Black Friday/Ettore's 5th Birthday
By no means am I a "wait in line in the cold for three hours before the store opens" Black Friday shopper, but once that opened up for virtual buys, I was in. We have an advantage here, being seven hours ahead of the time in Minnesota. I'm mainly interested in travel deals and, if I can find the perfect thing, a Christmas gift or two.
Skipping makeup or anything following my shower other than throwing on clothes, I went upstairs, where Ettore the Birthday Boy spied one of his gifts I was taking up to wrap.
"Happy Birthday!" He was eyeing the gift and running late for school. " Do you want to take that one now, and open the others later?" I asked, knowing the answer before he took it and ran.
Now to do some online shopping.
I booked a non-Black Friday deal excursion for Joe's family, for when we're all in Mexico in January: Tulum, cenotes snorkeling, zip lining through the jungle. Good to book now because a group our size is difficult to squeeze in at the last minute.
I tried booking a Ryanair gift card as a thank you for Vincenzo and Mariella, but there's some glitch that will require me to figure out the name as it appears on Vincenzo's passport. This will be tricky.
And I didn't book, but put a hold on a Thailand+India cruise next fall. Our belated honeymoon. I've never done a cruise, but I have friends who rave about Celebrity, and Asia may be a good maiden voyage. Friends who are now in Singapore on this boutique cruise line have had incredible daily experiences in beautiful places.
As I was internetting, a message popped up from Jay Greco, an expat here who's holding a little learning session on buying a house in Italy. He's been helpful to me on other occasional issues, and the messenger app displayed an answer from one of my previous questions. We got to online chatting; his wife is from Adrano, so they come this way often. They live in Catania on Corso Umberto near via Etnea which, if you remember from previous posts, is like the Rodeo Drive or the Champs Elysees of Catania. That's a sweet little set up he has! We chatted a bit about our curriculum vitae, namely our ages, kids, etc. Perhaps before we leave in December, we'll get a coffee together with him in Catania.
I finally had to get out of my chair. Waking up with a massive headache (I blame the tryptophan in my system), I had to face the detritus that is yesterday's cooking aftermath. I continued cleaning afterward the kitchen clean-up, and scrubbed down the apartment, although not a full court press, and did my daily laundry. I hadn't yet combed my hair or put on makeup, as it's one of those days where even my eyebrows hurt. Maybe it's due to a short sleep. Or, again, the turkey.
As I cleaned, I finished eating the pumpkin pie, which I thought turned out pretty great (Joe prefers my failed apple version), and decided I'd call that lunch, or several lunches, since I ate three pieces and was stuffed. I should've known better, because it's venerdi pesce, and suddenly Joe said, time to go to Mariella's for linguine e vongole. Since that's one of my favorite dishes, especially when she cooks it, I couldn't say no. I'm going to explode.
After lunch, Ettore sweetly asked if we could play together with the dinosaur kit I handed him this morning. We had a giggly, really fun time, putting together these dinosaurs that were part construction kit, part prehistoric animals. He liked it. Some stickers and watercolors, some puzzle piecing, a little bit of acrobatics (the dinosaurs), then abruptly -- he announced he's going home. What? We were having so much fun! What I think is going on, is that now that he's in school, he's "on" all day. Then to come home and be on again, speaking English, even though we're having fun, must be exhausting. I know when I've been translating all day, my brain is mush by nighttime!
I spent some time trying to look halfway decent, then we were off to Sala Feste Cartoonito, a children's party venue. We like these kids' birthday parties, as we're surrounded by the joyful children that other people attend to, there's food that rivals what's served at most US weddings, and there's beer.
Fina explained to us that Vincenzo owns the place. What? Do they own the whole eastern Cape of Sicily? Between Taormina, Biancavilla, and an offshoot spot -- Milan, they have property interest all over the place. Giuseppe Rapisarda (oldest brother) bought out Vincenzo's partner (and brother), and Elena is taking over for Vincenzo in this space. It's an 800m place with apartments above. Vincenzo at one time used it as a warehouse and storefront for his agrumi (citrus) business, which was fueled by migrant workers. Recognizing the value of a good worker, he paid them a living wage and when he had this building for that agri-purpose, he housed them in the nice apartments above. Now, the warehouse/store on the first level is rented out by Cartoonito, and the apartments above have regular tenants. This guy has the Midas touch, but what's really golden is his heart.
I weakened at the knees in sight of the tavola calda, and had an arancino, and two huge involtini. As they say here, "Dieta domani". Diet tomorrow.
We rode home with Fina and Giovanna, and I'm ready to crash--into bed.
Happy mayhem and attempts at photos:
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