Gnocchi

Here was dinner the other night. GNOCCHI, made from scratch. First, boil potatoes and them mash them.

Knead with dough! As I have learned, the potatoes in gnocchi replace the eggs of pasta.

Roll and cut.

Boil and five minutes later, I'm eating! Another typical night at Anna's house!

Friday Night Bridge

About a month ago, one of the host Mom's found out I was a bridge player. She invited me over to play with her family one Thursday night and I accepted. Little did I know that I was being tried out to come and play with her Friday night bridge club. Apparently, I passed because the next Friday night, I walk into a large room with over 20 tables, each of them numbered, and each with a bidding box. On one wall is a large screen television which reports scores of the tournament being held that night. These people are SERIOUS. By the way, at 40 years old, I am clearly the youngest person in the room and one of two non-Italians.

On my first Friday night a few weeks ago, I was AGAIN being tested. Lucilla, the host mom, has a regular partner Ida. The usually play together. Lucilla and I each played half the time with Ida. We did ok. Apparently, I passed another test because the second Friday night I played, I came to the game "stag." Lucilla set me free. I was paired with another guy, Peter, who is a Welshman who has retired to Italy and speaks perfect Italian. Before we started he bombarded with me about strategy. Do I play the Stayman convention (WHAT??????) how do I respond to his opening of 1 "senza". It took me a while to figure out that "senza" means "No Trump".

I returned again to play last night, this time Lucilla and I played together. I'm not sure how the scoring works, but we finished third in the tournament. And, as what happens, people recognized me and I chat with Franco and Tito, in Italian of course. But, I generally get lost when chat turns to bridge or the rehashing of hands. The other thing I find funny is when married couples play together and start bickering at each other. I just sit there and enjoy the show.

This bridge thing is fun. I definitely need to practice and be more aggressive in my bidding. It's hard work on Friday nights to be upping my game in Bridge as well as trying to do it in a foreign language. But, it's AWESOME and something I will definitely remember as a highlight of living in Italy.

Calcata

The hill town of Calcata 50 km North of Rome

It's got an interesting history. Essentially it was condemned in the 1930's by the Italian government because of its precarious location on soft tufa stone. (Come on now, seriously? These cities have been located on this kind of stone for hundreds of years!) So the residents were moved to a newly built town and this one abandoned. In time, artists and squatters moved in and it's now a hipster artist community. You can read about it in this New York Times article.

I actually thought it was not NEARLY as charming and interesting as Civita di Bagnoregio. I found Calcata much too touristy and no one spoke Italian. I guess I'm become jaded, or at least annoyed by tourism, of which you find none here in Viterbo!

Geman Host Family Meets Italian Host Mom

Uli (my German host brother from 1986) and his family came to visit Italy for a week. On their last night, Anna and I invited them over for dinner. Uli, not understanding that if you have a clean plate in an Italian home, it means that you will be served MORE food, ate too fast and ate the equivalent of two entire four course meals! That's called experiential learning!!!

My role that evening was to translate between Italian and English. At the end of the night, Jonah, Uli and Alex's son, said he thought Anna was always angry with me because she was always yelling. The boy needs to learn something about Italian mothers and the way they communicate!