Tutti Frutti

As promised, I show you the shop where I pick up fruit and veg in the mornings. Run by Luca and his wife (Francesca? I don't know her name, whoops!), they have lovely produce that generally costs about the same as the "regular" (not on-sale) prices at the grocery store. And if I want something special, I only have to ask, and it will be there within a few days...just for me! Pink Lady apples, check! Butternut squash, check!

Located in the main piazza, just 140 paces away
from the house

Impressive signage, per Todi tradition

Once inside, though, it's charming!

Soaps and household products neatly displayed;
semi-fresh (partially dried) pasta in foreground

Wine, olive oil, jams on the right

Fruit and veg, nicely displayed, and a ton of
fresh variety

Six apple varieties, 4 types of pear,
two lemon varieties, and so on

So, there you have it! This morning, I bought the daintiest little zucchini you've ever seen!

Love,

Alexandra

Grocery Stores: A Little with a Lot!

I realized today that perhaps I have mentioned going to the grocery store, without helping you understand what that means. And since it's rather different from the average American experience, I thought I would share it with you.

First step, get the bags. You're charged for any new plastic bags you get from the grocery store. As a result, we have a bajillion reusable bags.

Then, walk out of the door. Cross the piazza -- about a bus length and a half (it's a small piazza). And you see in front of you:



Inside, this tiny shop is crammed with (almost) anything you need. Antonella may not have EVERY item, but just about.

Main aisle as you walk in. Tomato products
on the right along with tuna and other
 canned foods, cookies/coffee/tea/other stuff on left.

Admire the main section, leading to the deli case. Note that the eggs are stored on the shelf behind Antonella, along with the baking supplies. The bread is stored underneath the counter; she offers about six different types.

To your left as you walk in.
Cereal on the bottom, crackers above.

This is a sliver of space to the right as you enter.
It must protrude into the neighboring building.
(And this is the cleaning supplies aisle)

Cheese, olives, salami, and prosciutto

Meat and milk. Note the LARGE pasta
selection on the shelves behind!

Shampoo, toiletries, drinks

Behind Antonella (l) are the eggs and spices

The Dairy Secion

Fruit. Veg is on the other side,
around the corner

Antonella does have a produce section, but I usually purchase my produce at the "Frutta e Verdura" shop in the main piazza. That will be something for you to look forward to on my next blog post.

Truthfully, I tend to do my daily shops here, only...meaning the longer-term items like toilet paper and cereal are purchased at the supermarket down the hill. However, I can find just about anything I want here... and Antonella always helps me remember the things I'm likely to forget (like bread).

Love,

Alexandra

The Anatomy of a Kitchen

After our post on the new kitchen, I had several people ask about different elements of the layout. I therefore decided to share some of the features and explain some of the differences between a common American kitchen and a basic/not hugely expensive Italian kitchen.

To begin with, the cost of the kitchen redo was a fraction of the cost of a typical American kitchen. Kitchens are NOT included in a house sale, so they are typically not built-in, but rather are modular units (think Ikea style). As a result, market forces have driven local costs down over time. For reference, Michael priced a similar set of Ikea cabinets in the US versus here (it wasn't completely available, since not all the appliances are comparable)...and the cost in the US was roughly five TIMES the cost of the Italian version.

Let's start with the fridge. Our fridge is much larger than we had before and is considered a medium-sized fridge by local standards.

The fridge is the right-hand cabinet

It also includes...a freezer! Our former freezer was a corner cut out of the fridge, much like you would find in a dorm room.

Freezer!

Okay, so the fridge is a wee bit small compared to American standards. What do I not like? Well, the obvious: it doesn't hold as much. What do I like about it? We don't waste anywhere near the same amount of food as we did before. We buy daily. The food is fresh. And we generally know what our needs will be for that day. It also uses a fraction of the energy.

Next: the oven. Generally ovens are electric, and generally have a convection setting. Note that ours has a preset "pizza" cooking level. This is a normal oven, and is rather small by my standards. It is plugged into the wall rather than being hardwired, and just has a normal plug.

Pizza: bottom center

Now for the stove. Stoves here are virtually all gas. You will occasionally find an auxiliary electric burner built in. However, there are two considerations: electricity here is rather spendy and you have a limited electrical service (meaning only one major appliance can run at a time...in this case, one burner would be a major appliance). So, gas stoves are the stovetop of choice.

Note the gas hookup in the corner. Yes, it is surface-mounted gas piping. And, yes, that is a non-GFCI-protected outlet into which plug the fan and the stove (for the ignition! No more lighters!). None of the outlets in the kitchen have GFCI protection.

Gas must be switched off if you leave
for vacation

Not required in an Italian kitchen, but considered a major plus:

Yes, that's right. The fireplace. The kids and I did a smoke test the other day and determined that the chimney does draw. So we think we may even learn to cook over the fire this winter!

What do you notice I haven't mentioned? Did you guess? The dishwasher. Dishwashers certainly exist here -- and plenty of people have them -- but they are by no means considered an indispensable appliance. We elected to continue without a dishwasher (or rather, with 5 dish washers), but did upgrade to a double sink: a luxury.  (Oh, and under the sink, they have a metal liner rather than the expected MDF, which should help with the longevity). Our reasoning? Again, a dishwasher is a "major appliance" and we really wanted the cabinet space instead.

Love,

Alexandra

The Cycle of Life

Since we have been here, there have been three deaths that have affected us more or less directly (knowing the person or relatives, for example), three weddings, and three births.

The most recent death is terribly sad, and I wanted to tell you about how the town has mourned together. A local businessman who was very much in the forefront of the commercial community here ended up in tremendous debt (according to local gossip; I have no real information) and hanged himself in his shop just after lunch one day. He leaves his wife and two small (3 and 6) children.

We didn't know him personally, but we were very touched to see the collaboration among the shops inside and outside the walls. The death occurred on a Friday. Saturday morning, you could see in EVERY shop window (no exceptions) a printer-size piece of paper with a black ribbon and "Grazie Roberto" written on it. Saturday afternoon (a huge business day for everyone, particularly since we're at the end of the tourist season), all the shops closed to honor him. And Sunday, the day of the funeral, all activities were called off. The funeral was at Crocefisso (just outside the walls, and very near his shop), and it was absolutely swarming.

In the midst of this grief, I was heartened to see the coming together of the community. This has been such a tough time economically for this small city, and of course during stress, tensions can come into play. All of this was put aside in order to allow everyone to grieve together.

On a happier note, Florence, Jeremy, and I sang at a wedding on Sunday down at Consolazione. It was an absolutely charming affair, and rather different in a few ways from other weddings we've attended. To begin with, the church was still occupied by the earlier event (50th anniversary Mass) at 11:30, the time the wedding was supposed to begin. At 11:35, participants started pouring out of the church, and so others pushed their way in simultaneously (the choir included!).

At about 11:45, there were partially robed guest priests looking for the bathroom (to be found at the bar across the street...no water in the church), a singer warming up, the PA system being balanced, and just general mayhem.

At 11:55, something lovely happened: while to all appearances, nothing was going to happen anytime soon, our conductor told us to start the first hymn. Okay, then! We started up this cheerful hymn with the theme of the Wedding of Cana, and the entry doors were suddenly surrounded by guests, and the priest was at the doorway greeting the couple -- who walked inside arm in arm. The three of them walked up together.

Since it was a Sunday Mass, we had the regularly scheduled readings. The priest shooed off the photographers during his homily, stating that he and the couple had worked very hard to prepare for this homily, and that they were just being distracting (!!!). Good for him. The sweet thing? He was able to chew them out by name because of course he knew them all. Later, when he needed help handling everything (no altar servers, for some reason), he called another fellow up onto the altar to give him a hand... All in all, it was a very warm, loving, family-oriented wedding and we felt very fortunate to have had the chance to attend.

And babies? It's such fun to see "my" babies coming up or down the street and to snatch a cuddle!

Love,

Alexandra

Pests

When I was singing at a wedding yesterday, I saw a smallish creature crawling around on the floor of the church. Cricket? Largish spider? I couldn't quite tell.

But that got me to thinking about the pests we have here.

I haven't seen a cockroach since we've been here...and since that is my least favorite of the possible pests, that makes me happy.

So, what pests do we have?

Depending on the season (and because we keep the doors and windows open most of the time), we have big, fat, lazy flies that you can kill with your hand...or (as Michael and Jeremy prefer) by shooting a rubber band.

Late spring, we have something nasty called pappataci (a type of sandfly), which will give a wicked bite: looks like a mosquito bite, but bigger and with a clear liquid head on it. Fortunately, their season isn't long. Of course, we have mosquitoes, too, but there don't really seem to be that many.

At some time, we get fruit flies. They were at their peak about 2 weeks ago, so that could give you some idea.

Bigger stuff?

Well, hmm. Depends on what you call a pest. With the windows open, we have had bats fly into the house a couple of times (easily removed...the first one, I just shut the door from the family room to the rest of the house and pretended I hadn't seen it. By the morning, it was gone....the second got stunned and we covered it with a hat for safe removal). We've also had a young swift come in by mistake.

And it would be dishonest not to tell you about rats. Yes, rats. But, before you get hysterical, I have to say that the very few I've seen have been tiny (size of a gerbil) and rather cute. I did see a flat corpse in the road once that looked like it might have been the size of a small domestic rat, too. They have not been in our main apartment ever, but we did have a funny story with one that entered the second apartment over a year ago, which is far too long to type. If you're desperate to hear it, ask Michael!

I nearly forgot to mention the lizards, iguanas, and pigeons. Depending on your tastes, I suppose those could be considered pests. We've never had a pigeon enter the house, but we do occasionally have reptilian visitors.

It's all a matter of taste, I suppose. But I have to say I LOVE the lack of cockroaches...oh, and those nasty crickets that used to get in our basement!

Love,

Alexandra

Making New Friends!

I had to take Faith to the vet today for some immunization or other. As is usual for me in Perugia, I got lost. But I digress.

As we were chatting, the vet asked what I would think about taking on a guinea pig. Hmm. I asked how the pigs generally get along with bunnies, and got a positive response. So we decided to introduce them.

Meet Rose! (and she and Faith are even color coordinated!)

Love,

Alexandra

A Knighting Ceremony

A week ago, there was a knighting ceremony in the piazza, for the knights templar. Arcus Tuder was asked to participate, and we did… but we didn't shoot. Our job was to process through the piazza, stand in a circle around the knights during the ceremony and process up some steps, into a government owned room, where we listened to a lecture on the Knights Templar. And then repeat the whole process in reverse. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of tourists took pictures of me, because I was the only one smiling.

I'll attach a few pictures.

Ciao,

Florence