New York City With Daniele

Back in November 2012, Daniele came to visit me in the States and spend Thanksgiving with my family. Since he takes very long vacations, we fit in a camping trip to some South-West parks rather than spend the whole time in NJ, more on that to come. Before we left, my very generous Aunt Linda let us use her timeshare at the Manhattan Club on November 12. This gave us two days to be tourists in NYC.

We mostly walked around and took in the sights. We passed through Times Square, Grand Central Station, the various characteristic sky scrapers, the New York Stock Exchange, and the adjacent building which served as the sight of George Washington's inauguration. They apparently give free tours of the Federal Reserve, but you must book in advance. A few other sites we had hoped to see were still flooded out from the recent Hurricane Sandy.

The biggest thing we did was take a free tour of the New York Public Library. The Librarian who guided the tour was full of fun facts on everything from the building itself, the NY library system, and NYC history. Besides being a beautiful building, there is a great deal of information in there free to use by the public. It seems a bit intimidating walking into the grand entrance hall, but it is all fairly accessible. There are many historical pieces there, including maps and the original stuffed animals of Christopher Robbin.

And because we are such classy people, we finished our trip off with a visit to the symphony.

All 30 photos from the trip can be found here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/5986566616768896705

Update on the ground, Sandy edition

Note, I wrote the following on 11/2 but was unable to get internet to post until 11/4, there is an update at the bottom

I flew back to NJ on the red-eye from San Francisco last night. Things here are about as I expected, wide spread power outages, but people getting by alright. Many people have generators after last years storm.

Personally, my parents have been without power since the storm hit on Monday. They had my grandmother over then since they have a generator and brought her back home once she had power again. Still no power here, but the generator runs everything, including the water pump. We just don't have TV/Internet. My dad was pretty excited I was bringing the internet home with me via my smartphone. Rest of the family either is back on power or also running a generator as far as I've heard.

LBI is almost definitely flooded, they say the ocean met the bay, but the island is still closed off, so haven't been down to check on the house yet. By a miracle my Aunt Linda, who always floods, hasn't so far so hopefully won't.

My mom is back at work, as Flemington is back on power. My dad is hanging out at home with me (and picked me up this morning) as the port is still closed. Note, port Newark has been closed without power for days. Be cautious buying refrigerated goods in your supermarkets for the next week or so-- everybody, not just NJ (your food/everything comes from here). The stuff should all be thrown out, but who knows.

The only thing that caught me off guard was that NJ seems to be going through a gas crisis. I had seen photos of people lining up with their gas cans at stations, but didn't really internalize the extent of it until this morning.

This morning my dad drove me to several bagel places before we found one open with power, a Dunken Donuts with a line out the door. Some people were getting breakfast for their whole families. Everyone was talking about gas. The guy in front of me had driven from two counties over, without finding an open gas station until the one across the street, where he waited two-hours for gas. Another waited an hour and a half yesterday, only to have them go dry before he got any. My dad drove far out west into PA until there were no lines, but he only has two gas cans so could only buy 10 gallons after that drive. He drove eight hours looking for more cans, can't find them.

Many gas stations are just closed with the power out. You need electric to pump gas. Some are using generators to pump, but running dry with the demand.

The guy at Dunks was apologizing for not having ice for iced coffee, or cup holders, or various other things. He hasn't had any deliveries. I would guess no deliveries would have to do with a lot of issues.

Update from 11/4
This morning my mom and I went out to do some errands, rather than sit at home and stare at each other all day. We found Clinton had partial power back but most places did not and were still closed. So not only is there no TV/Internet at home, there is nothing open outside. With nothing else to do we were forced to do yard work. We made about an SUV-sized pile of branches that had fallen in the yard, not counting larger ones that went into our firewood pile. There are still many more out there, we were just tired and it was getting dark. Plus a few trees that my dad will need to cut up before we can clear.

About an hour ago the electricity came back on here. So we are back to normal. We were able to do most things with the generator, but you hate to waste gas running non-necessary things and my dad has to turn it on in the morning. So tomorrow morning I'll be able to wash my face and brush my teeth without boiling water on the wood stove.

The gas shortage is a real thing and the governor, Chris Christie, has mandated an odd/even gas purchasing rule that started today/Saturday. Basically the last digit in your license plate number determines if can get gas on odd or even days; even plates can go on even days, and vice versa. Personally we are about 10 minutes from the PA boarder so it will not effect us, even if we need gas on an off day, which now that we have power should not be an issue.

I checked on LBI and they are still evacuating and not letting anyone on the island. They hope sometime this week to let homeowners in for a few hours to get some essentials. No word yet on when it will be open for people to do cleaning and repairs.

Eggplant Preserving

I was recently having a conversation about preserving and prompted to write about how we preserve eggplant. There are two ways to do it, under oil and under vinegar.

I prefer the under oil version (Melanzane Sott'olio), as the vinegar version is a bit harsh for me. Daniele and I made this one together and it's super simple.

Ingredients:

• Eggplant
• Oil
• Vinegar
• Garlic (cut fine)
• Herb (Parsley or Mint, not both)
• Peperoncino (red pepper)
• Salt
• Jar

Slice eggplant 1/4 inch slices
Grill until dried out, pretty grilled, some black stripes

Layer into the jar:

• 2 or 3 grilled eggplant
• salt
• garlic
• peperoncino
• herb
• vineger (every other layer)
• oil
• Start a new layer until finish eggplant or reach top or jar

Oil has to cover the top layer, top off the jar the next day, as the eggplant may absorb some oil, shift, or expand up. It seals it and prevents mold. At least that is what Italians say, I'm not an expert on the matter.

Wait a day or two to try them, they need to absorb the oil and flavors. Then they just get stronger and better over time.

The oil when the eggplant is finished can be used over salad.

The second method, the under vinegar version (Melanzane Sottaceto) is very similar. The main difference is the eggplant is not grilled, rather it is boiled in half-vinegar half-water. I have never made this one myself (as I'm not enough of a fan to eat a whole jar, but Daniele actually prefers it).

It was explained to me that you boil the eggplant in the vinegar-water, dry them out, and layer them like the under oil version. This online recipe seems right on target:
http://flavorsofitaly.blogspot.com/2009/07/nonnas-pickled-eggplant-melanzane.html

We normally make a meal of “fresh things” for lunch about every day in the summer, and these jars of eggplant are awesome cause they are always there and delicious. It takes the pressure off having to cook veggies when it is really hot out. We also made several big jars in August that should get us through the winter no problem. And they just get better over time, they absorb more and more of the flavor.

Changing Device Timezones

I spend months at a time in different timezones. However, I often won't change my clocks. Sometimes someone will see my computer clock is wrong and point it out as if I don't know how easy it is to change. The problem is it totally messes up my calendar.

I view my calendar on my Android phones, tablet, and laptop. My phones change their clock on their own. I also have cameras and a wrist watch with clocks-- but those I always change since there is no calendar issue.

I use Google Calendar, here is how they handle timezones:
http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2367918

The meat and potatoes of that link:
“Whenever you create an event, Calendar converts it from your time zone to UTC time, using currently known conversion rules. By using one universal time for all events, Calendar can keep all of your guests’ calendars consistent regardless of which time zones they're in. When we display the event on your calendar, it is converted from UTC to appear in your own time zone.

If you have a recurring meeting that spans across different time zones, then its time always remains constant for the organizer, and will shift for guests whenever their time difference with the organizer changes. That’s why if you’re in London and attending a weekly meeting that was created by your New York colleagues at 10am NY time, it will always be at 10am for NY, almost always at 3pm for you, but at 2pm during that particular week in early November.” [“particular week”, reference to US and GB change their clocks for Daylight Savings Time on different dates]

Indeed, Google is trying to solve a complex problem here. That's cool for the people who work at Google, who use Google Calendar a bit different from people like me. Personally, I don't have many recurring international meetings. Actually, pretty much all my events are just for myself. But hey, that's me.

Here is the type of use case I run into. I have a Nexus 7 tablet. This device currently is what plays my morning alarm, because unlike my phone which can get forgotten in a purse on the other side of the room, he lives by my bed so I can read him in the morning. I actually was getting a bit annoyed looking at the time three hours off (I just came from NJ to San Francisco) so I changed his clock from EST to PST. The next morning, I woke up before my alarm and was reading news in bed waiting for my alarm to go off before I got up to get breakfast. I wanted to dismiss it and not wake anyone else up. It never went off, but I had forgotten about changing the clock the day before so just wrote it off and moved on with my day. About three hours later I started hearing chimes. My tablet had changed the time of my alarm from 8:30 to 11:30 (or rather to 8:30 EST, 11:30 PST the same UTC time). Does this seem like it should be the default behavior? Do most people set alarms to notify themselves of some world-wide event (perhaps an space-shuttle launch), so they would need that time to adjust to their local time? Or are most people just looking to wake up around the same time every morning?

Those are alarms, it behaves the same for calendar events. So, if while in Italy, I make a doctors appointment for 3 PM on a Wednesday for when I'm going to be in NJ, I can put it in my calendar while still in Italy and my computer clock is set to Italian time. Then when I come to NJ and change my clock, that 3 PM appointment will jump to 9 AM on my calendar. Confusing, no?

I could have put the event in at 9PM when I was in Italy, as 9PM in Italy is 3PM in NJ, my target time for this event. The problem with this work around is I have to look at it on my calendar with that weird time up until I change the computer clock. That is really confusing for scheduling other events around it.

Fear of this behavior (and that I will not see something scrolled down on my smaller laptop screen) encourages me to put important events in my Calendar as all day events, with the time in the details. But unless this has been fixed since I last saw it, and this behavior I definitely consider a bug, an all day event I create in one time zone will actually change to a 3 AM to 3 AM (for example) event when I change timezones. If an event is July 8th all day, then it is July 8th all day in any timezone, IMHO.

I wish there was a way to opt-out of the time-zone syncing behavior, for my whole calendar, or for non-shared events, or for anything. As far as I can see, it's not an option. Until then, I just keep everything on EST.

UPDATE 10/24/12
The very smart Marc D responded to this post with

Marc Dougherty ‏@muncus
@kait3210 not sure if it is any better, but "use home time zone" in calendar settings that will always show the same time zone. Maybe?

It took me several days to figure what on earth he was talking about because I manage my Calendar 90% from my laptop and use my devices (phone, tablet) to make sure I'm not forgetting anything. I'm not normally playing with Calendar settings on these Android devices. I use Android because it syncs so easily with my calendar and I don't have to work to make it work-- like setting up Exchange in my iPhone days.

But sure enough, In an ANDROID Calendar, you can go to the three-dot-menu-button, Settings, General settings. Once there, I found a little check box to "Use home time zone" as well as one right below it to set your "Home time zone". As soon as I did this on my Nexus 7, all my appointments (remember, I changed this device to PST) jumped back to the correct time. Awesome solution.

This is an Android feature, the web version has no such check box. However, looking closer, I can set my Calendar timezone independently from my laptop time zone. It is in gear-shaped-button, Settings, General-tab, "Your current time zone" setting. Here I can set it to always be EST, or even add both EST and PST and both times display in two columns, but no non-US timezones. I can't believe I missed this feature! I only had to dismiss Google asking me if I wanted it to change my Calendar timezone when I changed my laptop timezone just now-- which I've never seen before, so maybe this is a newer feature.

It's nice to have my laptop clock on the right time. Just in time for me to blow out of town in another week.

Blue Angels in SF

Our friends Chris and Lori have a Blue Angels party every year. It's also a fundraiser for the YMCA where Lori is on the board, which is really nice. They have the perfect location to watch the airshow, they are up on Nob Hill and have a great roof deck.

They also have a million friends who are all great people, so it's guaranteed good times. I got a few pictures.

Album with rest of pictures of the Blue Angel's Air Show 10/07/12 in San Francisco:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20121007BlueAngels#

New Jersey Pit Stop

As much as I try to deny that I live in New Jersey with my parents, it is my legal address and where most of my stuff is (though I'm getting more and more to Rome). I much prefer more romantic version, where I'm a transient nomad going from city to city. Spending about half of my time in Rome and the other half, when I'm not legally allowed to spend more time in Italy, even though my fiance is Italian, traveling to various places.

It's pretty exciting sounding when I put it like that!

Anyway, I had to come back a bit early from my summer in Rome for an appointment with the Italian Consulate or Newark. I have been working on my Italian citizenship for years (blood citizenship through my great-grandfather) even before I made plans to marry an Italian. Actually, probably could have saved a lot of time and money if I knew that was going to happen, but at least this way my mom gets dual citizenship, too. I'll sum up that whole experience when it's finally over in it's own post. But the relevant part here is last September, after preparing for ages, holding the appointment for almost a year, reading everything we needed 10 times, they turned us down for something that they did not say they needed. At least Newark didn't write down that it was needed on their site/forms. New York actually did I saw latter, but I apply through NJ where I'm a resident. When we got turned down last September I immediately made the next available appointment... for the following September. At the time, a year ago, I didn't realize I was going to chop up my travel time so badly and I would have to fly home early for it.

I flew home Monday the 17th, our appointment was the 18th. We had a great person go through our application and they accepted it! I think if we had gotten her last time, I may already be an Italian citizen. Getting past this step means the consulate accepted the application, but it still has to be sent to Italy and actually accepted. Then in a few months we should be dual citizens and can then get passports just like American citizens get passports. I hear they're wicked expensive, but at this point, I would probably pay anything.

So exciting!

Then that Saturday I got all my five bridesmaids together to go bridesmaid dress shopping. It was the first time everyone got together-- which was the best part! We picked a dress at the end of the day, only to have them call a few days later and tell me its not actually available in the color I want. So, back at square one. Still a fun day.

Sunday, September 23rd, I turned 27. It's so weird cause I was just 24 (barely, but true!) when I quit Adobe, packed up my apartment, flew to Vegas, and set off on my gypsy adventure. Those older that 27 can scoff all they want at that age, but I still don't feel 24 anymore and the fact that this time has gone by so quickly but I can still physically feel myself aging is so horrifying that if I had a real job to quit again now, I just might do that. As it is I'm sort of out of radical early mid-life crisis actions.

Since I had just spent the day before with my best girlfriends, I was in the mood for a chill bday. I went into NYC and spent most the day with Danny G, Brian G, his GF, and Matt H. Brian and I have the same birthday and Danny had just moved to NYC, actually really close to Brian all in the East Village. Fun day!

When the night was finally over I found my [mom's] car had been towed back in Hoboken. I had to walk a bazillion miles on already sore feet and pay a million dollars to get it back. The spot I parked in was apparently an individual's reserved spot on the street. I didn't know that was a thing!

During the week I got a bit of wedding stuff done. Then we had a jam packed weekend. My cousin Marc and his new bride Vivian just bought a house. They invited my parent's and I over Friday for dinner to come check it out. Saturday his sister Michelle had a birthday party for her oldest, Eight-years-old already! Then Sunday we did a little combined birthday dinner for my uncle and I with my mom's side. Monday my matron of honor went out with me to do some dress research. We found two beautiful dresses and now it's just a matter of choosing.

Now, after those two crazy weeks back home, I'm off to California! I'm spending the month of October in my old stomping grounds, San Francisco, staying with the lovely Jenna H. I'm super excited to see old friends, drink beers, and not be home in NJ!

Adventure!

Rome Summer 2012

I'm just finishing another round in Rome. This trip was a bit shorter because I have to return to NJ for my Italian citizenship appointment, which I've had for a year and could not be moved. After that I'll be state-side until 2013.

I wanted to give a recap of the trip. I was here July 24 through September 17, so only a month and a half really.

We went to the beach any day off we had. Last year we went to Ostia more, which is “Rome's beach”. It's a bit crowded there, but they have a great gelateria! This year we mostly went to Fregene, which is a bit north, so easier for us. It's considered a bit more high class, for whatever reason. I liked it because I like walking around the area and looking at the beautiful villas. However there are less shops, so we pack our own lunch to come here.

We also made it into the center pretty often. Went to happy hours, markets, or just walked around taking pictures. Along the river in the summer temporary bars, restaurants, and markets set up. They are open late at night and light up the whole river. Daniele has been going a bit crazy buying happy hours and dinners on online coupon sites.

Rome's "Isola Tiberina" all lit up for summer

There is always a lot going on in summer. We were able to organize Daniele's friends Gerlano and Valentina as well as family for dinners and different things. We went to Magic Land, a medieval kingdom themed park. And we had a nice BBQ picnic for Ferragosto, a holiday the 15th of August.

Gerlando and Daniele at the BBQ

The big thing we did was take two back to back mini-vacations to Umbria. First to stay with cousins, second just for a weekend away. I wrote about those already is separate posts.

All in all a pretty good summer and a good trip, even though it had to be so short.

Next up is a two-week stop back home in NJ. I have that citizenship appointment, my birthday, a bunch of wedding stuff to do (including bridesmaid dress shopping), and a few family parties. Then I'm off to San Francisco for October!

The full photo album from this trip:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20120724Roma#

Umbria Getaway to Passignano sul Trasimeno, Perugia, and Todi

Last Christmas Daniele's brother gave him this little MoveBox, which is an Italian company that sells hotel packages. There are different ones, with different themes. Ours was places with “Charm”. The little box that the gift certificate came in included a book of countless places, mostly agriturismo (converted farms). Many of them had pools, so we had been waiting for a chance to use it in the summer.

We first thought we would stay in Tuscany, but since it is August, many places were full or had minimum stay policies. We ended up choosing a beautiful place, Agriturismo Podere Borgobello in Colle Umberto near Perugia, Umbria instead. I was excited to see Perugia. This was also near Lake Trasimeno, which Daniele wanted to see.

Our “weekends” work around Daniele's work schedule, typically the day after his night-shift and his day-off the following day. When he came home, around 7:30am, we finished packing up and hit the road for Umbria.

The first stop was Lake Trasimeno. We visited the city, Passignano sul Trasimeno, which was a cute old town right on the lake that also went up into the surrounding hills. There were trails that went up into the hills, which we did a little of, but it was a hot August day, so I was not very interested in doing more of that. We did get some nice views of the lake below, though. The city also features a “Rocca” or castel-like fortess structure right at the center, which I always love.

Rocca of Passignano sul Trasimeno

Me in Passignano sul Trasimeno

Passignano sul Trasimeno port

The area around the lake was nicely set up for tourists or day-trippers. They had public bathrooms (not easy to find in Italy), a shaded picnic area (that we took advantage of with sandwiches we made that morning), and a spring water dispenser. Many Italian cities/towns have these water dispensers. Locals can typically get a key to get free still or naturally sparkling spring water; everyone else pays 5 cents a liter, which is almost free.

After lunch we went off to the little town of Colle Umberto to find this Podere Borgobello where we were staying and hopefully use their pool! And that's just what we did the rest of the afternoon. We had passed signs on the way for a pizzeria, Il Cucuzzaro. Daniele hates going places he has not already eaten, but when we showed up here, they could hardly fit us in they were full with reservations. Now, we're really in the middle of nowhere, so that's really impressive. The food was great, and nice size portions, and cheap. I got the Ortalana Pizza, that's with zucchini and peppers on it. It was really good, they roasted the veggies before putting them one the pizza, rather than just letting them cook on the pizza. And there were a mix of different peppers all were fresh and delicious. Daniele got some type of pasta with goose meat. It came with hand made pasta and was apparently very good.

Agriturismo Podere Borgobello in Colle Umberto (PG)

Saturday morning, after a delicious buffet breakfast, we went to Perugia. We were given some parking advice, to go to the lot at Piazza dei Partigiani, since it was still pretty early. From there we easily took the escalators to the top if the ancient town.

Like most Italian cities, Perugia is famous for a particular export, Perugina Chocolate – the company that make those little Baci among many other delicious things. I was hoping there would be a general Chocolate culture, like Modica, Sicily, but it seemed to really just be Perugina. They had a store right in the middle of the historical center where I bought a bar of Fondente Luisa. This is apparently the original dark chocolate recipe the founder started the company with. It's pretty good!

The escalators of Perugia bring you right into the old 'Rocca' or fortress that once upon a time was all that Perugia was. It's remarkably well preserved and pretty much open to be wondered around. From here you take a second, shorter escalator out to the “modern” historical center. We came up in Largo della Liberta where there happened to be an antiques market happening. There also is the Palazzo della Provincia, the equivalent of a County Capital Building right there and the main, store-lined, street that leads to the main square. The main square is dominated by two large buildings, one on each side. There is the Palazzo dei Priori and the Cathedral of Perugia.

Daniele in Rocca Paolina of Perugia

Me in antiques market in Perugia

As implied by all the escalators, Perugia's historical center is high up. After we hit the big sites we wondered around a bit and found some beautiful views of the surrounding cities and countryside. There are also some park areas, some small side streets, and just generally lots of charm. I really liked Perugia!

Via Baglioni in Perugia

Panorama of Perugia from above

We started our day early to beat the heat and felt we had seen what we came to see by early afternoon. So we went to another city not to far and generally in the direction of driving back to Rome, Todi. Daniele wanted to go to Todi last weekend and Spoleto won out, which I think was a good call since Spoleto is a bit bigger with a bit more to see. Something I just learned, Todi is a city in Umbria, Toti is the very famous captain on the Roma soccer team, and Todis is a large supermarket brand. In case there is any confusion.

When we got to Todi we had no change for the parking machine, but by some miracle there was some the return change slot, so we used that to pay for two-hours of parking. In that time we climbed up to the top via the main street, stopping for random photos along the way, went around the very top a bit, and came back down. Then we stole some figs from a tree before Daniele pointed out to me they were actually privatly owned (it seemed like a public area). It was my first time eating a fig right off a tree and it was delicious! I saved a few that I made into pizza the next day. Maybe someday I'll make a food blog. Overall Todi was charming. We were tired, so I don't know if we missed things, but it felt like we saw it all in two-hours.

Via Giacomo Matteotti in Todi

Then it was back home to Rome. Such a lovely weekend!

Photos from this trip are online here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20120824UmbriaGetaway

Websites in Italian

I can't really say how frustrating it is to use my browser when I'm in Italy sometimes. My browser, the application that runs the most on my computer. My computer, my dear friend. It's a betrayal and an example of what you can versus what you should do in terms of applying technology.

The technology I'm talking about is determining a browser user's location. In my two-years as an expat I feel like more and more website I go to open up in Italian on me. Often with no way of turning it off or switching back to English.

Just now I went to Macy's website. Granted, I googled it first, though I could have guessed the URL. So I deserved to be sent to the .IT version of the site, with blown up "WE SHIP TO ITALY NOW" covering the whole site. I quickly changed the URL to the standard www.macys.com and saw the normal american-aimed site that I wanted. From there, found a link to the info I sought. Only to be hit again the moment I clicked it "WE SHIP TO ITALY NOW". Give it up, Macys, I'm so not interested.

Even earlier today, I went to my AdWords account to see why the ads are gone from my blog (robbing my of those potential pennies in case anyone were to click them!). I log in and it's in Italian. I'm logged in! Google knows me. Google probably knows me better than my mother. So I google (ha) how to change your language preference in AdWords Dashboard and navigate through the Italian to find the setting, but it is already English. It mush be a setting for the language of the Ads, but looking at the "Inglese" sure felt ironic. Yes, I get by in Italian, but these are setting panels, it brings me to the level of a 70-year old blind women.

Speaking of Google. I have tried everything to get my browser search bar to default to google.com, rather than google.it. If I put google.com in the navigation bar while in Italy, it forwards to google.it. The only way to get to google.com is to use iGoogle-- somehow that knows I'm me, American, and not to give me all Italian language search results. Just the normal wikipedia first then everything else, that I expect. But iGoogle is being phased out by Google and will be turned off November 2013. So I guess I'll have to get better at reading Italian and wean off wikipedia.

Now I'm not saying all websites should always be in English, I'm saying that if you are going to offer multiple language versions of your website, which is great, you should do that, let the user choose to change it after you maybe pick the default based on location. Don't assume every person in any location prefers one language. Like half the people in Italy at any given time are tourists (I think I read that in a Rick Steves once, I can't back up those numbers), so it's not that safe a bet as you might think that a person here wants to speak Italian. Plus we already can't get to Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, NBC.com, or even the pirate bay. Also the fastest internet you can get is DSL but most people use "internet keys" which is cell phone tethering. And no, there is no 4G, lots of places have Edge or even no data coverage. So, don't kick dirt in the wound by making inaccessible websites. It's just mean.

Whoops

I haven't posted about any of my travels in over 6-months! Whoops!

So here's what happened. I went to Istanbul last April and literally took over 1,000 pictures. Now I shoot with a Nikon D90 in camera Raw and like to post process my pictures, choose the best, add captions, put them in an album online. At the same time, write about my adventures in a blog post (90% for my own prosperity, but 10% in case anyone else enjoys it) and add a few of the photos relevant to the travel story.

I was so overwhelmed with the idea of processing those 1000 Istanbul photos that everything stopped. I still haven't started with those 1000 pictures from Turkey, but I'm going to move past this block. Starting now I'll write about and upload pictures from trips as I take them and try to back fill the last 6-months when I can.

In the next few days (weeks?) I'll fill in recent adventures like the weekend Daniele and I just spent in Umbria with his cousins there. Also Ferragusto just past, August 15 is a holiday that Italians all take off from work and picnic-- so fun! And we're going to Umbria again next weekend; probably to Perugia where I expect to eat lots of chocolate. Daniele and I also recently went through lots of paperwork and I finally mailed in my petition to sponsor his fiance visa, so we can get married in the US. That's a bit of a different kind of adventure, but I think I'll record our experiences with it here just the same.

Cheers!

Umbria with Daniele's Cousins

Daniele's mother is from Umbria, the region east of Lazio (were Rome is). Her sister never left and still lives in the house where they grew up. She has three sons a bit older than Daniele and his brother that are each married. The oldest two each have a daughter about 15 and a son about 7 years old. I met this whole side of the family last year and adored them! Unfortunately they are about two hours away from us in Rome.

We've been trying for a while to organize a day with Daniele's cousin Massimo, his wife Catia, and their children Sara and Diego. It is hard because everyone involved works shifts (Daniele is a nurse, Massimo a factory manager, and Catia a police officer) so it's not like we can just pick a weekend, or even the first weekend Daniele has off. This day worked out because they were on vacation. In the summer most Italians take vacation. They were spending theirs between Catia's family beach house, which coincidentally is right by Daniele's parent's beach house, and her family house were she grew up in Volperino. The latter is where we met up with them.

Cousins Daniele, Sara, and Diego

Their house in Volperino is a lovely large independent house on a large lot. Dare I say “villa”? The town is up in the mountains and a beautiful place to escape the heat of Rome. It is a such a nice place. Everyone in town knows each other. In fact the neighbors stopped by randomly throughout our two day stay there.

The town itself was damaged significantly by the 1997 earthquake. Italian houses are built differently than ours, from stone, and are expensive and time consuming to repair. It can take decades to build a house and obviously these people can not stay homeless that time. Most moved away, some have RVs on their property. 15 years later it is still a town under construction and the population is much lower, especially in the winter.

Only one wall is left from this house.

When we first got there, the kids were still sleeping because they had been out dancing till 2am the night before. Everyone in town goes to the bar (coffee shop) every night. We went later that night.

Catia made us lunch. After we lounged under almond trees to pass the afternoon heat. Daniele and I went to Nocera Umbra before dinner and when we came back his aunt and uncle were there, too. As well as some other people I was never introduced to (Italians do not automatically introduce everyone present). After dinner, we all walked to the town bar (coffee shop) where everyone in town was there hanging out all night long. The younger kids played hide and seek, the older ones foosball and ping pong, the elderly played cards, some adults played bocce ball, and everyone else just hung out.

Almond tree at Catia and Massimo's house

Monday Daniele and I had the best of intentions to take a morning hike with Massimo, but just didn't wake up early enough. So we took an easier walk with Sara and Diego that was more eating road-side blackberries than it was hiking. We hung out for the morning and early afternoon before setting off to Spoleto and home.

Sara knew all the best blackberries

Blackberry bush

Sunday we saw smoke in the distance that appeared to be a wild fire. It was just behind the rolling hills, so we could not see the flames to be sure. After a while there were helicopters and planes that dropped water, it was out the next morning. Catia said there have been a lot of them. Sure enough, Monday we saw another in the other direction. Daniele and I saw it closer up on the way home, but we also saw lots of other burnt patches of hillside. I hadn't known wildfires were such a problem. Apparently it is always an issue in dry forest areas in Italy, especially this year with the droughts.

Wild fire near Trevi, Umbria

While we were out in Umbria, Daniele and I made some trips to see some new places. Sunday we went to the little town of Nocera Umbra. Fun thing about Nocera Umbra is it sounds a lot like “No c'era ombra” or more correctly “Non c'era ombra” which means “There was no shade”. The translation has nothing to do with the name of the town, but it did confuse the heck out of me when I was first hearing it.

The town was cute and small. They were also still reconstructing from the damage of the 1997 earthquake. Most of the places we saw in the area were, with large cranes propped up to the mountain top towns. They had a museum of torture, which I was interested in, but not enough to pay the 5 euro (or 10 for Daniele and I) entrance fee. As we were leaving we saw part of a Ballet Recital going on in the square by the door to the city. It was adorable!

View from the top of Nocera Umbra

Monday we stopped at Spoleto on our way back to Rome. Spoleto is a much bigger city and features a castle / former prison on top and a 13th century bridge. Speleto is a perfect example of the medium sized town that I love in Italy. Not the big city like Rome or Florence, which are already big and constantly getting bigger as more people flock there for work. Not the tiny hill town that is almost abandoned as the houses crumble and young people flee to where they can get jobs or worse towns only being supported by tourism. This is a city with a large working class who mostly live just outside the city walls and a small tourism business to boot. Catia works in Spoleto and gave us great advice, to park by the escalators, take them all the way up (like 5 escalators), then walk down the city. The city offered a lot to see.

Rocca di Spoleto

Ponte delle Torri. The Bridge of Spoleto. Built in 13th century.

Photo album from these two days is online here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20120819UmbriaCousins

Sauce versus Gravy

There are some Italian-American's out there who have a thing for correcting people who say “sauce” and telling them it's called “gravy”. It's often accompanied by a (an even more grating) statement about how they say it that way because their family is Italian.

Before I get too ranty about this pet peeve of mine, I want to give a disclaimer. I understand how third (or so) generation Italian-Americans cling really heavily to their/our heritage. I myself have gone so far as to spend years re-learning the language forgotten in the generations in between and even re-emigrated back to the motherland. When our Italian ancestors first moved to America they were eager to become American and embraced the local culture, unfortunately not leaving much of the cool old stuff for the next generations.

Now, as for “Italians say gravy”. This is an absolutely preposterous statement. Italians speak Italian, not English. They say neither “sauce” nor “gravy” when referring to such things. If you are curious, the Italian word “sugo” translates closest. This word would be used for a tomato based sauce and anything of similar texture. Also for juice. There is also the word “salsa” which describes pestos and other thick sauces which you may want to add a little pasta water. Something like a pasta fagoli is actually considered a soup (zuppa) and the non-pasta elements are not distinguished with a different descriptor than the pasta, which should be a small shape (like a mini farfalla), by the way. Besides adding to the “soup” texture of the dish, the small pasta cooks faster which is important because it should be cooked in the rest of the soup. This process takes longer than cooking in boiling water. But I digress.

If you were to ask an actual Italian from Italy whether it is “sauce” or “gravy” they would be dumbfounded. Non-native speakers look to us native speakers for clarity on such acute differences. It would be like an Italian asking you which is the most American of two Italian words that mean almost the same thing.

So, is it “gravy” or is it “sauce”? I tend to agree with Merriam-Webster, Oxford's British and American Dictionaries. But I think Julia Child put it best, “A gravy without meat is just a sauce.” Which makes “Red Gravy” just “sauce” and is why I get annoyed when someone corrects my calling it “sauce” with, “we say gravy, we're Italian.” No, actually, it really is sauce.

If anyone guilty of this habit happens to be reading, I petition you to cease and desist. Besides having already established it is annoying, the claim of “Italian-ness” is unfounded, and the term is technically incorrect, I'll present another reason. Our Italian ancestors came to America without speaking English and had to learn quickly with likely little resources. It is understandable they did not learn the language perfectly, maybe not even the correct term for something as everyday for an Italian immigrant as 'sauce'. But it is a little more strange that their native-English speaking children would continue this mistake rather than learn the correct term. Then for these children or their children to take it further by insisting the wrong term is actually “how Italians say it”-- that takes some coglioni (the expression works better with fegato / liver, but I didn't think anyone would understand that). Therefore you should stop with this whole “Italians say gravy” thing because it pronounces your (and your ancestor's) ignorance more than your Italian-ness also someday you and I may be at a dinner party together and you don't want to unleash this rant in person.

End of Istanbul Trip

Istanbul post three of three

Daniele and I went to Istanbul back in 2012. I took 1,221 photos during the trip, which were so overwhelming I kept putting off dealing with them. But we finally tackled them and got the album down to the best 366 images. This is the last of three posts from this trip.

On our fourth full day, we got up early and walked to Fatih Mosque, in the Western District. This was the first great imperial mosque built after the conquest by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1470. It was rebuilt in 1766 after an earthquake, again 1782 after a fire and no longer has the same plan. We also saw the tombs of Mehmet and his wife.

Being once the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Istanbul has aqueducts. Unfortunately, Istanbul does not seem to hold its historical wonders in very much reverence. These stunning structures were marred with piles of garbage beneath the arches.

The Basilica Cistern I visited alone as well. It was built in 532 by Roman Emperor Justinian. It served as the water supply for the Great Palace (now gone) and the surrounding buildings. It was out of use and forgotten before the conquest by the Turks.

The Cistern is impressive at 65m wide, 143m long, and containing 336 columns (taken from ruined buildings). It once held 80,000 cubic meters of water delivered via 20km of aqueducts from a reservoir near the black sea.

It is dark inside and water drips on your head. People crowd the few interesting things to see: a few particular decorative columns, and a glass serpent structure brought in from Venice.

The Cistern was forgotten until it was rediscovered in 1545 by Petrus Gullius who was researching Byzantine antiquities. Locals said they could get water, and even fish, by lowering buckets in their basement floors (in fact there were some big fish down there). He asked around until he found a house were he accessed the Cistern through the basement. After rediscovered, the Turks used the cistern for a dumping ground for garbage and even bodies. It was eventually restored in 1955 and 1960 and 1985. In 1963, “James Bond: From Russia With Love” was filmed here. And finally in 1987 the city opened it to the public.

We then went to The Bazaar. I looked at some scarves and ceramic goods, but didn't buy.

And then it was time to start our journey back home. We checked out of hotel, took the tram and ferry to Kadakoy. Walked around with our bags, through the local market, had a late lunch. I got some jasmine tea balls that open to flowers in how water and we got some pistachio soap for Daniele's mother. We took the bus to airport, where we were delayed again. But we finally made it back home to Italy. Ready for Easter tomorrow!

Pictures from the whole trip (only the best 366): https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/5975883683758142577

Istanbul Continued

Istanbul post two of three

Daniele and I went to Istanbul back in 2012. I took 1,221 photos during the trip, which were so overwhelming I kept putting off dealing with them. But we finally tackled them and got the album down to the best 366 images. This is the second of three posts from this trip.

Our first full day in Istanbul we started with the Topkapi Palace, which took the whole morning. The complex of buildings is separated into different courts, each with more restricted access then the previous. All of the buildings are ornate, mostly decorated with tiles.

There are a lot of street vendors in Istanbul, many serve food. Grilled corn is common, in fact Italians sometimes call corn “grano turko” or Turkish Grain. Also snack breads, we tried some of these for a fast lunch today. One somewhat pretzel-like covered in sesame seeds and another that was bread-y like a bagel, but airy like a doughnut.

For the afternoon we crossed the Galata Bridge and went exploring through Karakoy. We saw the Galata Tower and this side of the “Golden Horn”. This area has almost no tourists compared to Sultanahmet.

We stopped at an outdoor cafe and I tried a Turkish coffee. My parent's had described to me how the coffee in Greece was thick, something you could as easily chew as drink. I expected this could be similar, possibly pretty gross, but definitely worth trying. I also thought I remembered a Turkish friend describing that Turkish coffee is made by adding powder to hot water directly, like we make instant coffee, but it's not like instant coffee, it's good, if you like it. At first is seemed like a slightly grainy espresso; it was served in an espresso sized cup. When I reached the end, I reached all the coffee grains in a thick mush. Now, I didn't know the etiquette of what to do here, or if I had not taken the coffee correctly up to this point to arrive here (it was not served with a spoon). Was I supposed to stir and distribute the grains throughout the drink? However, I did try to drink a bit of the mush. It tasted fine, like the coffee before it, except for the texture. The texture was a mouth-full of coffee grains and I couldn't finish the tiny cup. Daniele continued to make fun of me for trying it, since there is clearly no coffee better than Italian.

[Edit: I followed up later and asked a Turk: you are not supposed to drink/eat the grains. Oh, well.]

We went to Tunnel Square for dinner, to a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet Book. They had different maze plates, which I love. Even though Daniele picked it, once he got there he decided he didn't like it and refused to eat with me. I did not take kindly to this.

After we decided to walk home, which was pretty far, back across the bridge and everything. Probably should have taken the tram, my feet are killing me today!

Observation, Istanbul has lots of cats. Everywhere.

On Tuesday we started in the Blue Mosque. The mosque is divided into a tourist part, a lady part in the back, and the main center area for men to pray. Anyone entering had to take off their shoes and women have to cover their heads.

Aya Sophia is just across from the Blue Mosque. Daniele had already seen it so I went in alone (it is paid admission). This was a Catholic cathedral in Roman times that was converted to a mosque, and is now a museum. The original structure was very Byzantine in style, only the mosaics had been painted over in black (which made me want to cry) and there was large wood disks of Muslim symbols from the time it was a mosque.

After we walked North to the Spice Market where we bought tea. Then up the hill by the University and Suleymaniye Mosque near Beyzit Square and Mosque. We also stopped by Theodosius Forum, Little Aya Sophia, and finally the Hippodrome, where about 20 people offered to clean Daniele's shoes.

Pictures from the whole trip (only the best 366): https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/5975883683758142577

Leaving for Istanbul

Istanbul post one of three

Daniele and I went to Istanbul back in 2012. I took 1,221 photos during the trip, which were so overwhelming I kept putting off dealing with them. But we finally tackled them and got the album down to the best 366 images. This is the first of three posts from this trip.

Yesterday Daniele and I went out with his parents and their friends to Tor San Lorenzo for the birthday of Sergio, or the the 'New Pasquino'. He writes poems in strict roman dialect using this pen name. Pasquino was a 'talking' statue in Rome long ago.

The town is on the beach and there is a fish restaurant they go to there. The owner is a fisherman and used to just sell the fish, but then started to cook them up, too. We stayed here together last Easter and ate until we had to be rolled out. Sergio's father has a house near here, which is perfect for lethargic after-lunch activities.

That night I stayed with the Isidori's and Daniele worked a night shift. We left first thing for the airport. Unfortunately our fight was incredibly delayed. When we finally got on the plane, there was a problem with its computer and we had to wait longer on the runway for it to be fixed.

We arrived, gathered our things, and headed for Istanbul's city center. From this airport, we had to take a bus, to a ferry, to a tram. As we entered the ferry it started to rain, and was pouring the whole time-- in the stings your face way. So not the picturesque boat ride I hoped for.

Didn't get to do anything the first day because of rain and the late hour. We did go get some dinner and I had some very yummy hummus and felafel. We also bought a mix of baklava flavors (pistachio, nut, chocolate) from “Baklavaci Muhamed SAID”.

Pictures from the whole trip (only the best 366): https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/5975883683758142577

Abbazia delle Tre Fontane

On March 14, 2012 Daniele and I visited the Abbazia delle Tre Fontane. This is an abbey built on a site of three springs, the site of martyrdom of St. Paul.

This write-up and photos are from over a year ago, March 2012, but they never made it up. I'm trying to upload old pictures and the accompanying stories now with back dates so they are archived in order.

Today we continued our tour of Italian monasteries with the Abbazia delle Tre Fontane. The place is very beautiful and religiously important. This is the sight where the Romans martyred by beheading the apostle St. Paul on June 29, 67 AD.

You enter the monestary from the Arco di Carlo Magno (Arch of Charlemagne). Much of the original art work has faded because it dates to the 8th century.

Once inside there is an open courtyard with the main abbey (left) and the church of Santa Maria Scala Coeli (right). The Abbey is the largest structure. The church inside is not as fancy as the other two, this is where the nuns and monks perform their daily activities. It was build to the specifications of all San Benedetto monasteries, so the sun comes into the part of the building relevant for the activities prudent for that time of day.

Santa Maria Scala Coeli literally means ladder to the heavens in Latin and is the smallest of the three in the Monastery. It received this name because on this spot in 1138 San Bernardo, while celebrating a mass for the dead in the presence of Pope Innocent II, had a vision in ecstasy of angels leading souls from purgatory to heaven. The church itself is beautiful.

The church dedicated to St. Paul is down a small path. It is not incredibility big, but it is very ornate. You enter from the side and immediately notice the sound of running water. On your left is an altar for St. Peter, on the right an alter for St. Paul. Each has beautiful artwork. Straight ahead are three niches of black marble for the three fountains. They are at different heights but they fit seamlessly into the church architecture. Behind the middle fountain is another altar, but it was closed. In the center floor is a mosaic representing the four seasons taken from Ostea Antica (ruins close to Rome that are similar to Pompeii). Above the entrance door is a plaque dating to the martyrdom stating that this is the place there the apostle died. Like many Italian structures, this building was build on the ruins of another, that was another. The current structure dates from 1599. Every piece in this church has history and significance, they have it all on their website [http://www.abbaziatrefontane.it].

Like Sacro Speco, these monks are Benedictine order, who follow the teachings of San Benedetto. Specifically they are the sub-order of trappisti. There are many orders but the other popular one in Italy is Franciscan, who follow the teachings of San Francisco.

The moto of San Benedetto is “prega e lavora” or “pray and work”. They hand produce and sell many goods for the income of the monastery, including honey, jam, beer, liqueur, chocolate, as well and clothing, gold, wood goods, all sorts of stuff. This particular monastery is famous for their chocolate and having just tried some, I wish I had bought more! They are also known for goods with eucalyptus, and in fact the grounds of the monastery were covered in eucalyptus trees, as well as olive trees, and other herbs. I saw a bay leaf plant that had grown into a tree! Like Sacro Speco they sell a variety of honeys, but a few more options here. I picked up some eucalyptus honey and some pollen to add to the walnut honey we got before (so much delicious honey!). I'm excited about the pollen, it's a jar of little grains of yellow pollen. You are supposed to eat a spoon of it in the morning for added energy.

I mentioned they make booze. Here they make all sorts liqueurs from herbs, eucalyptus, chocolate, and citrus. Their brothers in Germany make beer and have gotten pretty famous for it. I was looking at a shelf of some of these crafted brews when I saw one I recognized as a particularly delicious beer available in many US bars, probably just mixed in, right? Nope Chimay is made by Trapisti monks. I picked up a color label I've never tasted – hope it's even better than the red!

Full album from this day trip:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221349198606775660/albums/5868250225318597217

Zio Amato in Anzio

This is an older post that never made it online. I'm putting it up now with a back-dated post-time. Since this blog is, primarily, my own travel diary.

Yesterday Daniele and I went to visit his father's brother Amato and his wife Cinzia for lunch. I had not met them before. They live a bit south of Rome by the beach.

Since I have never been to the area and it was a beautiful day we arrived early to walk around on our own. Anzio is an adorable beach/fishing town and we had a great time walking its seaside paths. There was also some type of celebration going on (or maybe just your typical Sunday in Anzio?). I bought a small bag of pistachios from a farmer's stand that we munched on while walking around.

The port was busy with boats that seemed to have just come into town and were sorting and selling all of their fish.

Ancient Roman Emperor Nero had a seaside home here. It is located right between the sea and the park-like paths that skirt around the beach.

Daniele's aunt and uncle were so nice. They welcomed us in their house with some prosecco before taking me on a tour of their large apartment. Amato has a patio in the front and a small garden in the back. He grows a few palms and fruit trees including a cherry, lemon, and pomegranate. The pomegranate tree only made one fruit last year and he used it to make liqueur (following the same process as limoncello). Amato collects antiques and all of his furnishings are beautiful antique pieces.

Amato and Cinzia made special vegetarian dishes just for me. And then after lunch, in true Italian fashion, or at least in Daniele's family, we enjoyed some rounds of cards.

The pictures from this day are buried about halfway down my catch-all album for the 3-month trip to Rome I took January to April 2012:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/6010435566436983425