As the school term draws to a close in Queensland, so does it here at Cotter College. Amongst all the activity of packing up a years worth of living in Italia, visitors, museo/galleria visits etc, the cherubs have tried to complete a terms school work (from QLD distance education) in 4 weeks instead of 10 so that they can enjoy their last few weeks at Casa San Gabriel AND not do school work when they get back to Australia. They worked very hard (i.e. school on Saturday morning as well) and have slowly got there!
The class presented their maestro (teacher) with a car!!! Their generosity was overwhelming!!!
As we pack to leave Firenze…here are a few ‘holiday’ snaps!
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Recently for dinner (cena) one evening Anna created a magnificent secondo! It was fish roasted in salt. Buonissimo!!!
To create the dish she used Branzino which is a type of sea bass (scaled and gutted). Something like a large whiting. Firstly, in a sizable baking dish or lasagne tray, sale grosso/rock salt is spread over the base so that it is completely covered. Stuff the fish with herbs such as lemoni and rosmarino and lay it on the bed of salt. The fish is then covered over with more sale grosso/rock salt and baked in a moderate to hot oven for approximately 10 minuti for a pan sized fish (timing varies according to the fish length/thickness/type . A few minutes before the time you scrape away enough salt from the stomach of the fish to reach one of the fins. Gently pull at it and if it comes away the fish is done. If not cover again and put it back in the oven for a few more minutes.
We can’t wait to try this with a whole snapper!
With our family being ‘a little bit’ interested in cycling (some of us, anyway) it was a bonus when we ventured out on a Sunday walk and found advertising and bunting up all around Piazza della Repubblica last Sunday (100m down the road). The Femmina Giro di Toscana arrived in town and was finishing in the square. It was very exciting to have our own ‘Giro’ viewing.
There was certainly not much of an advertising train in front of the pack to let you know the riders were coming. It consisted of 1 BMW convertible with some 15 year olds with make up on. We wondered if their mothers knew!? The finish was fast and furious…and very dangerous over the pavé street of Firenze!
After the race was the usual cool down for the girls, however, in the middle of Piazza della Repubblica, it didn’t turn out to be the most private place for the girls to slip out of their sweaty and stinky tops…I no longer need to give Patrick his Birds n Bees talk!!!!
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Italiano lezione lingua 101 – Brutto in Italiano means ‘ugly’ (see translation here). Some examples of the the use of this word is when the weather is harsh (raining/very cold) or (as we heard at the Fiorentina vs Napoli soccer) when someone from the opposition is taking a corner kick…the crowd is chanting ‘Brutto, Brutto, Brutto‘!
Another example Grace found was the ceramic statue of a ‘man’ in a shop at the end of our strada (street) – see pictures below. The statue of the lady in period dress looks wonderful, however, as for the ‘man’…I would hate to meet him at a bar on a Friday night!
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As the alleyway soccer season continues, so does the length of the list of rules. Like any ‘backyard’ game there are always home rules which even out the competition and are often developed because of playing conditions. In our case our playing conditions in the alley are-
- Horse and carts cross the end of the alley
- Police cars cross at the other end (from the Police station 10m away)
- Market stall carts travel up and down
- People (including ol’ Mamas, bicycles and Vespas) use the alley to get between streets
- Half the alley walls are roller doors (so you can’t ricochet the ball off these these)
- and finally…an environmental hazard is the small puddles which are occasionally on the field of play which Patrick believes is cat pee (we’re not about to try to verify this)
Recently we had some friends stay and invited Alan to play. After taking on Grace during one part of the game Alan ended up on the pavé looking very dirty and sore. After some days of hobbling and lots of ice, the Italian doctor’s said nothing was broken and his advice (in his best to Inglese) was to rest and ‘stay away from little girls playing soccer in the alley’!
We left in Brisbane our only pet, Tuffy, under excellent care. He’s a Siamese Fighting Fish. Therefore, Patrick and Grace have had limited opportunity to experience the responsibilities of caring for and tending to the needs of a ‘pet’…other than with each other of course!
On the weekend, however, we were asked by both of them if they could have a new pet. We were a little surprised by their choice, however, they are adamant they will do their very best to love and adore ‘Fluffy’!
As we walk through the various areas of the culturally rich Florentine streets we try to point out to our ragazzi (children/cherubs) as much about the history of Firenze and the renaissance period as we possibly can. It gives them some sort of perspective as to the importance this time has on the world in the way of the arts, medicine, astronomy, architecture, finance etc.
We often walk through the narrow courtyard between the Uffizi Gallery’s two wings on our evening walks (passeggiata - click here for our explanation) and recently we started to take photos of the various statues surrounding the courtyard. As we read through the names at the bottom of the statues, it was noted by our ‘learned children’ part of the way down the courtyard, that we had photos of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donetello…now we just needed Raphael to make up the set!!! Madonna mia!!
Another collection of adventure moments…
We hope this doesn’t become like the dinner party from hell…’Would you like to look at our 3 million ’holiday snaps’?!!
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It’s that time of the year in Italia when the uva (grapes) and olive (olives) are clearly visible on the vines and trees. It is a wonderful sight and very exciting for us as we await the picking seasons. The grapes have not hit the mercato in a big way just yet but it should be in the next month. We’re certainly looking forward to the feste vino (wine festivals).
In Novembre, just before we head back to Brisbane, we are picking olives for a few weeks in Umbria. By then the temperatures will be back down to mins of 6 and maxs of 13. We’re sure it will be hard work, however, the work location will be breath-taking (see below)!
