Hanging with Mr. Big

Steve had a photo op with the U.S. Ambassador Ronald Spogli and his wife a few weeks back. The Ambassador just left and we are sad to see him go. They are a nice family. They let the embassy community use their swimming pool in the summer and their villa for different functions like Easter (egg hunts for the kids) and Christmas (photos with Santa).Spogli was confirmed by the US Senate in June of '05 after being nominated by President Bush. We will have a new Ambassador appointed by President Obama in the near future.

Spogli received a B.A. in history from Stanford in 1970, and earned his MBA from Harvard where he was future President George Bush's roommate. He lived in Florence and Milan for two years during his time at Stanford, and became fluent in Italian.
This is Spogli's office. It is PLUSH with all manner of Italian finery like the Venetian glass chandelier from Murano and fancy marble table from Carrara. This was Italian Princess Margherita's home and it is fit to receive a king...or at least the American President when he comes to visit.

Well Steve got his B.A. from BYU and his MBA from UTD and became fluent in Italian when he lived in Bari and Palermo for two years on his mission (so far so good) but darn it, unlike Spogli he was only roommates with the Elder's Quorum President Roger Mclea and met Pres. Bush on his way out.... so that settles it... Steve won't be appointed the US Ambassador in Spogli's stead. Nope, you won't see our backsides planted on those fine Italian leather sofas any time soon. It's all in who you know!

Gal Pal Trip

Since all their husbands were out of town, "the girls" decided we'd take a trip 1 1/2 hours north of Rome to the Umbria region of Italy to a town called Deruta. Deruta is world known for its pottery called maiolica which is white tin glazing over red clay. Artists paint on the pottery like they would paint on a frescoe on a wall and then fire it in an wood oven and which seals the vibrant colors.

I had my eye on these two tables for the balcony. I keep thinking life is short and dining alfresco in the spring would certainly bring on the sweet life: "la dolce vita." But they were so pricey, 700 euro, that I decided I would just wish a little longer and continue to use my cardtable for the time being.

Mostly Blond and clearly dangerous (left to right): Raquel Loll FBI, Maria Taddeo FBI, Jennifer Freeman DAO, Carinna Gardner Secret Service-- all had their handbags out and were ready to shop. Maria's Pathfinder quickly filled with hand painted maiolica mirrors, plaques, bowls, platters, and all manner of dishware. These ladies, diplomat's wives, put on lots of dinner parties and they can set impresive tables.

Afterwards we were invited to pranzo (lunch) at the home of one of the most famous shopkeepers in Deruta named Lucca. He is an incredible cook and nearly did us in with 7 plates of food. He made antipasti which were panini of prosciutto and cheese and pizza bianca with sage. Then he served pasta bolognese, followed up with egg noodles and olive oil and grated tartufo, (mushroom) on top, followed by roast cooked in a salt bath, followed by grilled lamb, chicken and sausage, followed by spinach and other vegetables (I hate cooked spinach but this was superb and made a believer out of me), And the zipper buster, dessert, was zuppa inglese which is basically a trifle.

I have never been so FULL in my whole life. I kept saying "piccolo" and "no grazie" but Lucca didn't listen and kept piling food on everyones plate. He really thought I was bizzare as I didn't drink the wine. It's so unItalian not to drink vino everyday.

This is the "after" shot. We are smiling through the discomfort. It really was an INCREDIBLE meal tho. The whole conversation, 2 1/2 hours, around the table was in Italian. And surprisingly I could understand alot of the conversation (maybe Italians speak slower when they are eating?) Carrina, the gal in the zebra print kept asking me to translate. But she'd had 6 glasses of wine so anything I told her, correct or not, sounded like I knew what I was talking about....

"The Girls" wanted to stop at a well known vineyard called Chiorri 20 minutes from Deruta to buy some wine. The vines were just blooming in the spring weather and looked gorgeous (this photo doesn't do it justice). I bought a bottle of Merlot for cooking (Lucca made his Bolognese sauce with this red wine).

We made it back to Rome at 8:30. It was a fun and FULL day. The girls are already planning a trip to Lorenzo's olive vineyard next weekend.... as much as I ate, I won't have to eat until then.

Camporee Kids

This last weekend we loaded the car to the brim with backpacks, sleeping bags and coats, and took the boys (and their friend Carlos) to Carney Park for the Mediterranean Boy Scout Camporee. It was a freezing weekend, and I hated to leave them there in the icy wind, but Steve told me all boys have to be subjected to LONG, COLD nights as a rite of passage. (The Scout Master was so cold in his tent, that he checked in on the boys in the other tent at 5 am to take pulses to make sure everyone was still alive) I needn't have worried. In their sub zero bags they were fine and they were so tired from the daily activities that they slept like logs. Brendan's team took first place in the sport activities and Trevor's took 3rd. Pretty good out of 150 kids.

After the events, one Scout stopped Trevor and told him he was the most physically fit kid he had seen. Trevor scaled the rock wall like he was a monkey (he learned to climb palm trees while on Guam, and it came in handy). In fact, the news crew that was out there interviewed Trevor and he was on the military AFN News.

This is their cute patch with Mt. Vesuvius erupting in the background...funny since Carney park, where they camped, is a defunct volcano...not funny as Mt. Vesuvius is active and can erupt at any time. Thankfully no lava spurted this weekend or my poor boys would be one of those frozen for all time people they dug up in Pompeii. However, they did come home so grimy, they might has well have been covered in volcanic soot

Being obedient

I have kept many "obedience gardens" over the years. They have ALL been dismal to say the least. My list of failures include: carrots that were only 2 inches long, lettuce with bug bite holes the size of half dollars, an avocado tree that yielded only 1 avocado and a banana tree that never bore fruit. I have killed all my herbs (basil, rosemary, parsley) and I can't get a tomato or pepper plant to even look lively on my balcony. I am a daughter of a farmer and gardener extraordinaire mother and yet I'm inept.... My green thumb is officially dead as a door mouse BROWN.

But I can do wheat! (it's already brown and the only watering required is the 1-2 cups I put in while making bread). My Italian friend Silvia has been good at getting all types of wheat for us to try for our food storage. I make bread with the wheat and we taste test. My favorite has been the Egyptian Wheat/durum. It is called "macaroni wheat" here as it is what they make pasta and bread with. The price of wheat is so expensive now (over $9 a bushel) that she opted to go with biological wheat, without chemicals, but it has all the rocks and husks in it!

It took Steve and I over 30 minutes just to separate and clean enough wheat for me to grind 2 cups of flour. I have told the kids if they argue this will be their "dirty job" to separate the chaff, tares and gravel from the grain kernels .

I filled up these two 5 gallon buckets with wheat for food storage and was feeling pretty good until I realized it was probably only 1 bucket if you took out all the inedible parts.

But alas, even with the imperfect outcome....

I am at least being obedient and that should count for something, right? (Yeah, until we are starving to death and having to make "stone soup" from our wheat storage)

Green is Good

We love Doctor Seuss stories, and we love St. Patrick's day...so why not combine them? In my green pj's I made the kids Green eggs and SPAM this morning before they headed off to school. I was nice and didn't dye the SPAM green as well. The kids were good sports and ate the unnerving goo but had to brush their moss colored teeth before catching the bus.

We ate Spam growing up on the farm, and we ate Spam on Guam...it's not just a typhoon staple any more. After WWII, our troops fed the Chamorros SPAM as the rice fields were destroyed and the people were hungry. Now it is a daily part of their lives with Tabasco and rice. So be brave... open up a can today. Try it, you may like it...don't be a Doubting Sam-I-am.

Beware the Ides of March

Beware a history lesson, besides the Ides of March: March 15th, 44 BC, is the Day Julius Cesare was killed in Rome. The Senate wanted him out, and drew up a false petition for Cesare. As he was passing this ancient ruin below, in Largo di Torre Argentina, (a sacred area dedicated to Venus in Pompey's Theater), they directed Cesare inside to "look at the petition." A soothsayer had warned Cesare about trouble in the middle of the month (Ides means "half-division") and Mark Antony also tried to warn him---but when it's your time, it's your time to go.

While following the senate through the portico, Cesare was fatally stabbed 23 times, even by his friend Brutus. The single blow to the heart was the one that killed him.

This wasn't the first time he had been betrayed. His friend and son-in-law Pompey married to his daughter Julia, also "stabbed him in the back" years earlier. When Cesare was fighting alongside his troops in Gaul, modern day Provence in France, Pompey had the Senate revoke Cesare's title as Governor of Gaul. Pompey demanded that Cesare surrender his troops (despite his brilliant campaigns) and come back to Rome and surrender his title as combined leader of Rome. Cesare refused to surrender his troops and went to Rome to battle his former son-in-law, Pompey, who abandoned Cesare's daughter Julia. Pompey was a great general but his troops were not veteran's like Cesare's. When Julius Cesare crossed the river Rubicon and headed for Rome, Pompey and his men fled to Egypt. Pompey was killed by Egyptians and his head was brought before Cesare in a basket. (This is the part I love.... the measure of a great man) Even tho Pompey had betrayed him, Julius refused to look at the head and wept for his friend and son-in-law. He did not want Pompey killed despite all Pompey did to discredit and defame him. (The ironic thing is Cesare died in Pompey's theater)

There is a History Channel exhibition on Cesare in Rome right now, and I toured the exhibit for 3 hours and left completely enthralled with Cesare. He was not only brave and loved his soldiers (they loved him in return), he truly embodied the Christian virtue of loving your enemies. More than himself, Cesare loved Rome and the people there and wanted the Romans to be the leading European empire. He took the taxes off the farmers. He gave land to fathers with more than three children so they could make a living. He made sure his soldiers had a pension after returning home injured from battle. Cesare being from a poor family understood the needs of the people.

So as it's Friday the 13th AND the middle of the month you are forewarned to beware of killer blogs bearing too many details. Bravo if you made it this far without piercing pain in the brain and dying from too much info.

Odysseus' travels in Italy

In the Greek story the Odyssey, our hero Odysseus is trying to head home to Ithaca with his weary Argonauts who have just survived the Trojan war and encounters with the Cylops and the cannibals. They reach the island of Aeaea (a palindrome, the same when read backwards of forward) of the western coast of Italy. There they encounter Circe, a witch, who is angry at Odysseus for eating her father's cattle. Circe turns all of Odysseus' men into swine. Hermes helps the weary Odysseus and gives him a plant that makes him insusceptible to Circe's magic. But they remain on the island in Italy for one year before they can sail home.

This past weekend Steve, Brendan and his fellow scouts all climbed Circeo, the famed mountain where Odysseus and his men climbed before encountering Circe the witch.
Like the weary Argonauts they climbed all day to reach the top of the mountain. The trail was straight up over boulders and through densely packed trees. At times they were clawing themselves along the side of the mountain and balancing on ridges that dropped straight down.

The view at the top was incredible and the idea of hiking back down made them understand why Odysseus and his men remained a year.

But they knew they had to complete a ten mile hike for Brendan's hiking merit badge so they hoisted their packs and made their exhausting decent back down past castle ruins until they reached the forest below. Surprisingly no one complained or squealed like a pig on the way up or down. (OK, maybe just the scoutmaster when he tried to get out of bed the next day)

This "rock" they climbed is supposed to be the face of Circe herself. You can make out Circe's nose on the top of the rock from her side profile (below)

Brendan's adventures do not end here. He has two more 10 mile hikes (total of 5) And we will complete a 20 mile hike this summer, for Brendan's last requirement, with Heidi in Rocky Mountain National Park in CO. Strap on your hiking boots and come join us the weekend of July 18th!

Easy Italian Recips

Chicken Marsala

(serves4) 1 TBl butter

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (or 1 small can)
1/3 up chicken broth
1/3 cup Marsala Cooking Wine*

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes. Turn chicken over; add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; simmer about 15 minutes to reduce sauce (to cook out alcohol) Sprinkle with parsley.
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I make either butter noodles (just boil noodles, drain and add butter, salt and garlic) or roasted potatoes from the oven to serve with this chicken. If you don't like mushrooms or carrots add peas or pea pods and saute some onions with the chicken.

* Marsala is a sweet cooking wine from Sicily. It is also used to make Italian desserts like tiramisu. It has a nice flavor and my kids LOVE this chicken.