To our friends and family, miscellaneous musings after our first year in Italy. We arrived May 18, 2012.
1. Cats do not need to go outdoors. A windowsill will do.
Dare-devil Janie on the (very wide) window sill. Libby watches from the cat tower. They traded a Portland garden for a 3rd floor windowsill.
2. When Italians ask “Come stai?” they really mean it. It’s not just in passing, like in the U.S. Here it is a conversation starter.
3. Arugula is fantastic on a sandwich piadina or panino. Lettuce is for salads.
4. A scarf around your neck is really comforting. It keeps the chill off your neck and it looks good, too.
5. Walking is a terrific form of transportation but shoe leather wears out faster than car tires.
6. Parking is colorful: white (free), blue (pay), yellow (restricted) zones are interpreted liberally by drivers.
Here we see a car parked in blue stripes (pay) but overlapping onto yellow (reserved in this case for handicapped).
This car is parking in a free zone, as indicated by the white lines…except this is a pedestrian crossing. “Liberal interpretation.”
If there’s no room in the street, just block a sidewalk. Pedestrians be damned!
7. I’d hate to be in a wheel chair in Rome. (See above)
8. Privacy is an American concept.
9. Dinner does not have to be a protein, a starch, and a vegetable. The American “square meal” is no longer a part of our lives.
Pumpkin risotto – one dish meal, no meat, delicious local flavors.
10. Fresh flavors need little help. We have tossed out many of our spices.
11. Starbucks is NOT an Italian experience.
No “Grande Americano” here: a single shot espresso gets us going in the morning. We have a few throughout the day. Pastries only on the weekends…or holidays…or vacation.
12. Being a repeat customer is heartily acknowledged. When was the last time your “regular” waiter greeted you with a kiss on the cheek?
Celebrating one year in Italy, here we are in Martina Franca, Puglia.
Girovaga 