Roma

Yesterday we went to Rome, not for sightseeing, but to take Chuck's bad Mac to the Apple Store. We planned to spend some time walking around Rome to see the highlights, The Colosseo (Colosseum), Foro Romano (Roman Forum); but it took the whole day to get to the Apple Store as it is in the outskirts of Rome. 

Chuck's co-worker was nice enough to take us to the train station in Modena early in the morning. We took the 7:15 a.m. train to Rome and arrived around 10:30 a.m. Since we didn't know where the Apple Store was located we decided to take a taxi. The taxi driver wasn't all too familiar with the location as well as he stopped at the gas station to ask someone pumping gas. I don't think he gets a lot of tourists asking to go to the Apple Store! It took us about an hour just to get to this huge shopping mall Romaest. I was a bit worried about getting back to Rome centro (center) as it didn't look like many taxis were hanging around and didn't know if buses were nearby.

We didn't even know if the Apple Store was located in the shopping mall, but fortunately it was. So we got Chuck's computer there and it'll take a week to fix as they don't have the part in the store. We bought a few things at the Apple Store and it literally took twenty minutes in line as only two cashiers were at hand and were interrupted by people paying for new computers. What I've learned in Italy, it's an exercise in learning patience! 

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed out to find a way back. We did ask people how to get back to the center and said there's a bus that takes you to a tram to take back to the center. But we couldn't find the bus stop anywhere. After walking around twice around the mall, we found people walking from somewhere. So we followed their tracks and found the bus stop. Though it didn't look like one as it was just a posted rectangular green sign held up by a tire base. We just saw a boy waiting there and assumed it was the bus stop. And it was. It took 1/2 hour wait until the bus came. 

So, we didn't pay for the bus nor the tram as you can't pay as you enter or leave the bus with coins. You have to go to a tabaccheria (tobacco store), news stand, or specified ticket machines to buy a ticket before riding the bus or tram. However, no one checks on the bus and so you can ride it without paying with no problem. I felt guilty, but there was no one selling bus tickets at the mall. And we needed to get to the center and there was no taxis around the mall.

We finally made it to the center, but only had time to go back to the train station and held back to Modena as the buses to Maranello stop running at 8 p.m. We catch the 4:35 p.m. train back to Modena and arrive at 7:45 p.m. We decided to take the bus in Modena and transfer to the Maranello bus, but we were too late and had to take a taxi back home. 

So, the next time we go to Rome (when we have to pick up Chuck's computer) we are going to stay there for more than one day. Well, at least we know how to get around Rome.

My First Bike Ride

On Sunday, I went on my first bike ride in Italy.  After witnessing motor vehicles driving really fast, I was utterly scared to share the roads with them.  I mean, there really aren't any bike lanes and most roads here are two-lane roads.  But I felt relatively safe as there are more bicyclists here than in Seattle so the cars feel comfortable sharing the road with bicyclists and nonchalant pedestrians.  They give you plenty of room as they pass or honk to let you know that they are approaching.  Now, the roundabouts....that's a different story.  Usually, you're supposed to yield before entering a roundabout and give the right-of-way; well, they don't usually yield here and if they do, well it's more like a "california" yield.  And giving you the right-of-way, well that 's hard when they just keeping going without yielding.  So, cars are coming to your left, you're supposed to be able to take a right and you do.  Well, that car is trying to veer to the right to exit as your trying to get to the next right after that....there's many exits to a roundabout, or it seems when you're trying to get through one on unfamiliar territory.  And what happens, I get honked at.  Yes, well...I don't care.  I just pedal as fast as I can to get out of that damned roundabout.   But considering, I do pretty well since that was the only honk I got out of a few roundabouts.  I'll just have to get used to it though as it's a matter-of-fact in European roads. 

Fortunately, Chuck found a route in the countryside with minimal traffic.  There are some rolling hills around, though most of the landscape is flat.  But I love a landscape with vineyards.  The grapes aren't yet on the vines, but they are a-blooming.

Me giving direction to Chuck to ride my way as I take an action shot.  It was a beautiful day out.  It was warm enough to wear bike shorts and short sleeves and I was still warm.  The weather isn't like this all the time as today was cooler and rained.  

Taking a much needed break at mile 12.5 miles.  Yummers....pistachios.  We were able to do a 25 mile loop and for my first ride, that was quite enough!  I was a little sore that night, but recovered the next day to do more exercising.   

Tonight, I made a really good Italian dish.  Well, I'm not sure how authentic it was as I got the recipe on-line; but it was sure tasty.  It's called 'pollo con i piselli' or 'chicken with peas'.  I mainly made this because we pretty much had all the ingredients at home.  We had chicken parts leftover (thigh/wing) from a chicken (breast) that I used for chicken marsala.  It turned out really good...yes, I am surprised as I'm not much for cooking.  But since I'm not working, I have been doing most of the cooking and to much of Chuck's delight!  Though he does still find time to make me a meal or two, especially breakfast...his specialty.  

But here is the recipe I used.   I think I'll start posting any recipes that I start trying, Italian or not, that way I'll be able to retrieve them as well as share them.

Chicken with Peas

Prep:  15 minutes

Cooking:  1 hour

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs (any part of the chicken can be used, leave the skin on during cooking)

1 onion (finely chopped)

1 potato (sliced - about 3 mm thick, yes I know, you'll have to convert from metric!)

300 g (11 oz.) peas (frozen ok)

250 g (9 oz.) tomatoes (chopped)

2 bay leaves

15 ml (1 Tbsp.) tomato puree (concentrate in a tube, which is what I found in the store)

60 ml (2 fl 0z. = 4 Tbsp.) extra virgin olive oil

450 ml (3/4 pint) vegetable or chicken stock (hot)

salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

1.  First and foremost, before you start cooking, be sure that the first thing you do is prepare the stock so that it's readily available when required.  The best thing to do is to have the stock just simmering, and  no more, on the cooker.

2.  Put the olive oil into a casserole (or wok or large pot, at least big enough to accommodate the chicken) and set to medium heat.  Add the onion and sweat off for a couple of minutes.

3.  Add the chicken.  Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes.  Then turn the chicken over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  The aim is to have the chicken thighs golden in color.

4.  Before adding the peas (especially if they are frozen), turn the heat to high and after about a minute add all the peas.

5.  With a wooden spoon, set the peas evenly around the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes.

6.  Turn the heat to medium and then add the chopped tomatoes.  Move things around a bit so that the chopped tomatoes are evenly distributed and continue cooking for 10 minutes.

7.  Add all your stock.  The stock should be enough to nearly cover the chicken.

8.  Add the bay leaves.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

9.  Add the potato slices.  Also, add the tomato puree as a flavor enhancer.

10.  Take the lid and cover half of the pan.  Leave a small opening on one side.  Turn down the heat to low and let simmer for 40-50 minutes, turn chicken twice during this time period.  Simmering will cook the chicken to perfection and also help in reducing the sauce as you don't want it to be soupy.  It should thicken quite a bit.  

11.  Serve with a few slices of warm country bread or ideally, with italian polenta.  It does taste good served over gnochhi which is what I substituted.  Definitely have a good bottle of Italian wine, though it does taste pretty good with beer!

In the grocery stores, they have most of all vegetables in bulk.  You can't buy individual tomatoes or onions or potatoes.  I couldn't find dried bay leaves in the herb section, but did find it at the fresh herb section in the vegetable section, in bulk.  

Never in My Life...

The weather here is like Seattle in July. Yesterday, Chuck and I went on a walk to the neighboring town of Pozza, about two miles away. It was very sunny and warm, though we still saw a lot of people bundled up in jackets and sweaters. But here we were with short sleeves and me with my sandals. I think that's why we got a few stares, not to mention not very many people were out taking a stroll to the next town. I don't even want to think how the summer will feel like, I'm not used to really hot weather! But I think it gets up to the hundreds in the summer, luckily we have a/c.

Getting ready for our bike ride this afternoon, I was brushing my teeth and decided to go out on the balcony to check out the weather. As I looked down to the street, I saw a long line of Ferraris on the road. Never in my life have I seen so many Ferraris, there must of been forty or fifty of them! Can you imagine? About a million dollars on the roadway!!  What a sight!

Firenze (Florence), Italy

On early Thursday morning, Christian drove us to Modena and dropped us off at the train station.  In order to marry in Italy, we needed the U.S. Consulate to notarize the nulla osta form, the form saying that there are no obstacles for us to marry.  So here we were, awaiting the train to the regional U.S. Consulate in Firenze (Florence, to Americans).  Since we had nine o'clock appointments at the Consulate, Christian kindly offered to take us to the train station.  That was truly helpful as by this point we didn't know how to get to Modena via bus.  So here's Chuck waiting for the train at Modena.  It cost about twenty-seven euros for two one-way tickets to Firenze.

So there are more than one train station in Firenze.  There is one a few blocks from the U.S. Consulate, but we got off at the more northern one, Firenze Rifredi, as it said on our ticket destination.  Since we didn't know where we were and how to get to the U.S. Consulate, we decided to take a taxi.  However, we did buy a map and tried to figure out our location and destination, but to no avail.  Fortunately, we didn't choose to walk because it was a good ten minute ride to the Consulate.  It was about eleven euros for the taxi ride.  So we finally arrive at the U.S. Consulate and took fifteen minutes to notarize our nulla osta forms.  Here's Chuck after we finished with the paperwork.

Here's a picture of some church (?) while we were waiting for a taxi to the other train station, Firenze Rifredi.

We tried taking the train back from the closer train station, but they had a later departure time than the other train station.  So, we took a taxi back to the Rifredi train station and waited for our delayed train, about twenty minutes, to Modena.  Though Christian told us to call him when we arrived in Modena for a ride to Maranello, we decided to figure out the bus system.  There are buses by the train station, though we didn't know which one to take as they didn't look like the buses in Maranello.  Fortunately, there was a sign saying how to get to the Ferrari museum by taking buses 1, 2, or 4.  After much gesturing and attempting to understand the bus driver, we figured out that we needed to transfer onto another bus to get to Maranello.  She told us where to get off and pointed where we needed to catch the bus.  Ah!  The blue buses that looked familiar in Maranello, number 800.  So we hopped on a bus and made it to Maranello:)

That afternoon, Christian took us to the Maranello courthouse.   They weren't too familiar with Americans wanting to marry in Maranello, so they had to look up the process via books and on-line.  Making a long story short, we needed to do a few other things before we could marry there.  It seemed like such a process, especially when you don't speak the language and have no friends nor family around as a support system.  So Chuck and I decided to wait and we will be getting married in Seattle!  I'm so excited because we'll just have one wedding ceremony and everyone we know will be more likely to attend as Italy will be so far and expensive for people.  So now I'm back planning a wedding in Seattle.  

St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria

Last weekend, Chuck and I joined several other Ferrari employees on a weekend getaway at St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria. It's about a four hour beautiful drive through many vineyards that gave way to the expansive mountains of the Alps. The snow was really great on Saturday as it was cooler and lightly snowing giving us a layer of powdery snow to enjoy boarding. It was sunny and warm on Sunday, a great day to spend outside; but the snow became very slushy and was very tiring boarding in those conditions. Overall, it was a fun and relaxing trip. Though now, I'm recuperating my sore muscles as it has been a few months since I've last snowboarded! I'm much better now than on Monday as I dreaded going up and down the stairs stretching my ever sore calf muscles.  Oh how I missed German/Austrian food!! I gorged myself with weiner schneitzel, pomme frites, curry wurst, goulash, homemade pretzels, and of course, weiss beer. Yummy! Thank god, I was able to burn off the extra calories boarding!! 

F1 Race

Yesterday I watched my first F1 race. I thought we were going to attend a race, not necessarily a F1 one, but actually see one in person. But, Chuck and I went to watch the F1 race (Air Gulf Grand Prix) in Bahrain at the Enzo Ferrari Auditorium. They were televising the race on the big screen at the movie theater in town. First, we satiated our appetite at the pizzeria Carisma. The pizza is definitely unlike that of the states...similar to Tutta Bella in Seattle, but much much better. You order your own pizza which comes in a plate (and you also cut it yourself). I’m not able yet to finish my own plate, yet yesterday I ate 2/3 of it. Their pizza list is extensive with more than fifty different types of pizza. I chose to try a pizza with spinach, prosciutto, and slices of hard parmesan. Afterwards, we had mascarpone for dessert, a triple-cream cheese made from creme fraiche. With full bellies, we made our way to the theater and with the avid Ferrari fans, we watched the race. After completing 57 laps around the track, Ferrari took first and second place, Massa and Raikonnen, respectively. I have to admit it was amazing to see the cars go so fast around the tracks, but I wouldn’t say I’m now an avid and die hard F1 follower. But since Chuck works for Ferrari and specifically on the race cars and we live in Maranello where Ferrari is its livelihood, I guess I’ll start watching a little bit more F1 racing and root for the team. Though nothing is really open on Sundays except for the bars (coffee shops that also sell liqueur), there are a lot of people roaming about the town. We saw a lot of people walking, a few sitting and socializing on benches, and a lot of people in their cars or motorcycles heading somewhere. After the race, Chuck and I stop by Maranello Cafe for a beer (Chuck) and a sambuca (me). A sambuca, I learned, is an Italian aniseed-flavored liqueur. Not really my cup of tea as it tends to taste to sweet for my palate. Overall, it was a nice Sunday afternoon.