The Last "Supper"

Awake at 6:15. Early for me. 

A quick scrub-up, as the kitchen needed it, then I booked the airport hotel, who confirmed during my call that their shuttle doesn't begin until 5:00 am. But they'll call a taxi. If we were backpackers, we'd just make the 10-minute walk to the airport, but we have heavy luggage, and that will be troublesome at 4:30 in the morning. Have you seen me at 4:30 in the morning? I barely function.

I then took some time once Joe was up, to begin systemizing my luggage downstairs.

After a quick shower, it's nearly noon. I need a walk or something. I think I had 27 steps total yesterday. And two pieces of torta.

I decided to peruse via Gemma by daylight. It just runs for a short stretch. I checked out the Vende posts.

Not for sale, but I've always wanted a banister like this.

This place looks in good shape

It's hard to judge a book by its cover in Italy

I thought it was cute that this little guy was out on venerdì pesce. The smells from the window are enticing!

I wanted to get a bottle of wine to have on hand this week, so I walked to the Decò near Scandura, checking out the Metro station along the way. I still don't know if it's in operation. It's clean, all the lights are on, but the ticket turnstiles are broken or off, or everyone has switched to using an app.

At Decò, I found a delicious looking panettone; orange peel and dark chocolate. I also found more of the Nerello Cappuccio. While in line at Decò, my phone rang. Mariella is making sure we'll join them for venerdì pesce today. Yes; I'm leaving Decò but will be home by 1:15. I had worn a jacket, but five minutes into my walk, that and my lightweight sweater came off. It's pleasantly warm.

Eggs are unrefrigerated and sometimes next to the Windex

On the way back, Giuseppe Greco stopped me. I got into the car with he and the boys, to ride that last block home with them. We popped into Mariella's, dropping off the panettone, then I dashed upstairs to get a nice Cusamano white to go with our linguine con vongole for lunch. Mariella makes a topping of bread crumbs and calamari, which is incredible, and her vongole is made macchiato, the same way I do it, with cherry tomatoes. The little clams that she gets from Giuseppe, her fish guy, are like candy. Even Matteo can't stop eating them once he starts.

This will be our last linguine con vongole here, until next time.

Mariella called Alessandro to join us for the panettone. I could tell Vincenzo liked it by the noises he made! In fact, it was very good. Agnese and Ettore gave it a thumbs up.

Mariella's presepe. I like how she lined up the three wise men. All pieces are Thun, a high-end ceramicist with signature rounded forms and a golden palette. Elena's dishes are also Thun.

After that meal, I conked out on one of the six sofas in this apartment. I just realized that. Three in the ballroom-turned-play area, one in the office we sometimes use as a bedroom, and two in our living room! Two of them transform into pretty comfy beds.

Still full from lunch, I asked Joe if he wanted to walk to Scandura and have a drink, knowing that we'll get a mini dinner to accompany it.

Sure enough, one Negroni and one Campari and soda later, we had a tray of four mini pizzas (pizzette), two arancini, and a small bowl of olives. Perfect.

We talked about the reality of living here. I'm always busy with something, or intentionally relaxing, but not having a car this trip really pointed things out for us. It's hard for Joe, as many of the guys here, or some of them anyway, are either busy with work or with their grandchildren. There's not someone to hang out with during the day besides me, and it can be isolating, especially when I'm off with Marisa and the gang. And when there is occasion to hang out with people, our command of the language is good, but it's not perfect. These are all real things with expats. 

Not just expats, as I told Joe. I feel very isolated when we visit Arizona. We both love all the people in both places, but even in AZ, the family has its own exclusive language. And we're often without a car there. I joked, at least in Italy, you can walk to many places for a bite or a caffè or a drink, and the food and coffee are better! No singling out AZ; the food is better than most anywhere in the US.

I understand how it's hard sometimes here, because of being in that similar situation. But I haven't been in it 2-3 months at a time. That's asking a lot.

We discussed looking at centrally located places nearby; ones with a healthy expat community, near a bigger city. That might allow us a weekly or monthly or somewhere in between get-together with people in the same boat. I said that the first thing we need to know, is how on board with this are we both? It has to be something we want together, or nothing works.

The other option is that I get something really inexpensive, and plan to come back to work on it poco a poco, staying with the family in the meantime. If it tanks, then the loss is equivalent to what I'd pay for a car.

People who vacation for a quick trip to Italy, then declare they're moving here, really need to know the difference between those two worlds. 

Anyway; food for thought. Chewy food.

The arancini and two pizzette were the 

first to disappear 

Scandura's display of gift ideas

Towers of panettone in front of the (excellent) chocolatier

My Achilles heel

Outside Scandura, by night

Now home, I realize I left the bedroom scattered with my in-progress packing. One thing I discovered when sorting my stuff this morning is that my jeans barely fit anymore. This is the usual story here, but we get home and land right in the midst of all the holiday food! What's the expression? Right! 

Dieta domani!