Cena Alla Griglia

In our apartment here in Italy we don't have every kitchen appliance Americans take for granted. For example, we don't have a dishwasher. Or a garbage disposal. Or a microwave.

On the other hand our kitchen reflects Italian sensibilities: we have a huge fireplace at working height. And the other night Alexandra decided to put it to use. She had Jeremy build up the fire, raked the coals to the front of the hearth, and grilled away.

We had bruschetta (toast dripping with olive oil and salt), followed by...

Bistecche di suino (pork chops)...




and verdure alla griglia (grilled vegetables).




Yes, that really is in the kitchen:




Alexandra even had warm homemade applesauce for the pork chops and pumpkin pie (also made from scratch) for dessert. Not bad for an ordinary Wednesday night.

Michael

True Colors

We definitely don't have the fall foliage that, say, Vermont or Maine would offer. However, much to Michael's surprise, the vineyards offer some lovely views before the leaves go "fwoomp." Today I "had" to go to Avigliano (we had a gorgeous day), and stopped the car several times to try to capture what I saw. Of course, the pictures don't glow like the real thing...

 Love,

Alexandra

Origami can be expensive...

It all started when Mummy saw a picture of an origami shirt.
This one:


One thing led to another and I ended up with this:


This is surprisingly finicky for being a very geometric design, due to thickness of the paper
And this:


It is supposed to be a Peacock, but it looks far more like a turkey to me. I guess it's just about in time for thanksgiving!
And this:


And this is supposed to be a butterfly or a moth, but I didn't do it like it was in the video... Oh well!

The funny thing is that I had to dig around to find some dollar bills. Euros aren't the right dimensions, unfortunately.
Ciao,
Florence

Drafting

For those of you who don't know this already, the official definition of draft (draught) is, according to Webster's, "to draw the preliminary sketch, version, or plan of", and unfortunately in the States, IF you're going to learn how to do this, you won't learn it in school until college. Here in Todi, we start learning it in the first year of middle school. We use:
2H(#4) pencil
compass
45° 45° 90° square
30° 60° 90° square
I actually recently started using two pencils: one 9H(#9)(which is the hardest I can find)for the construction and one 4H(#5)for the tracing.
Here are some examples of my work more or less from oldest to most recent:

This is a regular pentagon (or at least an imitation).

self explanatory

ditto

The scribble is my teacher's signature

In the three-dimensional projections the lines that define the object are traced over. The ones you cannot see are dotted.

This is an object seen from various points of view.
bottom left- top
top left- fro
top right- side

 irregular pyramid

truncated pyramid with a tilt

 

This is a different kind of projection.

These are my most recent constructions.
 In this type of projection, the diagonal length is half the real length.

 Love,
Jeremy

P.S. The myth that official Italian was born by a committee that combined the different dialects into one language is FALSE. Said committee simply declared that the Florentine dialect would be the official Italian language. Since then, "official" Italian has diverged somewhat from the aforementioned Florentine dialect.

For Medicinal Purposes Only?

Alexandra needed an ingredient. It was readily available in the 200 sq. ft. grocery store across the street. I am not sure it is available anywhere in the United States.




95% pure drinking alcohol. Well, not poisoned, anyway. I am sure it is better as an ingredient than straight up. It smells much like the denatured stuff you remember from your chemistry lab. Burns great, too!

Michael

Let's talk turkey

I decided this morning to make broth, because it was that sort of day. When I was at the butcher's, I enquired about chicken wings (the cheapest cut mentioned in their list) and explained my purpose.

Andrea helpfully asked if it might be good to have a turkey-chicken mixture...certainly!

I heard the "whirr-kzing!" of an electric saw, and he came back out with two carcass parts.

This is what my "wings" looked like after I'd roasted them:

Love,

Alexandra