In Love with France, At Home In Italy

Where did these five days go? I couldn't exactly say, since I've been in the timeless land of grandparenthood. Thanksgiving happens to coincide with our son's birthday, so we tried to bring this most American of holidays to his home in Slovenia where turkeys, except for us, are in short supply. To round up the ingredients was a challenge. Lots of flexibility and many substitutions were necessary. Just try finding "corn syrup" in the Slovene dictionary. (We ended up with something called "Dick Juice." I am not making this up!)  Other untranslatables: buttermilk, vegetable shortening, and sour cream. A few more examples of cultural difference: 1. Turkey? Shmurkey! A leftover-loving family, when in America, we usually get the biggest bird available. Slovenia does not know from Butterball, but our son was reassured by the village butcher that a turkey would materialize. And so it did, but with all due respect, it looked mo...

1. THE ITALIAN WASHING MACHINE is a wonder in more than one way. I always wonder what it could possibly be doing for the length of time it takes to do a load of wash. On the other hand, it is a wonder at getting things clean. 2. MY NEW DEHYDRATOR People my age are generally looking for ways to hydrate.  But not we farmers whose orchards runneth over at times when  even the Italian sun may not be enough to help. As you may recall  from the August 2012 post           WHAT TIME OF YEAR IS IT? IT'S "TOO MANY PLUMS" SEA... my "appliance" of choice for drying fruit is our 2002 Renault Megane: stick that foil-lined IKEA broiler pan (loaded up with the fruit-of-the-moment) onto the windshield, close the door, and you're good to go.  Or, more accurately, you're not going anywhere until the Umbrian sun dries to perfection those figs, apples, peaches, pears, or plums. But there's a drawback to this n...

We drove seven hours to visit our son and his family in beautiful Slovenia. While waiting for the parents to tell us to come over to play with our granddaughters, I've been watching the most wonderful cable TV channel called "Mezzo." I'm not sure if it's available at our home in Italy, but since we don't have TV there, it's irrelevant. The Intermezzo network features performances of music, opera and dance in artistically filmed close-ups and mostly in excerpts. The quality is superb and it all feels like a private concert. I stumbled on a ballet set to Haydn's "The Creation" which is being sung in the background of a gorgeous ballet at the National Opera of the Rhine choreographed by the late Uwe Scholtz. Even though the execution on this 2014 rendition could be better (the young, attractive dancers are not entirely together), the effect is mesmerizing. It's a great mixture of the classical and the modern. Grandpa ...