Vitamin D, Thanksgiving, and Toy Poodles in Italy

I had the most amazing week in Cortona. It was a much needed break from the rain, cold, and darkness and a great excuse to spend time with family, eat, and relax.


SUNDAY
When Matt and I arrived back in Florence, Auntie Jeanette and Enzo picked me up around 1:15pm from the Florence train station. We stopped for a quick lunch of sandwiches and then headed to Pisa to drop Auntie Jeanette off (she stayed there until Wednesday morning). It was really nice of them to pick me up and bring me back to Cortona. During the drive back, I took a snooze in the front seat...for Enzo's sake, I hope I didn't snore.

We arrived at Casa Chilenne B&B around 5:30pm. Uncle Luciano, Carlotta, and Daisy greeted me at the door. At 8pm, after taking what was the best shower I've had since arriving in Europe and relaxing for a bit, we all went out to dinner (dogs included). We went to the Trattoria that Auntie Jeanette and Uncle Luciano took my family a few times when we visited during the summer of 2008...it brought back fond memories of our Italian vacation together. I ordered a Margherita pizza, it was sooooo good. I had been craving a good pizza (I bought one at Pizza 2000, a a place cross the street from my dorm, a few weeks prior...terrible, terrible mistake). Uncle Luciano ordered the fried plate, it came with calamari, french fries, and onion rings. Luca served us, my family's favorite waiter, but I don't think he remembered me. After eating the entire pizza, Luca basically force fed me a piece of cake (I was so full, but he said I had to have dessert. I couldn't refuse). While I was indulging in this slice of cream cake, all I could think was "I'm going to eat so well and so much this week, yes!"

After dinner, we headed back to their B&B and I immediately went to sleep. It was much needed, considering that I didn't get more than 3 consecutive hours of sleep in the past 24 hours.


MONDAY
The next morning, I woke up around 10:30am and went for a nice run around the mountain. The view was just as I had remembered it, spectacular and beautiful. I was caught off-guard by the sun, it was as though I had forgot what warmth and light were. Being in the dark, rain, and cold can do that to you.

After the run, I had lunch. Auntie Jeanette gave me a whole rundown of all the food in the kitchen while we were driving to Pisa the day before and when we spoke on the phone that day...reminding me of all the food that she had stocked up. Everything from tofu and green beans in the fridge, to cereal and almonds were up for grabs. Uncle Luciano and Auntie Jeanette really spoiled me during that week, I'm still so grateful!

For the rest of the day, until dinnertime, I worked on my term paper on the balcony of the B&B. I wanted to take advantage of the sun again, because I knew I wouldn't have that chance when I got back to Copenhagen.

Let there be light!

Uncle Luciano took me out to dinner again that night, we went to a different restaurant. We shared a bruschetta plate and I had spinach ravioli and mushrooms for dinner. I spent some time with Uncle Luciano after we ate and then went up to my room, watched Tangled, and then went to bed.


TUESDAY
Tuesday was pretty much a repeat of Monday's events except instead of going out to dinner, we stayed at the B&B and cooked dinner. I made a green bean and tofu stir-fry, Uncle Luciano had some...I don't think he was too keen of the vegetarian aspect of it. During my stay, he always teased me about not eating meat.

It was that night when we watched the tv show Terra Nova together in the breakfast room of the B&B. I had never seen it before, so as you may expect, I had absolutely no idea what was going on during the seventh and eighth episodes of the season. To make matters even more confusing, the first episode we watched was dubbed in Italian. For the second episode, Uncle Luciano switched the language to English (which was very considerate of him) so I could understand what was going on. We saw two episodes together...you know you're living in the 21st century when you have family bonding over a Jurassic Park-esque show. The dogs, Carlotta and her baby, Daisy, sat on our laps and thoroughly enjoyed being rubbed and scratched (playing with the dogs was one of the many highlights of this trip) At one point, when I left the room during a commercial break, he called me from the room to let me know it was back on. Too sweet of him.

After getting my fix of dinosaurs, the Shannon family, 2149, and the Sixers (if you don't know what I'm taking about, watch the show), I said good night to the dogs and Uncle Luciano and then went to bed.

WEDNESDAY
Auntie Jeanette returned from Pisa. All of us drove to the Camucia-Cortona train station that morning to pick her up. It was great to have her back, plus she was a translator for me since it was difficult to communicate with Uncle Luciano. There was a lot of hand gestures, "si", "grazie", and fragmented English during those first few days.

We returned to the B&B and ate lunch together, a nice thick soup with bread and bruschetta. Auntie Jeanette whipped it up from scratch...honestly, Auntie Jeanette makes cooking look so easy. She finds whatever she has in her kitchen and makes something that tastes like it was from a gourmet restaurant. I don't know how she does it.

After lunch, Uncle Luciano and I went back to the train station to pick up my friend Lauren (I've known her since the 2nd grade and she's also studying in Copenhagen this semester). It was nice to have her visit Cortona and spend Thanksgiving with us. Immediately after dropping off her things in our room (we shared the lovely "Le Gazze" room), we took a walk with the dogs so she could see Cortona. We got back as the sun was going down and hung out in our room for awhile.  We had the chance to catch up since we hadn't seen each other for a few months (even though we were both living in Denmark).

Lauren with Carlotta and Daisy

 My cousin, Jamie, arrived that evening from Switzerland (Uncle Luciano had to do a lot of driving up and down from Cortona to the train station that day, poor guy). We all had dinner together that evening. Auntie Jeanette made a delicious minestrone soup with an omelette. It was a nice meal, of course. Lauren and I played with the dogs for awhile and hung out with Uncle Luciano and Auntie Jeanette, then went to bed.


THURSDAY
The next day was, of course...THANKSGIVING (at least in the US)!! I always look forward to the third Thursday of November because of all the delicious food and spending time with family. This year, I was excited to spend the holiday in Italy and experience the day there. That morning, Lauren, Jamie, and I woke up early and took the bus to the Camucia market. When my family visited a few years ago, we went to this open-air market where you can pretty much buy anything. I made Lauren buy a porchetta sandwich, when I used to eat meat, those were delicious (Papa, you know what I'm talking about). Lauren also bought a pair of gloves, Jamie bought a book, and I got some candy for my friends back in Copenhagen.

That dog is just waiting for a piece of porchetta to fall.

After an hour or so, we took the bus back up to Cortona. We arrived after 11am, in time to help Auntie Jeanette prepare all of the food for that evening's dinner. I definitely didn't want her to do all the prep work and cooking by herself. There was soooooo much to make, and I was glad to pitch in wherever needed. I helped prepare the green beans, peel the sweet potatoes, and decorate the cookies.

Later that afternoon, after helping out in the kitchen, Lauren and I took Carlotta and Daisy for a walk. We came back and Lauren helped Jamie de-feather the giant turkey that butcher brought over to the B&B that morning. While they were doing their thang with the bird, I met my friend, Matt at the bus stop (I've known him since the sixth grade and he's studying in Florence for the year). He would be joining us for Thanksgiving. He dropped his things off at the B&B and then I showed him around the town. After taking in the beautiful views and the quaint streets, Matt came to the conclusion that he loved Cortona!

After getting back from our walk, I decorated the chocolate-hazelnut cake that Auntie Jeanette whipped up with such ease. I put on the leaves (which I decorated earlier), "acorns" (cocoa dusted chocolate covered cherries), and the See's Candies fall colored leaves that my mom sent over from the States. In the end, it looked like a tree! It looked pretty impressive, I must say.

Fall themed cake

Then, I helped set Uncle Luciano set the table for dinner. Let me tell you, this was the first time I have "properly" set a table: perfectly lined up silverware in their correct spots, nicely placed water and wine glasses, folded napkins on the plates...I tell you, the whole works. Uncle Luciano showed me exactly how and where to put the utensils and dishware on the table. With his contagious smile, he even nicely corrected my uneven spoons and forks. I have to admit, I had a lot of fun joking around and laughing with Uncle Luciano...we definitely bonded over setting two tables with fifteen settings. If I learned anything from that extensive crash course in fine-dining table setting, it's always make sure everything looks even, in line, and presentable. Thanks for teaching me, Uncle Luciano, you have forever made me OCD about setting tables. Haha.

A work of art, if you ask me.

A little while after, the guests showed up. Besides everyone I already mentioned, there were several friends who joined the American meal. Auntie Jeanette gave a brief introduction, in Italian, about the essence of Thanksgiving.

"And this is Thanksgiving..." (spoken in Italian, of course)

Then, the starter was served. A delicious and creamy potato and leek soup was ladled into our bowls and topped with a little cream. When we were coming up with the menu, Auntie Jeanette said we needed to have an appetizer for the Italians who were used to having a starter before the main course. It was a good call, because the soup was really yummy...good preparation for the huge feast that lay ahead.

After everyone finished the soup, Auntie Jeanette brought out the giant turkey...on a cart. She carved it in front of everyone and served both the light and dark meat.

Auntie Jeanette and the giant turkey

Then, as you may expect, we brought out the side dishes and passed around the goods. It wasn't too long afterwards that we all dug in. I loved everything that Auntie Jeanette made (I didn't eat the turkey though, as you probably assumed). My absolute favorites were the cranberry-orange relish, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and the pies.

The complete menu included:

Appetizer:
potato leek soup

Main Course:
Turkey
Stuffing
Sweet Potatoes
Green bean salad
Cranberry-orange relish
Sticky Rice
Cornbread

Dessert:
Homemade apple pie (2 of them)
Homemade pumpkin pie (2 of them)
Chocolate-hazelnut cake
Apple tart

Potato-leek soup

Main course

Dessert

Everything was so great, and I have to say that Auntie Jeanette did an absolute amazing job preparing and cooking everything. I can't believe she pretty much made all of the food that day! So impressive! Thank you for doing that, Auntie Jeanette, the entire meal was delicious and the best I've had during my stay in Europe.

We chatted and lingered over the delicious food. When the guests left, I helped clear the tables and clean up. Then, we all headed to bed to embrace our respective food comas.


FRIDAY
In the morning, at 9am, Matt, Jamie, Lauren, and I went to an beginner's Italian course that one of Auntie Jeanette's friends was teaching. She was in the initial process of trying to get it off the ground, so we were her guinea pigs. Jamie stayed for the intermediate course and Matt, Lauren, and I went for a nice, long walk around Cortona. I took them on the path that my family and I walked when we visited. Around the mountain, past Frances Mayes' house, and to Santa Margherita. We also explored some of Cortona's streets, I hadn't seen them before so that was fun. One of the churches we went into had a segment of the cross that Jesus was crucified on and garb from St. Francis of Assisi, all of us were in awe.

Such a beautiful view!

Santa Margherita

Inside the gold box is part of the cross.

St. Francis of Assisi's robe

We headed back to the B&B and at 1pm all of us ate lunch together. One of my favorite parts about Thanksgiving at home is the leftovers, and being in Italy was no different when it came to that aspect. There was still a good amount of food left to fill our bellies (except the sweet potatoes quickly vanished the night before) and all of it was just as delicious as I had remembered. We even had pumpkin and apple pies for dessert!

When we finished eating and cleaning up, Auntie Jeanette took us to the Museum of the Etruscan Academy and the City of Cortona (MAEC). I went with my family, but it was nice to go again and refresh my memory...get some culture. We spent a little over an hour there and then headed back to the B&B. We stopped at a jewelry shop nearby and met an American friend of Auntie Jeanette's. Then we went back to our respective rooms and relaxed for a bit.

Matt left at 6pm. I walked him to the bus stop and we said our goodbyes. This time, it was a real goodbye since we won't see each other until at least June. So, it was tough to see him go...good thing we have Skype.

Lauren and I hung out for awhile and then headed back into the kitchen (that was the theme of this trip) to see if Auntie Jeanette needed help with dinner. She was making homemade pizza! One had lots of vegetables (zucchini, mushrooms, and red onions) and the other had vegetables with pepperoni. We also had cheese and bread during the meal. We watched some show, I think it was called "The Game of Thrones". It was dubbed in Italian, so I didn't have a clue what was going on. Let's just say, it was very gory and sexual...definitely an HBO show.

I spent my last night talking with Auntie Jeanette and cuddling with Daisy. After getting my dog fix, Lauren and I headed upstairs to bed.

Daisy is so cuddly

SATURDAY

The next morning, Jamie, Lauren, and I took a day trip to Florence. I had to go to Florence anyway to catch my flight, but Jamie and Lauren both had one more day in Italy. Neither had been to Florence so we took the train together. I said my goodbyes to Auntie Jeanette, Uncle Luciano, Carlotta, and Daisy at the platform.

When we arrived, I dropped my bag off at the luggage check so I wouldn't have to lug it around. We then went to the Duomo, Dante's house, and walked around the city. We sat in the piazza next to the Uffizi and ate a delicious bagged lunch that Auntie Jeanette packed us. I ate the carrots and apple then, but saved my sandwich (of cheese and leftover cranberry relish on foccacia) for the airport when I got hungry. I had to catch the 1pm shuttle bus to the airport, so the girls kindly walked with me back to the train station. We each bought a gelato on the way since Lauren and I said that we would have to have one before we left italy...we both had pistachio. Then, outside the gelato shop, I said goodbye to Lauren and Jamie, ran to pick up my bag (with gelato in hand) and get on the bus before it left. I made it just in time.

The Duomo

Yummy homemade sandwich! Reminds me of being in high school, when Mom always packed me a lunch.

After two flights (I had a layover in Paris), I made it back to Copenhagen after 10pm.


This trip to Cortona was a much-needed change of pace. It was great to finally see the sun. After experiencing non-stop rain, cold, and darkness, having light and warmth is a welcome change. I really miss my family back home, so spending time with Auntie Jeanette and Uncle Luciano was perfect. They are such perfect hosts, always very accommodating. Always making sure I was well-fed and warm (I learned my lesson after walking around the B&B barefoot...Uncle Luciano made sure I always wore socks from that point on. Haha). I loved sitting at the table and eating proper meals together.  I loved that Cortona is small and quiet, and that I could relax in a cozy bed, on the balcony, or in the dining room of the B&B...unlike my tiny one-bedroom apartment or the common room of Keops. I felt like I was at home during my week in Cortona, thank you so much for welcoming me and my friends, Auntie Jeanette and Uncle Luciano. I truly appreciate all you did for me while I was visiting. Can't wait to visit again soon!