visiting nonna

on the flight down there was really one thing on my mind. it was the first time i was going to visit my nonna without my mom...meaning i had no interepter. i had to go it alone (with gina ha ha) and fend for myself. dear lord. i had a shakey start when gina and rosalba picked us up at crotone airport but gina is great. she teaches little kids so when my sister and i were wrong she'd gently correct us. :) we had asked her to correct us in italian because we need to stop speaking this dialect! outside of the calabrese, who can understand me?

it was super hot in crotone (on the coast) and on the way up the mountains we saw two fires on the side of the road. the cousins weren't too concerned so i tried not to be but you know me. i'm a worrier and i don't like fire. especially since i saw my own forests eaten up in the summer of 2003.

the higher we got in elevation, the colder it became. mind you the difference was from 35 to 27, so that puts it into a bit of perspective.

so when you go to nonna's the first thing you realize is that aside from visiting family, its all about the food. by the time you wake up in the morning, she's already planned out the rest of the day's eating activities and let me tell you, its not for the feint at heart.

exhibit a: dinner friday night. we had been at the house a total of an hour before our welcoming guests left and nonna and zia caterina started cooking. us kids (me, gina and gina) were relegated to the gallery becuase even though our age range is from 37-43, none of us know how to cook. so the experts pulled out the pasta with meatballs (all home made of course), sopressata, olives (all zia serafina's by the way), bread, zio battista's wine, and Mastazzuolu (the official spelling by the way thanks to giuseppe). to top it off (ya, not done yet) we had cheries from the farm and tomato salad, and then cafe bibite (think cold espresso with sparkling water and sugar). i was so full i did the only thing i could. kiss nonna and go straight to bed, where i dreamed of tomatoey goodness for hours on end.

i was so tired, the church bells didn't even wake me.

so up we get, and nonna's waiting for us armed with fresh brewed espresso, warm milk for our latte, and biscotti. i love sitting in her little kitchen drinking this amazing latte (can't find it in any starbucks i'm afraid) and right from the start i'm downing lactaid pills like they are candy. its essential for survivial. so while sitting there you hear the bells of the church chiming at 7, 7:30, 8 and 8:30...this being a cornucopia of bell ringing reserved for special times of the day. she laughed telling us the story of the first time my brother in law dave heard them. they are so loud! and then we hear the produce seller walking through nonna's narrow streets (so narrow no vehicle but the mota - aka vespa - can sneak through) crying patate patate patate (potato). hawking his wears to the people down nonna's little street.

let me digress here a little bit...about the street. one time when i was visiting someone in a bmw 100 series thought they could squeeze through. i actually saw the idiota pull in his side mirrors and mom, nonna and i just shook our head. cuz next thing we heard was the expected grind of the car doors as they scraped they merry way as he tried to maneouver through the street. seriously, all he had to do was back up.

so in light of not making the posts too long, i will stop here, but the next post talks about our lovely lunch (yes a mere 3 hours after breakfast) where we head off to zia serafina's for yet another feast. i swear these women try to outdo eachother when we come to visit.

see all the pics here...to many to post on this blog!