What’s happened recently? Well in no particular order…
We took a day trip up to Bracciano with another family to see the renowned Christmas Village that they’ve got there. We didn’t see much of a “Christmas Village”, but there was a market area set up with about 20-30 vendors for random stuff: pottery, wine, antiques, crafts, and that sort of stuff. We saw what appeared to be a renaissance festival, outside the walls of a real castle (which happens to be the place that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married, if anyone is interested). We had lunch at a local restaurant. Well, we were going to have lunch but ordered antipasti, expecting to get a small appetizer. They covered the table with food; everything from bruschetta to some sort of octopus dish to a plate of different cheeses, a tray of mussels, different kinds of pancetta, prosciutto….. you name it, they brought it out. Incredible food, both in quantity and quality. The town is on the banks of a volcanic lake, so the fish is freshly caught – we took a walk on the shore of the lake and started an informal “Rock Relocation Program” for all of the lava rocks covering the shore. That job’s unfinished, and that’s one task we’re looking forward to going back to and working on some more. Any help you folks want to provide would be welcome.
On the way up to Bracciano, we saw signs for a Texas BBQ place, but I haven’t been able to find it on the internet. We’re going to drive back up there specifically to look for the signs, and if that place exists, I’ll post a review and comparison against real Texas barbecue. I don’t have very high expectations, but I’m looking forward to trying it.
Over Thanksgiving, we went truffle hunting. This was organized by the community liaison folks at Becca’s work; there was a tour of a winery, then we went out for a demonstration of truffle hunting. Basically, we followed a guy while his dog sniffed around the bases of trees. Wimpy (the dog) found a couple of black truffles… if you want to know what a black truffle looks like, think of a black rock about half the size of a tennis ball, give it a light mushroomy smell, and cover it in dog slobber. Buon appetito! The hunt was followed up by a meal (featuring truffles in every course) in the restaurant up the hill. The food wasn’t bad, but knowing that dog slobber is a featured ingredient in every bite of food changed the meal a bit for me, and maybe my sense of taste has been dulled by all the junk food I’ve eaten over the years, but… well, while the food was good, would truffles be worth $60 each? Not in my estimation. I’m certain that there are people for whom that would be a worthwhile expense; I’m just not one of them.
It snowed yesterday. It’s only supposed to snow once every twenty years, and this is the second time in two years. There was about a ½ inch accumulation, and it was gone by bedtime. It was apparently just barely enough to make people forget how to drive. I normally go down to meet the kids’ bus at 3:35, and end up waiting for about 5 minutes for it to get here. Yesterday, the bus didn’t get here until 4:20, and the kids said that they left school early. Becca’s commute home was a lot of fun, to hear her tell it. All I know is that it took her almost 2 hours to drive 8 miles. Last winter, it snowed in February or March, so I don’t know if that means that we’ll get a bunch of snow this year, or if we won’t see any more snow the whole time we’re here. One odd thing about the snow: it was a thunderstorm. I’ve never seen that before, but Becca heard the thunder at her office too, so I don’t think I’m hallucinating.
We didn’t bring a lot of Christmas decorations and stuff with us, since we packed out in June and July – at the time, it didn’t seem that important. All of it’s in storage. Well, not all of it, we brought one tub of ornaments, and one tub of wrapping supplies. Becca ended up buying a tree while at the base in Naples earlier this week, so we’ve at least got a tree, and all of the presents will be well wrapped.
That’s it for now. Hope everyone’s holiday season is filled with peace, joy, and lots of goodies. Ciao!
