That Black and White Ball-Forza Azzurri!

(Foto da Monia Magari) Italy's victory tonight over the German team secures them a place in finals of the Campionato Europeo di Calcio! They'll be going up against Spain on Sunday. If you have ever been in Italy when the Azzurri are playing it's sure to be a memory that will always shape that trip. The energetic buzz the day of the game, the tricolor flags on display. More flags are flown during a national soccer game than any government holiday I can think of. The bars fill up with folks who want to experience the agony and the ecstasy of the game together. In these modern days of Maxi-schermi, Maxi-screens, bars in the squares set up a screen so that revellers, i tifosi, can come to cheer the team on. When a goal is scored the roar of the crowd can be heard from the piazzas, the open windows of houses cooling off from the hot sunny days, horns from passing cars, trumpets sound; it surpasses Superbowl Sunday at my jock relative's house. The energy charges through the air, prickles up the the hair on my skin, sends goosebumps up my arms. In this year of government uncertainty, economic challenge, radical taxation and pension changes, natural disaster, it seemed that people needed this experience more than ever. As the cars zoom up and down the Via Nazionale, honking horns, waving flags, celebrating, it seems like it is more of a sense relief. Italia still has it, tonight it was David to the Goliath of Germany's favored team, it beat the odds and came out on top. Maybe this is what everyone needed to feel tonight. That Italia can win, no matter what the odds are that are stacked against it. Tonight Italy is celebrating being winners-Watch out Spain!

I Can't Believe They Ate the Whole Thing !

Well, what do you think? In the end we had 15 guest and ourselves. We had leftovers all the same and our inn guest Judy Testa and her local friend , Teri, who took the following pictures helped us out with leftovers. We had already sent a few plates home with some of our guests on Thanksgiving eve as well as a few jars of quince jam!!


Final menu:

Pumpkin Leek soup with Barley

Roast Turkey with Sage and Herb stuffing

Baked broccoli

Cranberry with candied kumquat and ginger chutney

Regular Cranberry relish, Pumpkin Crostata with a Gingersnap Crust served with a dollop of whipped cream. Homemade white and whole grain rolls.

We put all five tables end to end and set about with the task of creating an authentic Thanksgiving dinner. Our company included the diligent electrician Giulio Moretti, who helped us create our incredibly up to date lighting system, with motion sensors, dimmers and the like. He came with his family, his assistant Simone and his assistant's fiancé, Giulia. Our talented housepainting team, Ademaro, Giuliana and Rolando-Ademaro's right-on sense of color and Giuliana's gift of hand decorating worked magic, while Rolando's good temper and dedication moved our works forward. We expressed our thanks then and we express our thanks now, that the teams of artisans who worked on Casa Chilenne believed in it and gave it their best.




I couldn't help but express our thanks to these neighbors, these friends who helped us through the first harvest of a long, hard year and a half.








We also wanted to thank the friends old and new who encouraged us on this endeavor. Who believed in us enough to cheer us on. Missing from these pictures but not at the dinner table, is one of my biggest supporters, Alberto who came to shiver in the dust while we went over his English homework and was a great help at our inauguration celebration shuttling food, dishes and beverages from the kitchen up to the terrace.








Casa Chilenne is the fruit of our investment, but more than anything it is the fruit of a labor of love for one's origins, heritage and the desire to share with others the beauty of their city. These artisans dazzled us with their dedication to making our bed and breakfast the best it could be.

As hectic as it may get and as uncertain the future may seem, we know we have much to be thankful for.

Over the River and Through the Woods

OK, so the whole point of getting the oversized oven for the B&B was the Thanksgiving Turkey. How many years this endeavor had been foiled by the reduced dimensions of European ovens, but this year no. It wasn't easy but we're ready, hopefully photos later.
The Thanksgiving scavenger hunt started months ago...the most challenging task was finding the source for cranberries, second only to finding the real name of cranberries in Italian (thank God for Internet!). Cranberry juice can now be found in some health food stores and of course our well stocked Molesini grocery store, but always labelled as Mirtilli Rossi. Not exact. I sent the first search and retrieve request to Roberto, the best furnished green grocer in town at the end of September. One month prior and he still couldn't get the supplier. No one knew what he wanted. We had found a small basket of them once, mixed in with the strawberries, raspberries and blueberries one winter in a year long lost in our memories ago-but no one could recall where they came from.
Back to the drawing board, I was more thorough this time I "Googled" and printed out pictures, latin name and another Italian name "mirtilli palustri", native to North America, imported by Dole. Armed with further information Roberto perservered. There was a slight detour when I ended up with 22 lbs of Quince when I thought I would have to settle for a substitute, but sure enough, I received a call from Roberto. He could procure them. Minimum order 6.5 kilos (roughly 15lbs) and he would pass them on to me at cost (65 Euros!!!) we had come too far to let mere Euros stand in the way-DO IT! I said, feeling like I had the bird of paradise in the cross-hairs of my high power rifle (no I don't have a rifle or a hunting license I just like the image). And so on Monday, a smugly satisfied Roberto delivered 6.8 kilos of cranberries (Ocean Spray from Canada at that!).
The Bird itself was the next challenge. The first Turkey order intention warnings had been placed in September as well and followed up on in the months after. How large is always the dilemma. If one has a group which can be satisfied with a 6-7 kg bird (our famous 15lbs) then a tacchinella can be ordered, that is, a female bird. If you need any larger then a tom turkey must be ordered...hmmm. I have to feed 16 or so. I put in my order for a 9-10 kg. turkey (max). Second snag, I run into the butcher and his wife on the street a few days ago- the turkeys have arrived, they are upset with the supplier, he could only send a 6.5kg and a 13+kg bird. I go home and pull out the tape measure, size up the oven. Upon doing so I slip the tape measure into my pocket and it's off to the butcher's.
Upon my arrival in the small shop, the butcher and his sons rush in the back to pull out the now famous turkey. Onlookers are amused as I pull out my tape measure and size it up. The butcher tries to be helpful. "Well, if you want I can chop off the legs"--No, that would be sacrilege.."or we could chop off the part where the wings are attached"--you just don't understand, the bird has to be whole.
Years prior I had to accept such compromises, roasting only a thigh and a breast, buying a mini turkey, no, this year was special- I had demanded and obtained the 22" wide, 11" high, 18" deep oven-there could be no compromise this year.
The good news is that this turkey is 20 inches long 10 inches high at it's highest point and I didn't measure the width but it seems to fit.
Thanksgiving will arrive in Cortona this year...if only I had planned it better and had a few more days, I could have foraged for sweet potatoes in Arezzo.
Blessings to all this holiday-we have many to count this year-hope you do too.
Update and photos to follow turkey stupor.

Everyday Heroes

Sunday morning was the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Blood Donors Society. As we were cleaning up after breakfast a marching band could be heard outside our window and we went to see what was happening. The marching band was leading a procession of stendard carrying participants. From all over the Valdichiana representatives of the blood donors groups came congregate and remember the loved ones lost during the wars by placing wreaths at the monuments. A bittersweet celebration which can move one to tears as these proudly altruistic individuals marched down the Via Nazionale-each banner brightly colored many lovingly hand embroidered to proudly proclaim which chapter from which town was participating in this show of solidarity to this heartfelt cause. To give to others, to take time out of busy lives to share and give a gift of life. Italy has long been a community of volunteers. The ambulance drivers, hospital volunteers, are a tradition which date to the Misericordia fraternities of the middle ages.
But it seems that people are involved in many different charity organizations. Setting up fund raising dinners for the cancer society, selling apples in the piazza to support multiple sclerosis research, hydrangeas for the child abuse hotline telefono azzurro, the rummage sales for the Caritas. As the year unfolds the piazza can host sales of gardenias, of chocolate easter eggs or ceramics, sales organized to raise money for many worthy causes.
Italy has been a nation ready to give, the victims of hurricane Katrina and the tsunami which hit Southeast Asia received millions of Euro from Italy, 2 Euros at a time when people were asked to donate via SMS . Each message sent would automatically deduct 2 Euro from the credit on the phones and be sent as a donation we were told.
As I watched the Blood donors reverse their direction after laying the wreaths and march back to the Piazza Repubblica it was easy to see the proud faces like the elderly man who marched with his two age worn hands firmly grasping his lapels. I thought about a blood donor I had met, a man in his 70's who proudly told of having made 70 donations of blood. That's at least 210 people whose lives were touched and hopefully healed due to the generosity of 1 man.
It doesn't take wars to make heroes. It only takes generosity of spirit and the willingness to give. Hats off to Everyday Heroes.