Last Three Days (Oct. 17-19, 2014)

Wow, I didn’t realize that three days have gone by since I last wrote in my blog. Anyway, here they are.

Friday, after our walk in the early morning and cappuccino, we decided to go home and chill out. Both of us were kind of tired and felt like reading, napping and laying low……so we did. Later that evening, we were too lazy to make dinner and still kind of stuffed from that huge lunch in Roccomorice, that we decided to try Aperitivo which is when you go to one of the local coffee bars, order some wine and ask for aperitivi with your drinks. The one we went to was called Bar del Teatro which is in the piazza by the duomo, and used to be the old theatre. The guy serving us brought us a little assortment of deep fried doughy something or others, some little sandwiches with prosciutto, some cheese things and another type of dough pocket with meat in it. Though a lot of dough, they were quite light and delicious to have with our drinks. The man asked if we wanted drinks, which I didn’t understand, so I said ‘yes’ to find out what they were. He ended up making us a house cocktail consisting of grapefruit, mango, and orange juices along with some other kind of liqueur and vodka. They were a bit sweet, but delicious and went very well with our aperitivo. We headed home early and hit the sack. Our tummies were still quite full and our energy still a bit low.

Night view of our aperitif

Saturday we got up feeling more refreshed and went out for a walk again, first thing in the morning. It was a beautiful sunny day and perfect for an early morning walk. When we came home, we had a coffee, then decided that we’d like to have Graziano and Gabriella over to our place for a meal so that Gabriella wasn’t always the one cooking. We looked at each other and both felt quite nervous to cook for her, as she is such an amazing cook, and we don’t know much about authentic Italian cooking. With a deep breath, we proceeded to figure out the menu for our guests to have a nice lunch. This is the biggest meal of the day and usually consists of a first, and second course including salad and dessert with coffee correto. I called them to see if they could come, and when would be a good day. They said that tomorrow would work, so mom and I set off to get the needed groceries for our meal.

Mom was making risotto with funghi and pecorino cheese, and spinach, Trinidadian style but not as spicy. My dishes were to be pan fried pork chops, stir fried zucchini, red peppers, onion and garlic, as well as a tomato salad with fresh basil and arugala. We managed to find all the needed ingredients including some sambucca for the coffee after lunch. We also bought some nice fruit for dessert with some apricot cookies. 

While we were shopping, we decided to go to this great store called Acqua and Sapone which is a store that you get soaps, paper products, etc. We thought it was a good idea to stock up on the paper products that we used while staying here, in order to leave a supply for the house upon leaving. Though our departure isn’t for a while, the store flyer appeared in our mailbox with a great sale on the items we needed, so we took advantage of the sale.

Us, eating gelato

Once we got home, we had a light lunch, then mom had a nap and I drew for a couple of hours. When she got up, we did a lot of preliminary chopping for the meal we would cook the next day. It saved us a lot of time to do it the day before and was very pleasant to do together while we chatted. Bedtime was fairly early, but we did go for supper to the pizza place across the street from us. We had the best pizza’s and white wine. Mom had a delicious funghi and truffle pizza and I had ham, mushroom and cheese. Both were great, but big! Then we went for a stroll and came upon a man who was barbecuing in his front yard. We went over to talk to him and ask what he was cooking. He spoke no English, but we ended up communicating enough to tell him where we were from, that he had relatives in Toronto but had never been, that he knew were we were staying, and he insisted on having us try a skewer of his lamb cubes that he was cooking. His name was Massimo and his kids peered over the balcony at us conversing. All the family was so sweet and everyone around here is kind and tries to help. They are so patient with my lack of the language, yet I seem to be getting by as we can hold a conversation with people we meet, and even learn some things about them. It’s really fun trying to speak in Italian and I enjoy practising the language.

Mom and me eating pizza across the street

Chopping strong onions with bread to in her teeth to reduce the tears....lol.

Today we got up, went out for another walk in the bright sunshine. Both of us woke up with annoyed backs today, due to our lack of movement over the past couple of lazy days. We both have noticed that if we sit around, nap and don’t move much, that our backs start to complain. So, we walked for quite a while this morning before returning home to begin cooking for our friends. Our lunch was a great hit, and the first part was mom’s awesome risotto that she made from memory. Since we had cut up everything last night, it took us no time at all to put everything together, and we timed it all as though we were pros……lol. It was a beautiful lunch in the bright sunshine of our freshly cleaned Atri home. We enjoyed having Graziano and Gabriella over very much and I think they liked the food. They said they did, but both are so very polite, that even if they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t say. Anyway, all was great. Oh, we also had some mortadella and prosciutto with the meat and vegetable dishes for our second course, which added nicely.

For dessert we had fruit and then with coffee and sambuca, some delicious pastries that they brought over. These were to die for and an excellent addition to a yummy meal. After we ate and cleaned up, we went for a drive to see a little town called Casoli which is about 10 kilometers away, across the valley from Atri. We got out and walked around and this town had huge paintings on the buildings, done by local artists with information about the painting below each one. It was such a cool idea and we walked slowly along, reading each one and looking at the art. Then we got back into the car and visited a beach that is close by Pineto, but not too far from Casoli. The beach is public, but not yet popular so there weren’t many people there. It was lovely and we plan to return there later in the week, during the warm part of the day, to enjoy the water and smooth stones.

Central piazza in Casoli

My beautiful momma in Casoli

Information building

Mom, Graziano and Gabriella over valley

Tonight we got home, had a bite to eat, then did some blogging and email catch up as the WiFi hasn’t been too good lately and when it’s iffy, we don’t get our mail and can’t send stuff.

So, now you’re caught up.

Talk to you soon. Take care and keep smiling.