28-29.04.2009

Tuesday:

Happy Birthday Nanny!! :) I hope you had a GREAT day, you deserve it!! :) Sorry I was unable to email you, internet was down all day!! :( Ry told me he called you though, for the both of us, what a sweetie!! :)

Wednesday:

Torta Pasqualina

Colombo cake ('shaped like a dove')

Cuisine night!! Yummy...tonight we pretended it was Easter even though it was a few weeks ago. Our cuisine class got canceled on April 1st because Christina was sick and since it was before Easter, we were going to be making the traditional dishes for that holiday. First we started to make Torta Pasqualina which is made up of many paper-thin layers of dough with ricotta and spinach as the main bulk. Before adding a few layers on top of the ricotta and spinach, you create indents with your spoon and then crack an egg in each indentation - very interesting. After we put that in the oven, we went to the table and ate salami with sweet bread. The salami still had the skin on it, so we had to peel it off - I was thinking of you Poppo when we were eating it because you would have liked it...but they were cut too thick...if I were the cutter, they would have been thin and tasty!! :) After that, we went back in the kitchen and made a walnut pasta - it was super easy to make and really tasty. More pasta to come...homemade pesto was next (Jimmy, you would've loved this one!!). I would've enjoyed it more if cooked potatoes and green beans weren't with the pasta, but that's ok, the pesto was amazing!! Next food was cheese, and we had a TON of them!! I didn't try them all because a few of them were bleu cheese, which I am not a fan of and they were really creamy!! :/ I really enjoyed one of them which I spread over a saltine and it was delish!! With the cheeses, we ate the Torta P - which I didn't like. Ha, too much spinach for my liking...the egg was the best part about it and it wasn't that good, just a weird combo to me. If all that food wasn't enough...we still had a sweet to come. We ended up having a Colomba cake and Colombus got his name from the word colomba meaning dove. It was 'shaped' like a dove and was very light cake with chocolate chips in it and on top had almonds, I enjoyed it, even though I was beyond stuffed!! We had a vino with this dessert and it was my favorite of the night (we had 3 in total) it was called Asti and it was a sparkling bianco vino - very yummy...and she said it was cheap...score!! :)
I know I am going to miss my cuisine class, but it's great because I now have all the recipes to make all these wonderful dishes (Sorry, but I won't be making all of these dishes for all of you, you can ask me for the recipes though!! Ha!)!!
Love and miss you all!!
Talk soon!!
CIAO!! :)

MILANO

PINK AND ORANGE!! :)

Thought of my cooz Nicoletti!! Sorry Dani, looked for your name, couldn't find it!! :(

Mama mia, this is your size coffee!! Ha!! :)

Leaving our mark behind...inside the wardrobe at our hostel!!

Since I am behind on this because of being out of town and the internet being down, I am just going to write about the highlights, so here it goes!!

Milano was an experience. Bethany and I went there Saturday-Monday (25-27.04.2009) to go to the Milano 2009 Furniture Show on Sunday. The entire weekend it was pouring rain, so it was a good thing the fair was indoors. It was HUGE!! 16 buildings in total FULL of furniture/lighting...insane!! We were not able to walk through all of them, not even a fourth of the buildings, I am not sure how many square feet each building was, but they were insanely HUGE!! It was a lot of fun walking around and checking out the new lines of furniture, mostly modern pieces. Overall the weekend was okay, not my favorite, maybe because there wasn't much to do because of the rain, what a damper!! :/ I REALLY enjoyed the fair though, which is great because it was the main reason we went to Milano!! :)
I miss you all, can't believe I will be home soon!!
Talk soon!!
CIAO!! :)

22.04.2009 - Wednesday

This morning was an early morning. We got up around 4am and got ready to leave for the Roma airport. The train left 5am, so we walked over to the station and the doors were locked…what the heck yo?? We waited out front for a few minutes and no one showed up like they were suppose to, so we walked around the building, through construction, and got on the train. As we sat down, the train took off…wow, talk about timing!! Ha. We ate our sandwiches just before this lady sat down near us who stunk like dookie. It was SO gross, we all were having a hard time breathing. She even set her luggage thing next to our bags, not touching luckily, and it was brown…suppose to be orange, that’s how dirty it was, SO gross!! :/ We got to the airport by 7:30am and I walked with mom and Nan over to the bus stop for T5 (it was their terminal which was 800M away from the other terminals). I said goodbye to them and before I knew it, they were driving off!! :( I had a few tears and I tried to hold them back, but it didn’t happen. After, I walked back to the train station and waited for a train to bring me to Termini. From there, I caught another train to Ostienza and then another to PF. I was home by 12pm, so a 7 hour turn around. Once I got home, I took a shower, I cant stand the dirty feeling of still being on a train and then I took a two hour, much needed, nap!! :) At 3pm Ryan and I had a Skype date set up, so we got on there and it wasn’t really working, so we got on gmail’s video chat and wow, the picture is so much more clear than Skype!! :) It was great to see Ryan…aww…I miss you LOTS baby!! After talking with him for some time, I took another shower to defrost. For some reason I was frozen and the heaters no longer turn on because it’s not “winter.” Well guess what…to us Arizonans, it feels like winter out here!! Haha!! After, I went to bed around 8:30pm and watched 27 Dresses.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

CIAO!! :)

21.04.2009 - Tuesday

Bfast was the start of our day today as well and then after we decided to go into town while it was still early and before the stores started closing, in hopes to purchase some things. We went to a Chinese store where we all scored and bought one thing or another!! Ha!! It was very exciting. After the Chinese store, Nan found this one store where she bought a top and then my mom bought some Limecello in a pretty bottle at a little store. We grabbed a slice of pizza on our way home and then took nap when we got back after our shopping. Very happy that we all got a few things, turned out well!! We all took an hour and a half nap and after, my mom and I walked to Despar to pick up some food for tomorrows bfast. We have to take the 5am train, so we are going to be needing some food!! We bought salami, cheese and bread to make some sandwiches. After Despar, my mom went with me back to my room to grab some things in hopes to fit it in moms/Nans suitcases to go back home. They ended up fitting ALL of it except for 2 pairs of shoes and I gave them lots to take back for me!! Ha!! After we packed it all up, Nan handed me a bag with a little owl inside!! She is SO cute!! We went into this little store a few days ago and I saw an owl and was saying how cute it was and that owls are my newest collection, even though I only have one owl mosaic so far, but for some reason, I really enjoy them. When I went upstairs with my mom, Nan stayed down and bought it without me knowing…sneaky!! :) Aw, I LOVE it!! Thanks again Nanny!! :) I ran back with my mom to bring back the extras because I didn’t want to take it with me tomorrow on the train (I am going with them to Roma tomorrow). Then for dinner we went downstairs where I wore my Roma jersey…not a good idea, seeing that Pasquele (our waiter) was a Viterbese fan…not a Roma…ha, so while I was at the table, I had to zip my jacket up all the way!! It was funny!! After dinner, we went back upstairs and went to bed around 10:30 – which is late because we have to be out of the hotel by 4:40am tomorrow!!

Love you all!!

CIAO X3!! :)

20.04.2009 - Monday

Massage day!! :) Nan had a GREAT idea to go get a massage. So my mom ran to the place, right near the hotel may I add, and set up an appointment. There was only one opening, so we told Nan to take it. So at 11am, Nan went for her massage while my mom and I went to four different banks, trying to trade in American money for Euros…wow, why it is SO hard here? Two wouldn’t do it and then ones computer froze, so the last one we went to was able to do it. It took a full hour to get Euros, then it was perfect timing to go pick Nan up. She was so relaxed and enjoyed it – “a different experience” she explained to us, not like an American massage!! O no…ha, the lady said that she could give me and my mom a massage at 3 and 4pm, so we were excited for that!! Since it was only 12pm, we had time to kill and my mom wanted to go into the city center to find some souvenirs, so Nan and I joined her. Since it was mid-day, NOTHING was open, so we headed back where Nan took a nap and my mom and I went to my dorm. I took a shower while my mom was online. Then we walked back and I went to get my massage. Nan was right, NOT like an American massage…ha, you started off lying on your back…interesting. Ha, it was basically a full-body cream application. It felt good though. Mom was next, so I went back to the hotel and waited for 5pm to roll around, when she was done. Around 7pm, we decided to go into town for the last time and go to dinner. It was raining out and the restaurant that was recommended to go to was closed, so we found a little hole-in-the-wall where we all got a salad and mom/Nan got a pasta dish and I got a pizza – last pizza at that. Ha!! Serious this time!! After, as we were walking home, I decided to stop over the Iowa girls apartment so my mom and Nan could meet them!! :) Cassie was over there as well, so it was fun to have them meet each other!! :) After hanging there for a few minutes, Cass left with us and we walked back home and went to bed shortly after. Aw, mom/Nan are leaving in a few days…sad…but exciting, because that means May is approaching QUICKLY!! :)

Love and MISS you ALL!!

CIAO X3!! :)

19.04.2009 - Sunday

:)

Pancho!!

Nan, ready to crack the train driver upside the head for being late!! HA!!

This morning, again, we woke up at 8am to go downstairs and grab bfast. The next train to Roma was at 10:55am, so we had some time to kill before leaving. Since we had a lot of time, my mom and I ran to my dorm to grab my backpack so we could use that for the day. At 10:40am, we walked to the train station – what is up with the trains leaving late since they have been here? It was only 5 minutes behind, but still, late is late!!! We took the train to Valle Aurelia and then got off to get on the metro. We took the metro to Colosseo and right when we got off, we saw it…but unfortunately it was POURING outside. We all ran out into the rain real quick and I took a picture of my mom and Nan in front of it and then we got back on the metro to go to the Spanish Steps stop to grab some food. We ended up eating pizza and then tried looking for souvenirs…I swear, Italianos close up shop whenever they want. Ha, no one was open because it was raining, it was very sad. We went into a café where we all got a sweet treat and mom and Nan got an American coffee. :) Since nothing was happening, we got back on the metro to Valle Aurelia and back to Viterbo. We caught the 3:36pm train to Braciano and then had to wait at that station to get to Viterbo. After waiting inside for almost 2 hours, we went outside because the train was going to come at 6pm. Since “TSITALY”…the train was 30 minutes late, which meant we had to stand (benches were soaking wet) and wait for the darn thing!! Ay!! Ha, after it FINALLY arrived, we got on and were home bound. Once we were home, we went to the hotel for a quick second and then left for La Cavas to eat there again. We all got a calzone and loved them!! :) After dinner, we walked home and went to bed, it was already 10:30pm by the time we got home!!

Love you all!!

CIAO X3!! :)

18.04.2009 - Saturday

In front of the Saturday Market and Wing Fountain

Where we ate lunch at!! :)

This morning we got up at 8am and got ready for bfast so after bfast we could catch the train to Orvieto, a town near by. I ran to the train station after bfast to double check the time, and mathone, the times didn’t match up with the train station because there wasn’t a train going there today…bummer!! :( I completely spaced it that it was Saturday and the market was going on, so Nan and my mom took a nap and I hung out on the computer texting Ryan. When they got up from their nap, it hit me it was Saturday, so we ran into the city walls to check it out. I was soo sad because when we got there, everyone was closing down. We were able to still walk around and check it out, but it wasn’t fun because everything was getting taken down!! I was so sad!! See, when you are having fun, you loose track of the days!! O well, they got a feel for it and after, we grabbed a Kebab and went over to a fountain and ate on the steps, it was fun!! After lunch, my mom and I went to this Chinese Dollar store to look for a picture frame for Sara – ha, all she wanted my mom to bring back for her was a picture frame and a picture of us three in it, how cute is she?? :) We couldn’t find one, so we went back to the hotel to hang with Nan. Sara was at my dads place for the weekend, so my mom and I ran to my dorm real quick for them to call us and talk with them!! :) I LOVED talking to them and catching up a bit. Then we went back to the hotel where we went downstairs for dinner. I really enjoyed their olive oil, so yummy with the bread!! :) After dinner, we went upstairs and off to bed!! :)

Love and miss you all!!

CIAO X3!! :)