Evening Strolls....

December 10, 2008

One of our new evening activities is to take a walk around the city; there are so many lights and decorations--it's amazing. Crowds of people are out shopping or just walking and the atmosphere is festive and electric. They just put up a carousel and the children are begging their parents for rides. One little girl who was denied a ride shrieked bloody murder for over 10 minutes as her parents walked 10 steps in front of her, ignoring her pleas and cries. No one in the crowd seemed to mind; it seems that that's life with a bambini...


Two other things strike us as very interesting as well: They have mounted speakers (outdoor) throughout many of the streets and wherever we walk, there's music playing. The music has varied from Spanish sounding meringue music to Christmas carols (all in English) to piano music playing The Beatles "Let it Be" or "Don't Cry for me Argentina"...

The second item of interest is the decorated store windows. Throughout Italy, they are a work of art. It matters not what your business is, you put your all into presentation. It seems to be a matter of honor and they all deserve prizes. It's just a delight to walk the streets, listen to the music and be part of the hustle and bustle as people stroll and shop and take in the windows.

As I write this, it's mid-afternoon and it's been snowing for a couple of hours. There's about 2 or 3" of new snow. This new blanket will add beauty to our walk, a need to bundle up, and most importantly, make sure our "presentation" matches the standards. ( Neither Kim or I have ever seen so much fur in one outing- every other woman has a fur coat). Yes, we fit right in.

A Holiday Stroll Around Alessandria...

Remember those wooden shelters that we were wondering about a couple posts ago? Well, they are booths for holiday crafts and just add more to the overall holiday celebration here.

Many booths have little nativity scenes in all shapes and sizes.

These are little gnomes with a story attached that we could not quite understand.

People are out in droves doing their shopping and the atmosphere, day or night. is very festive. In the middle of this same piazza, there is a statue of a famous Alessandrian. Today, he has disappeared and this is in his place, covering him:

There are three or four huge trees stuck into what is a huge pile of sand with a wooden fence built around it all. As we examined the set up, we concluded that it is not a live tree exhibit and those huge beauties will go the way of many Christmas trees...

But, on the live tree front, throughout the shopping areas there are live trees decorating the outside of stores. Many have red ribbons that shopkeepers give out and as people leave the shop, they put the ribbons on the tree. Some trees are full of ribbons, some have none.

As we continued our stroll toward home we spotted this clever sight outside someone's apartment.

The Reason For the Season....

Today is a national holiday and holy day of obligation. Since my catechism studies were so many years ago I have forgotten so much regarding many of the holy days. I am left wondering why the celebration of the Immaculate Conception takes place in December? It begs many questions....

A Friday Afternoon....

Today, at my request, we skipped the gym and did a bit of walking around Alessandria. We ended up at the library and the above pictures are of an exhibit at the entrance. They are made of papier mache and were created by an artist over the course of seven years. I think that we've mentioned before how much we like the fact that Alessandria emphasizes the arts and here is yet another example. We enjoyed our time catching up on a few weeks worth of Newsweek and Time magazines. Kim discovered their hot drinks vending machine and found herself going back twice for the hot chocolate. At .40 Euro, it's the best bargain in town!

Walking home just a bit after 5PM, it's already dark and all of the holiday street lights are alive and twinkling. It's cold, in the 30's (2C), and people are dressed in their winter best.
It's holiday shopping time and folks are out doing their part to buck up the economy.

Something's Coming!......

Yesterday while walking to the post office we encountered these little buildings being built. They are located in one of the main squares, Piazza della Liberta.

We don't know as yet what they are for but we anticipate that something good is coming and about to happen!

BOOKS!!!

Since we lugged so many books over here (how could a former bookseller NOT bring a ton of books... as books in a suitcase will win over clothes every time!) and both Jean and Louise have each given or loaned us many, too, we thought we would share "our reads in Italy" with you. (the image above is a stock image, not our book shelves, so don't think we brought a book about Florida to Italy) To find the list, you'll have to scroll down to the end of the entire blog where you'll see the books we've read thus far (we will update the list as we finish a book). Kim, of course, couldn't resist putting stars next to ones she really enjoyed- Rachel who is much less opinionated declined to use the star system. We both enjoyed the mystery novels (Leon and Hiaasen) but they were not starred either. And should you be interested...there is a world map showing the locations of our blog readers and also links to the blogs of Louise in Lucca and Steve in Copenhagen. So keep scrolling!

Peperoni Con Bagna Caoda

Yesterday Kim and I had the delightful honor of going to Sunday dinner at Rita's daughter's home. Stephania, her husband Alessandro and daughter Chiara live in a beautifully restored third floor unit within our complex. Rita did the cooking and it was a multiple course mid-day main meal. Our appetizer was a very typical Piemontese anchovy and garlic dipping sauce called, "Peperoni Con Bagna Caoda". Its origins are from a merging of Ligurian traders bringing in anchovies and olive oil to be combined with garlic grown in Piemonte. The result: a yummy dipping sauce that can be served as a dip with raw veggies, or as in this case, atop roasted peppers. The recipe consists of anchovies, garlic, olive oil, melted butter and a bit of cream! The garlic, olive oil and butter are all initially sauteed together and both Rita and Stephania kept emphasizing "do not blacken the garlic; low heat--that's the secret". Mashed anchovies are then added. A Bit of cream can be added to cut some of the garlic strength or one can cook the garlic heads in milk for awhile prior to sauteing.

There are some great sites for Italian cooking and all three listed below have variations of the appetizer. A bit of warning, it is filling so strategize how much you want guests to indulge. It also goes very well with bruschetta!

http://italianfood.about.com
www.deliciousitaly.com
www.italianmade.com

The remainder of the meal consisted of very tender thin slices of pork baked in a white sauce with walnuts and roasted potatoes with bread and wine. Dessert was a pear banana cake and an assortment of cookies (and coffee) were offered as well. We had great dinner conversation, learned about their views of Italy's economy and the initial impact of the Euro upon the Lira when it was first introduced (not good).

So that was yesterday. Good food, good company and conversation. And, oh, a very good nap.