anything.  I was so happy with my discovery, I bought two pairs of French tongs.

When we returned to Citta Alta, there were more handmade goods at little tents.  We bought Emily another handmade dress because they are just so adorable.  We found some really cool Christmas ornaments that were made out of recycled paper, plastic bottles, and cans.  There were beautiful Italian sun catchers, jewelry, carved wooden items.  There were other hand woven clothing that were really beautiful robes and full skirts, jackets and other old fashioned styled things.

All I can say is, I do not take enough pictures.

They love mayonnaise. And french fries. Together. It's an abomination.

I am terrible at blogging.  I always think I need some huge topic to discuss.  All these little bits have been going through my mind; all these little observations that I want to share with people so I'm going to just share a bunch of stuff I've observed about Italy.  Bear with me if some of it is repeated from Facebook or Instagram.

There is no salted butter.  You would think, no big deal right?  Except that you notice it in strange places.  Like on toast.  Also the grilled cheese tastes just a tad bit different because they don't put nearly as much salt in any of their foods, including the cheese.

Cheese.  There are only a few kinds of cheese indigenous to Italy.  Ricotta, Marscapone, Mozzarella.  I might be missing one, but I don't think so.  There is 1 kind of cheddar cheese available at the grocery store where we shop and it is so orange that a British woman I met won't eat it.  It didn't seem strange to me since most of our cheddar cheese in the US is colored.  I realized that in England most of their cheese is white.  Because its... *gasp* natural.  I forgive them for not having an abundance of cheddar cheese except when I'm craving a burger.  Also their Italian cheese is sooooooo good that it's hard to complain that its all you get.
A lot of their cheese is also lactose free.  They seem to be much more aware of allergies and intolerances here.

Salamella Mantovana, split open and grilled
 with gnocchi and green beans.

Meat.  I'm not sure exactly how to describe the meat situation here.  I don't think they eat very much of it.  Many of their cuts are very thin.  Chickens are much smaller here, which is fine, but there are not a lot of options in the store.  You can buy back quarters with bone and skin or skinless, boneless breasts.  If you want something other than that, you have to buy a whole chicken and do it yourself.  But let's talk about the sausage.  I have posted pictures of the sausage, however I mistakenly called it Salsicca.  The sausage I am in love with is the Salamella Montovana.  It's like what we think our Italian Sausage is.  Except that the only similarities are the shape and size.  This sausage is one of the most flavorful things I have ever eaten in my life.  I'm going to leave all my clothes and children's toys here and smuggle back suitcases of this sausage.
They also like veal, rabbit, turkey, and quail, and they are all available in the grocery store.  It's kind of crazy.
They love to grill their meat here.  There is an entire section of kebabs, skewers, sliced and seasoned meats that are made for the "griglia".

Pizza is everywhere.

Italians dress up to leave their house.  Except for a few teenage boys who, I think, were actually purposely dressed in sweat pants, no one is caught dead outside the house in anything but real clothes.  And shoes.  No uggs with shorts, no baggy pajama pants, no oversized sweatshirts.  Not even on the college kids who I frequently ride the bus with.  Girls wear cute tops with skinny jeans, leather jackets, tights, cute boots, blouses, sweaters, all kinds of real clothes that say, "I care what I look like".  You can tell who the tourists are because they wear yoga pants, jeans that don't fit, ugly shoes, sandals with socks (I'm certain no Italian would be caught DEAD wearing that), fanny packs, gym shorts (I'm talking to you, American Dad.  Yes, I heard you and I know you're American.  You're making us all look bad!) etc.
The men wear beautiful suits, shiny shoes, ties, button down shirts, and carry briefcases.  Even the adorable Italian Nonnas wear their suits and pantyhose to go grocery shopping.  It makes people watching really enjoyable.  It also motivates me to dress a bit better.  Although how these moms with kids find time to do their hair before they get them to school still completely escapes me.

Breakfast.  Let's talk about breakfast.  Americans have come to some weird conclusion that we should eat a huge breakfast full of protein OR... cereal.  Well, Italians say, "Just say no to boring cereal" (They might actually say "Dice non a cereal" or something like that).  They eat pastries.  Pastries filled with apricot marmalade heaven.  Or chocolate cream heaven.  Small, sweet, flaky pastries that make you close your eyes and say "Mmmmm".  And coffee.  Do you know what the secret is to getting the creamiest, smoothest cappucino?  Use whole milk.  It will change your life.  Just one day, when you go to Starbucks (I do miss you, Starbucks) don't get that Venti quad skinny half caff mocha thingie.  Just get a double tall whole milk latte.  It will change your life.  Just park further from the store if you're worried about calories.

They love mayonnaise.  And french fries.  Together.  It's an abomination.  I could go on and on, but I don't think there's really anything else that needs to be said.

Those are my bits for now.  I'll try not to let 2 months go by before posting again.

Italian Dinner Out Plus French Fries

So I finally got my Italian Dinner.  It's difficult to go out here because most places don't even open for dinner until 6:30 or 7!  And if you know Emily at all, that girl likes her dinner at 5.  Promptly at 5, sometimes a little before 5, but absolutely NO LATER THAN 5!  Here she is eating french fires aka pape fritte at our Italian Dinner.  They love french fries here.  Every place we've been to (except the exclusively pizzaria) has had french fries on the menu.  Their french fries are just the way I like them too.  Big steak fries that are crispy on the outside and nice and potato-ey on the inside.  They are also gluten free so a safe bet for the kids.

We ended up going to Citta Cooperativo, a local cooperative that gets local food and changes their menu regularly based on what is in season and what they can get.  They also have local beer and wine which I love.  Here is my "medium" sized beer, a local Belgium style ale that was very tasty.  Nice and light and great for a summer evening.  Aaron put Ryan's 6" Darth Vader action figure next to it for some perspective.

I decided to try and do a very "local" menu not just with food from around here, but choosing items that are from this region.  First we started with the Antipasta.  A selection of local meats and grilled polenta.  Polenta, apparently, is a northern Italian speciality and one that Bergamo likes to claim.  There is a "fast food" polenta place down the street where they will pull you a bowl of polenta out of a machine that looks a little like a soft serve ice cream maker and then they put your toppings of choice.  Salsicca, funghi (mushrooms), cheese, chicken, beef, and lots of other stuff.  This plate had three different kinds of meat (which of course I did not write down so I do not remember) a salami and two kinds of prosciutto.  There are many different kinds of prosciutto here.  I could do an entire blog post on just the different kinds of prosciutto.

Then we had some Casoncelli.  This is also a very typical Bergamo food.  It is a pasta kind of like a ravioli only it is folded over in half.  It has cheese, meat, and vegetables inside but also something sweet that kind of pops in your mouth at the end.  We've had two versions of it now and they were both good, but a little different.  In this version it was served in butter with prosciutto, sage, and Parmesan cheese on top.  The other one had fried basil on top that was AMAZING.  Casoncelli is also found in just about every restaurant in Bergamo.

They also served us bread.  Everything here comes with freshly baked bread.  And they don't give you a slice or two per person.  Here they gave us a heaping basket of freshly baked bread.  And when we got close to finishing it?  Replaced with another basket of freshly baked bread.  I thought I didn't miss bread.  All I can say is, Paleo is dead to me.  Bread is delicious.

For the main course, I had rabbit and buckwheat polenta.  I have never had rabbit before, but it was delicious.  They are cute, but they are also tasty.  It tasted like it had been slow cooked because the meat just fell off the bone.  There was no gaminess to it at all, but it had a unique taste to it.  Paired with the creamy, cheesy polenta brought out the meaty, savoriness of the meat.  I would totally eat rabbit again.

Aaron had a pork loin sliced super thin with a balsamic vinegar reduction.  He said it was incredibly tender and tasty.  I was too busy with my rabbit to steal a bite.

Ryan stole the camera so that he could take a picture of his dinner.  Peanut Butter and Jelly on gluten free bread and french fries.  I have to say, as a culinary commentary on his meal, the jelly here is amazing.  I don't think it is quite as sweet as our jelly and it has more of a fruity taste to it than a sugary taste.  And the peanut butter isn't too shabby either.  We'd been eating Trader Joe's unsalted, unsweetened peanut butter for a few years now, and to have peanut butter with both salt and sugar (not too much though) made my taste buds do a happy dance.

And what is the perfect finish to an Italian Dinner?  Tiramisu of course.  This version is not gluten free (we did find one that is and it was delicious too.  I posted a picture of it half way through our dessert destruction) so Ryan had a big bowl of chocolate gelato.  Emily and Aaron helped a bit, but Ryan was happy to dig in.

I wish I had taken a picture of our server.  He was probably 6 and a half feet tall with dark hair and a fantastic dark beard.  He completely fell in love with Emily.  She would bat her eyes at him and give him a coy smile and he would laugh and say adorable things in Italian to her.  After dinner, as I was paying the check and Aaron was getting the kids ready to go, he came all the way out to the front of the restaurant to say "Ciao".  It was really cute.

All in all, it was a successful night.  They are doing a Paella night on Thursday and I'm hoping we can get the kids to behave again.  I will bribe them with french fries.

Strawberries, Funicular, and Citta Bassa

Lots of pictures today.  This first one is of Emily eating strawberries.  I wanted to share this one because the strawberries here are very tiny and sweet.  If you've ever bought fresh, California strawberries, then you know that the smaller ones are the sweeter ones.  Well, I learned from a friend that we have actually hybridized (a natural form of modification) the strawberries in the US to make some of the huge strawberries that someone in America decided we liked.  They aren't actually the tastiest or the sweetest and sometimes I find that they have little to no taste to them, especially the super big ones, no matter how red they are.  These strawberries Emily is eating were approximately the same size as the raspberries and some of the biggest blueberries we had in the container.

On a side note, my children love berries and in California would go through about a pound of strawberries a day plus whatever other berries I had around.  It's not that much different here except the grocery store is two bus rides away so we have to ration them a bit longer.

 This is the funicular.  You can kind of see how steep it is.  We were in one car going down and I turned around backwards to catch the other one going up.

 Emily has come to love Leroy the Dinosaur.  I tried to take his picture a few times, but he was busy being slobbered on by the baby.

A few pictures of  Citta Bassa Bergamo.  The building with the green dome is actually a bank (you can see the same pink scooter riding across the road).

This building is actually the bus transit authority building.  There is a twin building across the road that houses a flower shop and a restaurant (I think).  This plaza we are in is a main shopping area in downtown.  It's also right on the route to the airport so its full of restaurants and shops that cater to tourists.

 Cookies!  I bought these from a restaurant here in Citta Alta for lunch.  They have three ingredients.  Hazelnuts, sugar, and egg whites.  I didn't purposely buy gluten free cookies, I simply bought something that looked tasty.  I thought they would be soft, but they are very crispy and terribly addicting.  I really like that they have just three ingredients.  No preservatives or "stuff" in them, just cookies like grandma used to make.  If your grandma was an Italian Nona, that is.

 This was dinner tonight.  I got to use a grill pan (I don't have one at home, but I will now!).  Those are each one chicken breast from normal sized chickens.  I sauted up some garlic and onions in (Italian!) Virgin Olive Oil and then added some little zucchinis (although they had speckled skin so maybe they were something else?) and diced up some fresh tomatoes.  Threw it all together and topped it with fresh basil and some kind of (Italian!) cheese.

I'm still very excited to be in Italy.  I'm going to have to figure out some way to make the kids behave long enough to check out a few restaurants around here.  There is an Artisinal Beer Bar just around the corner, not to mention all the restaurants just here in Citta Alta.  I was reading a tour book that the touristy places tend to charge more and we are definitely living in a touristy place so I may be able to wait on the very nearby places until its not tourist season anymore.

I think we are going to try the gluten free pizza restaurant again soon because Ryan really loves his pizza and I'm not sure he can live off of gluten free pasta with butter and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, or french fries all the time.

Pizza, Pasta, and Bureaucracy

Aaron's Proscuitto i Funghi Pizza (ham and mushroom)

Even though I'm sitting here listening to American music and cooking an "American" meal (meatloaf and cauliflower. I wasn't feeling Italian tonight?) I am enjoying the rest of that fizzy Italian red wine and listening to the bells of Bergamo.  Because I am in Italy!  We haven't been here a week yet so a lot of things are still really new, but also still exciting.  Riding the bus around town is still a novelty but finding a place to eat lunch that doesn't cost 40€ and also has a gluten free option is still difficult.  These things may change in time.

Today we set out early because we had a few errands to run.  We wanted to get our bus passes so that we didn't have to keep buying tickets.  Yesterday when we were on our way back from the grocery store the transit police got on the bus we were on.  Our tickets were only good for 75 min from the time we purchased them so when they inspected, we were 7 min past expiration.  Luckily he took pity on us either because we couldn't speak Italian or because it was too much trouble to write us a ticket, but either way, we learned our lesson.

Pizza with ham, artichokes, capers, olives, mushrooms and anchovies

The second thing we had to do was go by Ryan's new school to get him registered.  He was a bit shy, but we talked to the registration coordinator and hopefully we will be able to get everything handled in time for him to go to school on September 7.  The hardest part is going to get him "certified" as a celiac. They test nearly all the children here and apparently in most of Europe.  When the coordinator asked for his certificate and we told her that they don't do that in the US she was pretty shocked.  The fact that the US doesn't test children for celiac disease at all surprised her as well.  Since we don't have a certificate for him, we are hoping that a letter from the pediatric gastroenterologist will suffice.

Emily's Gluten Free Pasta with meat ragu

The third thing we had to do was get a prepaid card so that Aaron could get paid.  Many Italians do not like dealing with the banks so many get a prepaid card and just have their paychecks loaded on to them.  It has turned out to be pretty difficult as most things have been involving Italy.

Then we ate.  Breakfast was a cappucino and another Brioche which I still forgot to take a picture of because I ate it entirely too fast.  I promise tomorrow, I will take a picture.  This is a very typical breakfast for Italians, usually eaten on the way to work.  That's me.  A typical Italian.

For lunch we ended up going to the same restaurant that we went to yesterday mostly because we knew Ryan would eat the gluten free pasta there with butter and cheese.  Emily had gluten free pasta with meat ragu yesterday and today was pasta with tomato and basil.  Both of them were very tasty.

Ryan's Gluten Free pasta with butter and cheese

Yesterday I had a pizza with ham (proscuitto), artichokes, olives, capers, mushrooms and anchovies.  I discovered I don't like anchovies.  Aaron had a pizza with ham and mushrooms (funghi).  Today I had an amazing salad called a Medeteraneo with tuna in oil, buffalo mozzarella, corn, olives, and tomatoes.  They give you Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil for a dressing which is really quite perfect.  It was one of the best salads I've ever had.  I totally understand why my friend Wendy said that Italy spoiled mozzarella cheese for her.  It's very different over here, much moister and creamier.  Everything tasted really fresh and at the end I used the bread to sop up all the extra dressing.  I may have added a bit more vinegar because it is so delicious.  It's much sweeter than most Balsamics I've had in the states and much less of that vinegar-ry tang to it.  The bread also has a bit of a yellow tint to it because they don't process their flour or bleach it.  So their bread isn't perfectly white, but it is delicious.

Medeteraneo Salad

Then of course it was gelato time.  We went back to the soft serve place but decided we liked the gelato better from an actual gelataria where they scoop it.

Then we came back to the apartment.  Yesterday, Sunday, on our way back from our errands the Citta Alta was totally packed due to the tourist season and there was an event here.  Today was much nicer and we didn't have to fight through throngs of people for our gelato or for a way home.

Questing for Food and Coffee and Fizzy Red Wine

Getting these kids on schedule is tough.  Last night Emily woke up about 2 o'clock and wanted to be held.  So Aaron did what any good dad would do and held her.  So when she was back up at 7 am, it was my turn.  We played with the mirror for a while, but then it was time to go shopping!

Friday we took our first trip to the Supermarket.  Here, when they say super, they mean SUPER.  It has everything!  It is like a Super Target crammed into a regular grocery store size building.  It was a little over whelming shopping for a completely empty kitchen.  We got a few staples and a few things to try, but one of the goals was to get ingredients to make Ryan's banana chocolate chip pancakes.  You would think that wouldn't be difficult because the recipe is relatively simple, flour, sugar, bananas, chocolate chips, etc.  However, the four things I forgot were sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and baking powder.

We had been told that we could get most everything near where we lived so we thought it might be a fun adventure to explore some of the stores in search of these ingredients.  About half way through our search, Aaron commented it was a lot like a WoW (World of Warcraft for those non geeks out there) quest where you have to go talk to the villagers and they send you on to another place and so on until you get all the items that you need.  Only this quest was in Italian.

After a quick look up of how to say "baking soda" (yes, I know, I really needed baking powder but I totally had a brain fart and ended up getting soda instead) which is bicarbonata di sodia for those that wondered, vanilla extract (estratto di vaniglia) and cinnamon (cannella) we wandered into a frutteria and was told that a Pharmacia would have the baking soda and a Latteria would have the cinnamon and vanilla.

Unbeknownst to us, we had wandered into the Latteria the first day we were here in search of water.  There is no sign out front, you just know it is a latteria because it sells milk, cheese, yogurt and other milk products along with just about everything you need to bake.  It also had cookies, cereal, water, sodas, and fresh eggs.

Unfortunately for us, we did not know that was a latteria until Aaron saw the charge on his credit card statement.  After finding that out, I knew I could find the place again this morning.  Sure enough, they had cinnamon and vanilla.  After some difficult translations, the kind woman who owns the place told me that they did not have extract but only vanilla beans.  I guess beggars can't be choosers.  I also picked up some cheese for Ryan's eggs, some cheese for sandwiches, and sugar.  All in all, a successful trip.

On the way to the Pharmacia, Emily and I stopped for a cappuccino.  Tempted by the delicious pastries (called brioche even though they look like croissants) I went ahead and got one because I hadn't eaten yet and I had heard that they were basically made to go with coffee.  The one I chose had some sort of heavenly apple filling that was perfectly sweet and cinnamon-y.  The dough was light and flaky with a few nuts sprinkled on top.  It really did go perfectly with my coffee.  Emily made a few friends there, mostly older women who thought she was just the cutest thing ever.  A few people have asked if she is a boy or a girl even though, to me, she is wearing obviously girl clothes.

We also picked up a couple of freshly made baguettes at the bakery, some roast beef at the butcher, and then finally got our bicarbonata di sodia at thee Pharmacia.  By then it was time for Emily's nap and time to see if we could make some kind of pancakes out of this mess.

The pancakes turned out quite delicious.  The gluten free flour I purchased must have been made of tapioca or rice flour because they were a bit stretchier and gummier than usual.  I had to actually cut up a chocolate bar because I cannot find chocolate chips here. This made for larger than normal chunks of chocolate that kind of oozed out of the pancakes.

Ryan ended up enjoying a few and then when Emily woke up from her nap she had three pancakes for lunch.  Mission Accomplished.

Then, finally I got my wine.  Only, I didn't read the label so I ended up with a very dry, very fizzy red wine.  It is not one I would buy again but its not bad.  The fizzy sort of threw me for a loop.  It was on sale for 3 Euros so I can't complain too much. Plus, you know, its wine.