Recipes, Ceramics, & Paintings

Day 38: May 1st, 2014

Today was the Italian equivalent of Labor Day here in the states. It meant that nothing was open and we ate lots more good food. It wasn't  much of an all day affair as Liberation Day was, but that does not mean that there was not good food. And plenty of it.

We slept in, of course, and then around noon we headed over to Carlo and Sara's parent's house to have lunch. It consisted of multiple courses of meat, bread, pasta,vegetables, milk, Coke, and Gelato. It was delicious as usual! 

After the food we came back to Anna's and rested and played games with Gerrardo and Filomena. It was lots of fun and I think that Gerrardo is addicted to Jenga. Jeff taught him how to play. He got a game set with many different games in it, and one was Jenga. The problem is that the blocks are small and of varying size, which proves tricky for the game. All in all it was a fun night, especially because Jeff never lost Jenga and Amber won Chinese Checkers.

Day 39: May 2nd, 2014

Today was another relaxing day. Those seem to be the status quo these days, and we are not complaining. We got up at 11am, maybe noon, and proceeded to not do much. Later in the afternoon, Filomena asked us if we wanted to go for a walk and take 11 year old cousin Filomena to her dance class and then meet up with Anna at the salon where she was getting her hair done. It was fun to sit there and see how the ladies interacted and how the children of the hair dressers ran around. Even though we couldn't understand anything it was still fun. After a while we decided to brave the rain (it seems like a constant fixture in Formicola, which we are assured is NOT normal) and go for a walk. The rain was pretty steady for our 10 minute walk around the majority of the town, but we had a trusty umbrella so we weren't worse for the wear.

Later that evening Anna started making dinner, and she decided to make gnocci. The best part is that she let us help! As you can see in these pictures we didn't screw it up and it was good as usual!

Gnocci

Mound of Flour- About as big as my hand and mound it

Make Crater- Fill with about 2 Tbs. of oil and about 1-1.5 Tbs of salt

Add warm water to Crater and start to incorporate the water, oil, salt and flour, keeping the crater intact.

Once middle is mostly solid start kneading in the sides.

Knead for about 5 mins or until the dough is solid, malleable, and smooth. It should not be wet or dry.

If wet, add flour. If dry add a tiny bit of water.

Cut into small pieces about the size of an egg

Roll into strands with the thickness of your index finger.

Cut those into tootsie roll size pieces.

Roll over a grooved board or fork to make the ball.

Let dry for 5-6 hours (shorter time is fine, the longer you wait the better).

Add to boiling water until the right consistency

VARIATIONS: Use half boiled and mashed potatoes, half flour. Add spinach or pumpkin to boiling water

Anna also gave us some other great recipes:

Tomato Sauce

Wash lots of tomatoes

Put in boiling water and cook until they are very soft

Put in strainer and push out insides (or use machine). Skin will stay in strainer.

Put insides in to a canning Jar (medium to large canning jar)- Add spoonful of salt

Seal can closed by wrapping in a little towel and boil for 30 mins

Put in dark cupboard for at least one day.

Use within the year.

Carbonara

In stock pot- add fresh garlic, a little onion and EVOO

Cook till soft and brown

Add finely chopped meat (Bacon, chicken. . .) cook for 3 mins

In separate pot cook desired pasta- Cook and strain water

To pasta pot add mixture from first pot and 3 scrambled eggs

Cook on med-low heat till eggs are cooked.

Optional: Add cheese, salt and/or pepper

Bolognaise

Ground Hamburger

EVOO

Fresh chopped onion

Cook till meat and onion are brown

Add cooked noodles and tomato sauces 

Day 40: May 3rd, 2014 

Amalfi Coast!

When we woke up today we didn't have any definite plans because the forecast on the coast was bad the night before, but we were in for a surprise. Carlo called and said that the weather on the coast was supposed to be good that morning and that in the afternoon it would get bad. We quickly got ready and headed out.

On the drive we were finally able to see most of Vesuvius.

It is kind of terrifying how close it is to the city of Napoli. Carlo was talking to us and saying that the geologists are saying that there is a good chance that it could erupt again very soon, even within the next year. We shall see how good their prediction skills are, we guess. But what that means is that if you want to see Pompeii you better head out soon because it will probably take them a while to dig it out again!

We eventually got to the first city which was a iconic little village set on the hill above the bay. It was beautiful and full of little shops. Amber has wanted to go the Amalfi coast for a long time and she was so happy be there because we were able to make our only souvenir purchases of the trip: A clay nativity and a painting. It is a beautiful hand painted picture, exactly what we wanted, and we are excited to get it home and hang in our future home. 

We then continued down the winding road along the coast to the next town. While were driving we spotted a small tornado that was forming off the coast. Jeff thought it was awesome. Amber was a little terrified. It came close to the mountain, but we don't know if it ever made contact or caused any serious damage.

This was only the beginning of the storm though. As we got lunch from a supermarket and proceeded to eat it on the pier, the horizon and sky got darker and darker and the wind got stronger.  

When the wind really stared to pick up we decided that it was time to go and we started heading to the car. We were too late. It started to rain, and rain hard.

It was reminiscent of the rain we experienced in Pompeii. Carlo and Fabio both wanted to get out of the rain and were worried for us, but both of us were kind of enjoying the rain. Jeff really wanted to run around and get soaked. I guess the 4 year old in him was alive and well that day.

We then proceeded to drive back for Formicola through the rain, and again the rain stopped once we left Napoli. In the evening we had more good food and jenga playing! All in all it was a great day and we are happy with our purchases!

The Best PIZZA In The World

Naples

Day 37: April 30th, 2014

Today we are finally heading to Napoli to get the best Pizza in the world. Carlo and Francessa are taking us because Carlo got his bachelors and masters degrees in Napoli.

We had to stop and try Naples famous crossants at the best pastry shop in town! The luxuries of having a native showing us around :) Made with ricotta cheese!

We started by stopping by a small church that was built in the 1700's by one of the princes of Napoli and is absolutely beautiful. The Museo Capella Sansevero.  The prince was a very smart and accomplished man who dabbled in many things and is said to have designed many of the architectural elements of the interior ornamentation and the mixture for the paint. He must have known what was doing because there has been very little restoration work on the paint and it is still very vibrant. The real reason that we went was to see the statues in the main hall. Needless to say they are magnificent. The Veiled Christ was the main attraction and it is magnificent. It is so lifelike and the detail is stunning. It is something to see, so everybody, put in on your bucket list.

There was another amazing statue that represented disillusionment. It is of a man taking a fishing net off himself showing that he was taking off the bounds of the world. It is amazing because the net looks real, except for the fact that it is white and made of marble. There were other beautiful statues, but those were the 2 most captivating ones.

Then we proceeded down some stairs to where the Anatomical Machines are kept. They aren't mechanized so I don't know why they are called machines, but nonetheless they are amazing. They still don't know how it was done, but it is a very realistic representation of the circulatory system of both a male and female. They are the skeletons of a man and a woman with the circulatory system on top of them. They are colored according to the arterial and venous blood flow and it is very realistic. And to think it was done in 1800's.

Some fun streets and sights along the way:

Next we headed to the best Pizza place in the world. And it was. Italian Pizza is better than American pizza. Stop. That is all there is too it. And this place was so good. We don't know exactly what was so much better, but it was just better in every way. The crust was fantastic. The sauce was delicious and the combination was addicting. So when you are in Napoli visiting The Museo Capella Sansevero, stop by Sorbello pizzeria. There will most likely be a line, but it is worth it. And just stick to the plain Margarita or  plain sauce one. They are the best and they are only €3 a piece. €3 for the best pizza in the world. It can't get much better than that. Oh, and these are not small either. 1 will make anybody stuffed, and could easily be shared by 2 people.

Another thing Naples is famous for is their hand made nativity sets! There is a long beautiful street dedicated to them :)

Subways here are awesome! We rode the subway to the main square of Napoli and every city in the world should do their subway systems like Napoli. They are beautiful and could be classified as art galleries. Here is a video of one of them, and all the others are just a beautiful/ trippy. Napoli is pretty cool.

We then strolled through the main square of the city and found ourselves on the edge of the Med looking over the bay at Vesuvius. The only problem was the Napoli should be charged with fraud. They say that it is the city of sun and every day since we have been in Italy it has been cloudy and rainy. We still have not seen Vesuvius without cloud covering the top. Hopefully Friday when we head to the Amalfi coast we will see it in all its historically terrifying  glory.

 An out door bookstore street

 Spanish Street

 Galleria Umberto 

 GELATO!!!

 Main Square 

 Amber's first time touching the Mediterranean Sea!

After our hour and a half relaxation session on the coast where we looked at the clouds and Amber broke into a laughing fit as she recited Rocket Man lines to herself. It was funny for everybody because everybody else laughed at Amber's inability to control herself. We then rode the train back to a city close to Formicola where Carlo's dad picked us up and took us back to Anna's house.

After a short rest we then headed out with Anna and her family and her brother Miguel's family to have more pizza in celebration of Anna and her husband Antonio's 19th anniversary. (Mind you, at this point it is 9pm and Miguel and Rosa have a 4 and 6 year old. This is normal. Dinner is usually at 8:30 and the children are up with the family till around 11.) Needless to say both of us were not in the mood for food because we were still full from eating the world's best pizza for lunch. subsequently, we ordered a small plate to share, which was met with strange looks from the other's at the table. Those strange looks meant that when everybody else got their pizza's Jeff started getting slices from everybody because they felt bad. If they only knew.

Jeff and Antonio 

After we were stuffed again, we went to Miguel and Rosas house for dessert which consisted of 2 cakes, and many little treats with soda for everybody. By this point it was after 11. The good part was that the cakes were good and so was the company so no complaints here. The interesting thing is that Italians don't like dry cake, and not the American definition of dry. A moist cake to them would be dry. So to fix this problem the soak the cake in a sweet syrup. This is not our favorite, but the other cake, which was more of a layered pastry was delicious. If we both weren't so full we would have enjoyed it a bit more.