happy birthday/tanti aguri/feliz cumpleanos/i could go on...

tonight was my friend's 25th birthday, WOO!

in the midst of the celebrations (including a large batch of pimento cheese for the wisconsin-ite) we sang "happy birthday" to her in 6 languages!

now that's multiculturalism.

some pictures:

the birthday girl with her spread of snacks

discussing the map of europe

the beginning of the birthday singing..

the lone ukranian singing

not loving her croatian brandy treat

hot dog from the kids menu!

the boy's end of the table

dessert #1

dessert #2 (with a flaming sugar cube!)

the birthday celebrations have been growing more involved and more exciting as we are all getting to know each other and become friends.  K's was only the 3rd birthday since our arrival and already we've incorporated evites for a wednesday evening apertivo. i can't even begin to fantasize about what's going to come about on saturday, march 19, 2011.

xx!

"i am unfailingly nostalgic"

a little excerpt from my new favorite blog that i totally relate to: 

I am nostalgic to a fault, perhaps because of the way I grew up---always moving, always leaving, always idealizing the place I used to be before I left it---or perhaps because of something else entirely, a rogue strand of DNA that got mixed in at the last minute. I miss people before I've left them. I reminisce about things ten minutes after they've happened. I look back on times that were happy and they make me happy but they make me sad too, and sometimes there is just no way to separate the happy from the sad, and it's because you can't go backwards, I think, because there's no way to press the repeat button. Things happen and then they're over. People are here and then they're gone. We keep going forward because we have to, and the past recedes in the rearview mirror behind us, and it gets smaller and smaller and smaller.

You can't go home again, they say, and it's true, you can't: you can't go back in time.  You can't go back with hard-won knowledge and hard-earned skills, and you can't do it over, even if you swear you wouldn't do it any differently at all. You can't go backwards, and so you have to go forwards. But there's nothing wrong with looking over your shoulder every once in a while.

many days (today was a full of it, actually) i find myself feeling homesick.  but it's not true homesickness; i don't pine away for my childhood home in virginia, my favorite restaurants (i miss them, sure), or even my friends and family back in the states.  i find that i'm thinking about them all and just sort of wondering what's going on, what they're doing, what we'd be doing if i were there too. 

even though it may be too early, i've begun (over)thinking what i want to be doing a year from now.  do i want to still be here? in trieste? in italy? in europe? out of the united states? which in turn causes anticipatory nostalgia for where i am now.  i'm beginning to predict what i'll miss about this place that i've hardly gotten to know yet. 

i really need to calm down and live in the present (insert cliche quote about living in the present instead of planning for the future - apparently this is a repeated theme for me?). 


xx! 

are you smarter than a 5th grader?

because i'm not quite sure that i am.

all of my students are fluent in at least one other language before english and i find myself second guessing myself when i'm editing their writing.

ALSO, i'm about to teach a unit on the middle ages. i don't know anything about the middle ages -- i'm having to research and study, like a lot.

:(

barcolana weekend 2010!

the festival della barcolana went on here in trieste from october 2 - 10 and yesterday (sunday 10-10-10) was the actual barcolana sailing regatta that culminates the entire festival. 

here are the photo highlights:

roommates in the wine tent on friday night (tons of tents were set up all over the city selling various things, from food to wine to clothing to souvenirs to anything else, i spent most of my time in the wine tent) 

drinking wine on barrels. we had a local wine made by the parents of some students from school! it was delish (of course)

concert in piazza unita -- concert set up was cool, the actual concert was not that great -- somewhat of an "italian creed." not my favorite.

walking home through the tunnel -- bad luck by italian tradition. oops? 

saturday night: view over the water from the wine tent (yes, again).  i had to keep leaving conversation to take pictures because the sky was changing continuously into so many incredible colors.  all the (or a lot of the) boats were out doing a dry run of the course in preparation for the race the next morning.  

so beautiful with all the boats on the water! and the sky was sooooooo clear....

those are the alps across the sea! how amazing is that! 

sunday morning, fall colors! in opicina watching the beginnings of the race. 

V and me at our overlook

just after the start of the race, all the boats leaving the partenza in front of barcola

so many boats! it looked like a meteor shower in the water

the pirate boat, the white pearl, was our favorite

after only an hour, the winning boat was making its way back into piazza unita! in the background, most of the boats are still making their way around the first marker. also in the background, those hillsides running into the water belong to slovenia and croatia. nbd.

i don't have loads of excess time to blog due to the following reasons:

• K's quarter-century-birthday is wednesday! must plan celebrations (and make pimento cheese)
• birthday celebrations are continuing through the weekend with a trip to cortona! must also plan (pack and mentally prepare) for the vacay
• only 2 weeks until my quick jaunt back to the states for a family wedding (lots of mental preparation needed before undertaking such a whirlwind)
• only 3 WEEKS (!) until november break and amsterdam! even more planning needed there.
• oh, and i kind of have some work to do for school?

so, apologies for not writing more but a picture's worth a thousand words, right? 

xx! a presto!

merry christmas!

eh?

one of my students was singing christmas music this morning.

so now we're playing a christmas music medley during writing time.

LOVING IT.

xx.

explosions in the kitchen.

dear family and friends,

while you may think that over the course of the last 6 months (or, rather, the 6 months before moving to italy) i have excelled in the sector of "cooking," you may want to reconsider.

with my pimento cheese creation skills blossoming, despite having to seek out substitute ingredients, i gained confidence. additionally, with the added difficulty of being a vegetarian in italy i have thought sporadically that now could be a good chance to really learn how to cook. i mean, i could cook some delicious things, easily, no?! fresh ingredients, delicious olive oil, and a gas stove? now was my chance to really learn how to cook. better yet, i won't tell anyone of this secret goal of mine and then i'll go home over christmas and blow their minds. this is what went through my head. i had big plans.

well. tonight, i believe that i may have changed my mind.

K, who studied in cortona, has a signature dish revolving around a sauce "al fumo" made of cream, pancetta, and vodka (among other ingredients). yes, i tried it and yes, it's indescribably incredible. we planned a gathering tonight that turned into a dinner that turned into an, "OH! i'll make fumo!" night. well! i had the brilliant idea to make the recipe alongside of her, but veggie-style - MINUS the pancetta.

what could go wrong?! why not?! i mean it's just bacon, what's the big deal?!

here goes:

step 1: heat up some olive oil with garlic cloves and a sprig of rosemary. check.

step 2: remove browned garlic cloves and wilted sprig of rosemary. check.

step 3: add bacon. (i simply skipped this step, turned the heat down, and waited for the next instructions.)

step 4: when the bacon looks like it's supposed to, pour in the vodka! 2-3 shots. check!

so much exploding olive oil + vodka mixture all over the kitchen.


there are spots on the wall that we (by "we" i mean "i") will have to bleach or paint over before they move out at the end of the year.

i mean this was a HUGE chemistry error. no, i didn't add a substitute fat before putting the vodka in. what would i have added?! boh.

i mean, it went EVERYWHERE. and then i essentially just threw all the ingredients in without any sort of thought and it just tasted like vodka. it wasn't my favorite concoction. i could not for the life of me figure out what it needed more of! what could i add to make it taste better!? was that the burnt wooden spoon i was tasting? or was it actually the sauce?

what it needed was pancetta. bacon. MEAT.

me: 0
meat eaters: 1

so, from now on (at least for a little while), i am going to keep to my cutting boards and cook-free recipes.  next on my agenda (thanks times 6543456787654 million to kshields) is TAKE IT AWAY HOUSE DRESSING.

i'll keep you posted on the trial and error process, as i don't believe that steak sauce exists in italy.


love always,

liz

road trip to toscana!

had an incredible weekend in siena showing my friends around!  we hung out with marina and anto and did all of my favorite things -- so.much.fun. i want to go back tomorrow. here are the highlights, told with photos:

driving in italy! woooooo! the drive was about 5 hours but super easy. they have so many signs all over the highways that it's hard to miss a turn or make a wrong turn so that was nice.  i drove the whole way on friday and i fit in quite well with italian drivers (not quite as well as V, though.....)! we had rented a VW polo, it made me miss my bettlebug at home - wish i had a car here in trieste!

reuniting with my main ladybird in piazza del campo - look at her loving gaze, we are obsessed with each other. drinking dirty shirleys in piazza with marina made my life. 

my favorite more-than-half-italian couple: marina and antonio

Kristin, me, Veronica, and Lizzy - loved being in one of my favorite places with so many people that i love.

found nazzareno and luigi! yay for old friends.

beautiful weather on saturday -- great views of siena and the tuscan countryside (at the beginning of fall) from the panorama at il duomo

looked at lots of wine in the showroom of the enoteca...

then drank some delicious wine on the patio, gorgeous weather!

my DELICIOUS pici al nando at la taverna di cecco - so so spicy and so so delicous

veronica enjoying her pici al cinghiale (wild boar) that she loved.

piazza del campo at night

siena, you are the love of my life. 

and now, it's monday and i'm back in trieste.  i really do like trieste but being in siena made me really miss tuscany -- the two are SO different that they can't even really be compared. but this weekend is the famous barcolana regatta and there are pre-barcolana festivities by the canal and the sea all week.  loads of people come to town from all over europe and the city is apparently really busy every single night leading up to the race.  it doesn't seem like i'll be catching up on much sleep this week.... 

oh well, you can sleep when you're dead, right?

xx! liz.