Homemade Tomato Sauce!

Today was my last day in Italy, and it was the best last day anyone could ask for!  Although it was raining off and on throughout the day, my host family, friends, and I made homemade tomato sauce.  It was such a long and tedious process, but it was definitely worth it!

To get started, Michela bought 100 kilograms of tomatoes, which is equal to about 220 pounds of tomatoes.  Before we could put the 220 pounds of tomatoes into the tomato machine, the tomatoes had to be washed, dried, and sliced.  Boy, did that take forever!  After the tomatoes were washed, dried, and sliced we placed them in pillow cases so that the water could drain.  Otherwise the sauce would be too watery and not very tasty.  After the tomatoes were drained, it was time to put them through the machine.  The machine created sauce from the inside of the tomatoes, and it spat out the outer part of the tomatoes.

There were actually 4 containers of tomatoes

washing, drying, and getting ready to slice

Slicing

Sliced!

pillow cases filled with tomatoes draining... they were everywhere!

Ran out of pillow cases

Tomato machine making sauce!

After the sauce came from the machine, it was time to bottle it all up!  We had too many to count glass jars to hold the tomato sauce.  Once it was all bottled up, it was time for sterilization.  In order for the tomato sauce to keep for however long it needs to keep, the sauce needs to be cooked.  We placed all of the bottled up tomato sauce in a large canister, which was filled with water.  Once the water comes to a boil, it boils for one hour to cook the tomato sauce in the jars.  After that, the sauce is ready for use or storage.

Just a few of the tomato sauce bottles

Time to cook the sauce!

With that gigantic canister filled with all of the bottles of tomato sauce, I am going to say that it just started to boil after being lit for almost 4 hours (it is 11pm right now).  It will boil for an hour, and then we will put out the flame.  Hopefully, the tomato sauce will be ready, so I can bring home a jar or two with me!

After a long and exhausting day of making tomato sauce, I can safely say that I am OK with not seeing tomatoes for a very, very long time.  Once the clean-up was done, we all relaxed and had a homemade lasagna, not with the fresh tomato sauce.  We did try out a batch of the sauce at lunch poured over the spaghetti.  You just add some garlic and salt to the tomato sauce, and it was absolutely delicious.  Making tomato sauce is extremely easy even though it takes a lot of time, but it is totally worth it.  Hopefully it will be cool enough to pack in my suitcase before I leave tomorrow morning!

Falling for Tennis

On Friday night I went to the Guzzini Challenger Recanati 2012 with Michela and Gregorio.  There we were able to watch professional tennis players.  The tennis tournament is played over many days, and many tennis players from different countries come to play.  I was able to watch Korolev (Kazakhstan) v. Menendez- Maceiras (Spain).  Tennis is such an intense sport, and Menendez was so serious during the match.  He complained about every five minutes about the crowd being too noisy, or he would throw his racket down after Korolev would win a set.  With that being said, Korolev won, and I am happy he did!

After the match was won by Korolev, we grabbed pizza and then returned to watch a doubles match.  The match was the Australians v. Italians.  I have always only watched singles, so it was interesting to see a doubles match.  There were some technical difficulties during the match because the microphone system was getting out of whack causing noises.  It was very distracting to the players.  After the Australians won the first set, we left to go home for the night.

This summer I have become really interested in tennis.  Wimbledon was the beginning of my love affair with tennis.  Watching Gregorio play throughout the week at lessons and matches has also made me more interested in tennis.  Finally, last night at the tournament made me really start to like it.  I think I might have to go buy a racket.

New Friend!

The last few weeks I have been corresponding with Courtney.  She and I connected through Geovisions because we are both staying in the Marche region in Italy.  We have been emailing back and forth, talking about our trips and questions about the program and place.  We really wanted to meet up because it is so nice when you have somebody in the area that you can relate to.  I am not saying you can't relate to the Italians and their culture, but after being so immersed in the culture it is nice to talk to someone who knows your background a bit.  Anways, Coutney just arrived this past weekend, and I am leaving next Tuesday.  We both have our crazy schedules, so we tried to coordinate so that we could meet up just once.  Well, we made it happen!

Last night I drove to Monterubbiano to pick up Courtney, so we could drive down to Porto San Giorgio, which is right on the water.  My host family let me borrow the car because the trains stop running after a certain hour, and I didn't want to risk getting stuck somewhere.  Anyways, I drove to pick up Courtney.  The navigator in the car got me to the right vicinity, but could not link me directly to the house.  Boy was that a trip.  I followed the signs to Monterubbiano, and I knew she was staying on top of a hill on the right with a gated entrance and a yellowish house.  As I was driving, there were hills everywhere!  And there were yellowish houses with gates everywhere!  We were playing phone tag trying to figure out what was around the home that I could look for.  As I am driving down the road, Courtney calls me back and she said, "I am pretty sure I just saw your car!" and I immediately said, "oh goody!  I am turning around now."  As soon as I turned the car around, I could see the windmill that she said was a little landmark for her home.  I was so ecstatic to find the house!  In Italy, the roads aren't well labeled, but they have signs for all the towns with arrows pointing you in their direction.  It is very chaotic.

We were able to head into Porto San Giorgio for a few hours.  We checked out a festival that was going on.  Vendors were selling everything you could think of... purses, shoes, pottery, jewelry, ceramics, and so much more.  I restrained myself from making purchases.  We walked along the beach where there were tons of restaurants.  We just picked a random pizzeria.  The food was good, of course.  After dinner we got dessert.  Who could pass up real Italian gelato?  Not us!  Afterwards we headed back to the car, and I drove her back home and then went home myself.  I must say driving at night on the autostrada is insane!  People drive so fast in their cars, and they come out of nowhere!  I made it home close to midnight, and my host family was still up as they were entertaining work colleagues.  All in all, it was an awesome day!

Oh Monday

Today was a quiet Monday.  This morning Gregorio and I had our English lesson because he stalled for so long, we had some of it in the car as I was driving us to his grandmother's house for lunch.  Yes, I am driving here in Italy.  I had some practice last year, and I will just tell you that Gregorio thinks I am an awesome driver.

Nina looking out the back and Gregorio buckled up in the back seat.

After lunch we returned home for a quiet afternoon.  We all did our own things.  Late afternoon Gregorio asked to get a butterfly net, and his mom needed things from the grocery store.  With that being said, Gregorio and I had ourselves a little trip to Porto Potenza Picena.  We stopped and got a butterfly net from a beach store, and we stopped at the super market for a few items.  I followed the list, but Gregorio helped me navigate the store.

When I got home, Michela was working and asked Alfredo to cook dinner.  That didn't work, so somehow I got put in charge of that task.  Let's just say that the Italians will never let me cook for them again.  I made frittata.  How could I go wrong?  I have no idea.  I make it all the time at home, and it has never come out as terrible as it did tonight.  The family were real troopers, but I was extremely embarrassed for myself.  And no.  No, I will not be posting pictures of the dinner.

After dinner, Michela had another task for me.  She wanted to put her home on a swapping website.  Similar to the movie, "The Holiday," you advertise your home online.  You try to swap with another family in an area that you are interested in going.  I helped Michela by writing the home's information in English and teaching her how to upload photos using iPhoto.  After hours of understanding iPhoto in Italian and explaining to her what the website was saying in English, the advertisement for her home came out perfectly.  So, if you are interested in coming to my beautiful summer home, then here is your chance.  Here is the link to the website  LOVE HOME SWAP

Preview of the website

There you have it.  My quiet Monday.  Now let's see what Tuesday has in store!

Stone Oven Pizza!

Today I left Verona, and I headed home to Potenza Picena.  Samir picked me up from the train station.  I was absolutely exhausted and could have fallen asleep on the way home, but that didn't happen.  The driver of the vehicle decided it was more important to watch the people on the beach instead of keeping eyes on the road.  About every three minutes our car would come to a screeching halt to avoid hitting the car in front of us.  As we came to a screeching halt, all of the work tools (and what sounded like beer bottles) would go flying around in the back of the work truck.  Needless to say, I made it home wide awake and alive.

After a quick dip in the pool, I headed to the outdoor kitchen where I was able to help Michela make some homemade pizza.  Italian pizza and American pizza are two completely different things, and I will choose Italian pizza any day.  The Italian pizza has such thin crust and all natural and fresh ingredients for toppings.  You can eat one entire 12 inch pizza by yourself in Italy, whereas in America you would be struggling after two pieces of pizza.

the dough was separated into 12 balls to make 12 pizzas

rolling the dough

adding tomato sauce to some of the pizzas

Now for the toppings (salami, cotta, prosciutto, tomatoes, anchovies, salt, cheese, onions)

we need some white pizza too, just olive oil and salt and some backyard herbs

white pizza with olive oil, onions, and salt

pizza in the stone oven

time to cut and eat :)

The pizza was delicious!  Now if I can just invest in my own personal stone oven, then this pizza thing would be a piece of cake.

The City of Verona

On Friday morning I left for the city of Verona.  I took two trains, and finally made it to my hotel around 4:30 in the afternoon.  The tricky things about trains in Italy is that sometimes they run late, which means you could miss your connecting train, and it takes forever to get to wherever you are going with all the stops.  I was able to settle into the Hotel Colombo d'Ora with no problem.  I asked for a map of the place, and then I decided to take a little walk around to see what was happening and do some shopping.

After walking around and checking out the shops, I was ready to call it a night.  I headed back to the hotel watched some TV, updated pictures, and chatted with the family via Skype.  I got a great night's sleep, and I had a good breakfast that set me up for a nice day in Verona.

I mapped out my assault on the city of Verona.  I had a sense of where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to see.  I decided I was going to walk along the river that weaved through the center of Verona.   My first stop was Castelvecchio con il Ponte Scaligero.  From there I was looking for the Arco de Gavi.  I had the hardest time finding it.  After walking in circles for about ten minutes I realized the Arch was being excavated (as are half of the churches in Italy).  I continued on to Chiesa di S. Lorenzo, and then I walked along the river.  There was a really nice breeze, so it wasn't too hot yet.

Castelvecchio

Courtyard of Castelvecchio 

Clock Tower of Castelvecchio

Chiesa di S. Lorenzo

Porta Iova o dei Borsari

Chiesa di S.ta Eufemia

view along the river

view along the river

After walking along the river, I came to the Duomo.  They were very strict about dress code that they even had scarves for the girls who didn't have their shoulders covered.  From the Duomo, I continued walking along the river where I came to see the Ponte Pietra and the Teatro Romano.  I started walking away from the river back to the center of Verona.  There I saw the Piazza dei Signori and the Chiesa S.ta Maria Antica.  As I was headed to Piazza Erbe to do some shopping, I just so happened to walk by the Capulet House and Juliet's Balcony.

Chiesa del Duomo

Ponte Pietra

Ponte Pietra

Teatro Romano

Piazza dei Signori

Dante

Piazza Erbe

Juliet's Balcony at the House of Capulets

Love Letters to Juliet

Verona was a lot smaller than I figured because I did all of this sightseeing in the morning.  I even had time for a little nap this afternoon before I headed back out.  After my little nap I headed back out to the streets of Verona, where I walked to the Anfiteatro Arena.  Surrounding the theater were stage props.  It looked like they were getting ready to set up for a show in the Arena.  I must say that as I was walking around, I saw so many high end shops.  You would think that you were in Florence or Milan with all the shopping available.  All the tourists were carrying big bags of items from the high end stores.  Verona was a beautiful place, and now I just have to sleep and get to the train station in the morning to get back to Civitanova for a birthday party!

Viva Ferrari!

What started as a quiet Wednesday morning and afternoon, ended up being an amazing and out of this world night!  Today I was just hanging around the house and going to Gregorio's tennis match.  After the match Alfredo asked me if I wanted to go see a Ferrari.  In my head I was like, "What's the big deal about a Ferrari? You showed me one last summer, and we rode in it to get pizza."  I said I would go, and then he went on to explain that it was a grand opening of a new Ferrari dealership in Ancona, Italy.  That's when it got big!

After the tennis match that Gregorio won, we zoomed back to the house in Alfredo's porsche to get showered and ready.  Gregorio isn't big into cars, so he stayed home with Michela.  Meanwhile, Alfredo and I along with his cousin raced on up to Ancona.  There we found the Ferrari and Maserati dealership.

Ferrari and Maserati Dealership

In order to get into the dealership for the event you had to be on the guest list.  Lucky me, I knew someone who was on the guest list.  You walked into the dealership and the place was lined with Ferraris.  People who owned the Ferraris and Maserati's were asked to park them along the dealership to allow guests to see them.  I wasn't a big car person, but I guess you can say after this event, I am definitely into high end cars!

Alfredo and his cousin admiring the cars

Look at the poor people behind the fence that weren't on the guest list :(

There was a red carpet that led you into the dealership where models were being shown.  Wine and appetizers were being served to all the guests.  In the entrance of the dealership was the covered new Ferrari that was going to be unveiled.  We arrived about 8 pm and we walked around to look at the Ferraris until the President of Ferrari, Luca Cordero, arrived.  He entered while photographers were snapping pictures and news cameras were rolling.  He gave a welcome speech, and then he unveiled the new Ferrari.

Veiled New Ferrari

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, President of Ferrari

Speech before the unveiling

Luca showing off the new Ferrari

It was neat to have a real Ferrari experience.  This was my second experience as my first experience was last summer when I got to ride in one!  I am starting to think that I am either going to have to marry really rich or start saving a lot of money, so I can buy a Ferrari!

As Luca said at the end of his speech, "Viva Ferrari!"