Food

O.K. who can live here without reporting on the food....

I realise that it has been a very long time since my last post, but a recent trip to the "European Market" in Portoferraio reminded me that I had to write!

The photos tell the story...

No, this is not our weekly market but rather a band of travellers who go all over Europe together. They make a pit stop in Elba once a year and how wonderful it is to see them coming!

There were food stands from every country (even Guiness from Ireland, on tap!!!).

Having lived in Bermuda for over 25 years, one comes to appreciate fresh fruit - yes, the type that is not floating on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic ocean for a few days and put on the shelf at the store about a week after that. Just fresh, just picked, put it on your table right now and eat it type fruit!!!
We have come to enjoy the many things in Italy, but the food and freshness of the food tops any other perk!

"Give us this day, our daily bread..." takes on new meaning! I recall always trying to search out the best bread in Bermuda (you know the shelf loaf with the least preservatives, additives, colours, etc). I am not sure I ever found it but always settled for something "organic", which made me feel good, in the hopes it would be digestible. In Italy, you must go to the store every day as there are no preservatives in the bread. Unfortunately, as amazingly fresh as it is the first day, it is equally stale the second day! Eating fresh does have its disadvantages!

Alas, one cannot forget the desserts...oh, the desserts! Need I say more?

"Gelato", is made from milk (not cream) so you can eat one every day, if you can find a true "gelateria". I can always tell a real gelato from one that has hidden cream in it. Just walk outside on a warm day and count to 10 and if it has not completely started running down the cone, it has more than just milk in there! Try it out! You can't beat the real gelato!

My only complaint about food in Italy is the amount of salt that goes into the dishes. It is considered "normale" (normal)! Isn't salt intake linked to high blood pressure, which is linked to having a temper, which most Italians will admit they have? You just have to learn to drink a glass of water before bed and take another glass with you for your nightstand.

Happy eating! Mangia! Mangia!

Spring has Sprung!!!

Wow, spring has sprung in Tuscany...now I feel like I can enjoy the outdoors once again. The visitors are arriving, the flowers are everywhere and there is no rain in sight! The colour of the water is turning blue with the sun rising overhead and the evenings are getting longer with spectacular evening sunsets. Blue skys every day with cool evening nights. Absolutely magnificent! I have never seen so many flowers in my life (along the roads, the walking paths). Wild orchids grow mainly on this side of the island. Red poppies are everywhere in large fields. The colours are truely amazing. I guess that is the gift God sends after a cold winter...pure joy!

Beach trips are always an adventure. The beaches here are much more crowded than in Bermuda but Europeans, on the whole, don't have any concept of space. It doesn't matter if you sit down a few feet from someone else because, just as you do, someone new comes along and squeezes right in between. Then they proceed to remove most, if not all, of their clothing and speak very loudly (sometimes reading the entire newspaper to their spouse) and lighting a cigar or cigarette. They are just used to enjoying life and not worrying about anyone else. My children are not quite used to the topless bathers yet, and quite often my husband has to tell them to stop staring. They are boys, so you can 't fault them for taking a peak. Nudity does not bother me at all, in fact, I don't even notice it any more. The other day, I couldn't help but notice, however, the 80 year old woman go down near the water onto the rocks with her husband and proceed to remove all of her clothing, yes, bottoms too! I thought to myself, "I hope I become like her when I get to be her age".

Settling In

Well, the kids are settled into their new "scuola materna" run by three nuns who are certainly in charge! The kids wear "grembuile" (aprons - or dresses!) over their clothes. I never thought I would get my eldest into one of these but on the first day of school he buttoned it up and off he went! The school is wild, compared to the British structure they had in Bermuda (you certainly cannot compare English and Italian philosophies on teaching) but one thing is for sure, the kids love it here. I would dare to say that there is little or no discipline in Italy. The kids know how to get what they want and they get it each and every time. They eat tons of "caramelle", so much so, I don't know how their teeth don't fall out before they make it to elementary school. It is a big free for all in the classroom, kids snatch, hit to get what they want, but the teachers only scold them when they do it and show them how they have hurt the other child's feelings. This in turn makes the child feel bad and they learn (over time) to not do something that will upset a friend. It is a very different philosophy to what I ever imagined assigning to my children. However, it certainly makes you happy as a parent to see your children crying on a Saturday morning when they cannot go to school!

Settling in for me is a bit hard to say...I have been struggling with the winter winds and rains. Try going from two weeks of winter in Bermuda to 5 months of winter, mostly inside and even in then, the house it is quite cold. I have really struggled to the demise of my husband! How could one not want to live in such a beautiful place, only for the weather? It is certainly difficult for my husband to understand, but even more difficult for me to wrap my head around. It is the main reason I have been in Bermuda for so long! They say, however, that this winter is not a typical winter here in Isola D'Elba. It has been extremely cold throughout Europe over the last few months. Perhaps we moved just in time to see the effects of global climate change and the beginning of a new ice age!

I have met a lot of lovely women here but only understand about 30% of their "chiacchierare" (name for the sounds women make here when they speak like chickens in a henhouse - no one gets a turn, you just all talk together and over one another randomly and very loudly). They celebrate every "festa" (usually church festivals) with a selection of things to do for the children (a recital for Christmas, a party for Carnivale, etc.) Everything in Italy is about and for the children. So, overall, I am slowly settling in and really am looking forward to spring!

The church bells are ringing in the background as I write and this reminds me of why we are truly here. The culture is slowly revealing itself to us in many ways. We learned the other day that you do not call a nun a "sorrella" (sister), but rather a "suora" and you do not call a priest a "padre" (father), but rather a Don...yes, as in the mafia! When someone dies in the village, the church bells toll very slowly and for a very long time (perhaps they ring one bell for each year of their life? - I must ask the priest!) When someone is born in the village, the priest asks the parents to bring the baby to church at a few days old and he holds the childup in the sky to present to everyone the newest member of the community. It kind of reminded me of the scene from the Disney movie "The Lion King" where Mufasa (the daddy lion) held up his newborn son, Simba, on a rock high above the Serengeti plains to present him to all the other animals. It is nice to see that each life in the village is important and valued and celebrated.

We finally saw Christmas, for the first time, through the eyes of the church. There were no santas displayed or tons of toys about. We were shocked at what very little there was to choose from for our children. The most prevalent thing here was the birth of Jesus. There were "presepios" (nativity scenes) everywhere you went and what was really neat was the kids were so interested to see the animals and Mary and Joseph and everytime, Matteo, my youngest, would look up at me and say "Jesus is not born yet". What a change from the culture across the pond! Where did we go wrong over there?

From Bermuda to Elba

Well, we have arrived....



It was a long (24 hour) journey from Bermuda to Elba. 2 cats, 2 kids, 10 pieces of luggage and a husband who did a lot of carrying! We left Bermuda on a rainy afternoon after spending 13 consecutive years there (for me 25 years).

The cats were great...only about 10 meows from Bermuda to JFK and in the Chilli's restaurant at the airport, in the taxi transferring to another teminal and from JFK to Pisa, the taxi ride to the port town of Piombino and on the ferry ride across to Elba. I am not sure I can say the same for the kids...Luca, the eldest (5 1/2 years), threw up on landing in Pisa. I was holding it in my hands when the stewardess came with a few paper towls. I told her I would need quite a bit more!

It was the most difficult decision on this road of life for Scott and I thus far. Languages for the children, an opportunity to freelance and most importantly, hopefully, a place we can finally call 'home' is what drove us. Some people call home where family is, others call home where the heart is...thus Elba. Like a dart to a map, we decided on an island an hour by ferry off the coast of Tuscany. We had only been here once before, Scott and I, to check out the schools and get a feel for the place. You get a great feel for somewhere after being there only one week...the food, the pace of life, the conveniences, and most importantly, the people. From our Bermuda home on the western coast of the island to our new rental home also facing west, this time over the distant mountains, the sunsets are bellisima. So far, it feels very right!