Life of Pi

For my highest English class, Advanced 3, I proposed reading a book through out the course instead of bringing in short readings and the students really liked the idea. So back in October the students brought in some suggestions and in the end we couldn't decide between Life of Pi and The Giver.

We ended up flipping a coin to decide which book to read and the lucky winner was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. 

When we chose the book, I wasn't even aware that the movie was coming out, and I also hadn't realized that it was so popular. I had heard of it before and heard it was good so I was ok with reading it in class. 

The book starts with a prologue that leaves you with the idea that the whole story might even be actually based on real life events, however it's highly unlikely.  The beginning is quite slow and I would say a little difficult to get into, but once you start it's hard to put down. 

Even though the majority of the book takes place on a boat and you feel like there are only so many things that can happen when you're stranded in the middle of the ocean, the story moves along and is interesting to read. Many of my students complained that they were tired of reading and reading and reading about the life boat, fishing, catching rain water, staying away from the tiger, that the story got very boring. This is completely understandable especially if you must read slower than usual and over a few months it feels as if the story just drags on. 

I was frustrated with the ending, because I was hoping for something much for climatic. When I finished the book I felt short-handed, like I wanted a sequel to find out what happens to the main character afterwards. So many pages of reading about life on a boat, just to finish the story so abruptly with no solid conclusion was disappointing. 

I would recommend this book for a light, enjoyable read, simply for pleasure. 

Attempting to Snowboard

I have been terrible about posting new blogs and I apologize. I will try to do better! This post is long over due but it's never too late! 

Back in December, Luca took me into the Apennine Mountains in Northern Tuscany to go snowboarding for the first time. I had never been skiing/snowboarding in actual mountains before, my only experience had been the big hills of Minnesota which doesn't seem like such a comparison. 

I had also never been snowboarding. I had had many friends promise that they would take me snowboarding and teach me this cool looking, popular sport, but no one ever lived up to their promise, except Luca.  

I had been told many times before that you need more than just one day to learn. You need to be patient. You will fall, and fall again, and again, and again. It will hurt. It will be painful. You wont' be able to walk the next day. Etc. etc. etc. I had heard it all before ..... and it was definitely all true, even though I thought I would and could do better. 

I spent almost the whole day on the bunny hill. It was frustrating since the hill isn't long enough to even get a good trial run in. When you think you actually are getting the hang of things, the hill ends and you have to go back up to the top, work on standing up, making your way through all the other beginners, and then going just enough to stay on your feet for 5 seconds. 

However, at the end of the day, I was able to make it down a blue run (which here is our green, and thankfully Luca told me that, because it would have been a terrible mistake to go down a green run!) even though I probably didn't have any proper form. 

And I'll admit that at the end of the day after having fallen so many times, I was in tears from falling on bruises. My knees were bruised, my butt was bruised, I couldn't raise my arms, it killed to walk stairs, and I felt like my wrists were going to fall off. 

I haven't decided yet if the next time we go, I'll grab a pair of skis which I feel totally comfortable on, or try to conquer the snowboard again! 

Death Comes to Pemberley

I was so excited when I received a Kindle for Christmas! I was eager to buy a good book for the plane ride back home and I decided upon Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. The description said that it was a cross between a murder mystery and Pride and Prejudice.  I thought that was a loose description, but it was actually quite literal. 

To be honest I have never read Pride and Prejudice, but have also been a fan of the film and am willing to watch it on any sort of whim so my only knowledge of the story comes from Kiera Knightly and Matthew McFadyen. It was fun to read a book and have the Bennet family, Bingley family, and of course the infamous Darcys return. 

It was a light, easy, read and very enjoyable. I would recommend this book, but only if you want to read about a fictitious continuation of life in Pemberley with our lovable characters from Jane Austen. 

Holiday Festivities Have Begun

It has been quite the start to the month of December. Luca and I put up our first Christmas tree together just a few days ago. We went to the large local grocery store just outside of town to get a nice big fake plastic tree ( a tree is better than no tree). His parents were kind and lent us some of their old decorations  and they remind me of my mom's old ornaments that were passed down to her. We stuck to my family's tradition of having pizza and putting the tree. Luca tackled making a deep dish pizza by hand, and I have to say it turned out delicious enough for seconds! 

Then this weekend we had the annual "Cooking Contest." A fun contest between friends, however taken quite seriously. This year there were two categories, has everyone had decided it was just too easy to win a whole contest with a dessert. You could make an "antipasto"(appetizer) "primo piatto" (first dish such as pasta or risotto) or a "secondo piatto" (second dish of meat) and of course a dessert. 

Luca and I both participated in both categories.

 Luca made Paccheri Rusticano, large round noodles stuffed with a leek, sausage, ricotta filling topped with beschemel and placed in the oven to make a delicious pasta bake. I made gorgonzola chicken cooked up with some white wine, rosemary, and olive oil, tossed in melted sweet gorgonzola and sprinkled with green peppercorns. For dessert Luca made molten chocolate cakes, and I attempted my first cheesecake ever- brownie cheesecake with a chocolate ganache. 

There were 15 people at the contest, however 8 people were there just to judge, because we couldn't have those cooking voting with biased opinions ;) 

Appetizers 

Matteo introduced Corn Dogs with French Fries to Italians
homemade and delicious!

The picture may not be the best but Barbar's "Sformato"
of potatoes, bacon, and cheese

Not pictured: Giani's Pastry Puffs filled with prosciutto cotto, zucchini, and cheese.
Primi Piatti 

"Paccheri Rusticano" Luca's pasta bake, the picture doesn't
give it justice  

"Orecchiette broccoli e bacon" 

Lorenzo's "Pasta Risottato" pasta prepared like risotto
with heavy cream and spinach

Not Pictured: Leopoldo's Vegetarian Cannoli with cauliflower , nutmeg, and cream
Secondi Piatti 

"Spezzatino di Pollo alla Gorgonzola" - My chicken 

"Triple Chicken" - Vittoria made three types of chicken
Curry, Almond, and Mint

Desserts

Matteo's Classic Italian Tiramisù

The 4 German girls who were visiting made a Macedonia
Fruit Salad

Brownie cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache

Not Pictured: Luca's Chocolate Molten Cakes, the German girls Apple Crumble, and Vin Brûlée. 

And there was the judging. The guests who took part of the jury were each given a piece of paper with all the listed dishes. They had to wait until the very end to vote. Once handed in Paola sat down and added up all the votes and it was announced that Luca won first place for the  Main Dish category which also means a very nice dinner out at Osteria Broccaindosso, and my cheesecake won first place for the Dessert category! Luca and I both won and are becoming one exceptionally culinary family! 

Chocolate Galore

It's that time of a year again, the Ciccoshow has come to Bologna. Every year in November usually around the 13- 18th, the main square, Piazza Maggiore, is filled with stands of well known chocolatiers from Italy. 

It attracts a large crowd, everyone carrying bags of truffles, drinking hot chocolate, or enjoy chocolate covered strawberries and waffles. 

The chocolate is good and unique, I enjoyed trying a honey and milk chocolate truffle, coconut, cinnamon, and bronte pistachios along with of course the good ol' dark chocolate and milk chocolate. After about 3 chocolates its enough to make you feel sick, but everything always looks so good!  

If you're lucky you might even get a few free 

samples.

Fernando de Noronha

Our honeymoon came to an end with four relaxing days on the archipelago, Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha. It is a beautiful, small island, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with what are claimed to be the best beaches in Brazil, and we agree! 

Since the island is an archipelago site, there are many rules and restrictions, one being that only 460 visitors can be on the island at a time because of the fragile ecosystem. After we arrived in our small plane with quite a bumpy ride, we had to pay a large environmental tax, which increases by the number of days you stay. We paid around $100 for 4 days. 

The first day, we thought that we could get by for the next few days without a dune buggy, the most common mean of transportation on the island. That was a mistake- the island was much bigger than we had anticipated, and spent a good time walking along the coast. However we were able to visit many beaches we wouldn't have seen otherwise. And in the end we rented an old dune buggy. 

The island offers many activities like scuba diving, snorkeling, and boat trips. We took a boat trip that toured the entire coast of the island, stopped for snorkeling, and we saw hundreds of dolphins! We also went snorkeling with a guide who showed us turtles over 100 years old, lobsters, and all sorts of tropical fish. 

These four days were very relaxing and fun, however despite the beauty, it is very expensive. Everything must be imported and so it was difficult not eat for less an $20 a meal a person.  It was also possible that a restaurant wouldn't have half the items on the menu because they hadn't arrived yet. 

This was the perfect way to end our honeymoon! 

Northern Coast of Brazil

While we were planning our honeymoon, we thought it would be fun to rent a car and drive along the northern coast to see all the beaches and not be typical tourists. However after doing some research we discovered that it would be rather difficult and could potentially be dangerous. So we booked a 4 day tour with Jeri Off Road,  to see the famous sand dunes which the north is known for. It was an absolute blast! 

We flew into Fortaleza, and our guide, Paolo, picked us up at the airport in his big white 4X4 ford truck. We drove 4 hours to Jericoacoara, a small town with a large surfing/kite surfing community. Jericoacoara is actually part of a national park, so there are no paved roads and there are no street lamps.  It's very picturesque town with very kind, laid back people. Apparently, on Sunset Hill you can seen the emerald flash. We watched the sunset and unfortunately didn't see it.  

After spending two nights in Jericoacoara we got back in our 4X4 with Paolo and drove along the coast,  "off roading" it to the Delta do Parnaiba. Along the way we stopped to see seahorses, take a boat trip, and watch the sunset again from the dunes. Our guide was a crazy driver, and we rarely understood what was going on so it was quite funny when we were shuffled out of the car and placed in a boat, and later told to get out of the boat and walk across crab filled mud to the coast not knowing what why. 

  The following day we continued onto Caburè, which was really just a stop on the long journey to the national park of Lençois Marenhenses. Another park full of sand dunes. For part of the year the spaces between the dunes are filled with water from the rain. The dunes had been full until July, the beautiful natural green and aquamarine pools, but after a drought the water dried up quickly and when we were there in September only 2 pools remained. The views were spectacular. I had never seen anything like it before.