Am I happy living in Italy

Yes, not always, but http://picasaweb.google.com/HMItaly/MalgaCipela72708 Doesn't it look like a good time. For me this is one of the things that living here is all about, 3 families hiking up 1,000 meters on the back of the Marmolada with six kids the youngest 5 years old. Then a big lunch of grilled sausage and polenta, wine and cake. It was all followed by the hike back down in pouring rain. We were all tired at the end but felt good. One couple left as they had only planed a day trip we and the other stayed in our campers over night. I cooked a bunch of chicken in the pressure cooker, our friends cooked some pasta, more wine and then some Amoreto. The next day another though shorter hike.

Hiking near the Marmolada

One night camping and two days of hard hiking. The climb up to the
refugio was 1,000 meters with a bunch of kids. Giovanni, was the
strongest of us all.

Pressure Cooking

Most Italian cooks have at least one but they seem to be falling out of favor In the US we don't tend to use them much. The microwave is much more popular for fast cooking. Recently I found myself with nothing to read in the evening so I resorted to reading the introduction to my pressure cooker cook book. Today with energy on everyones mind. The pressure cooker deserves a good look. Not only does it reduce cooking time and increase retention of nutrients but the total energy consumed must be close to one tenth of that consumed by normal cooking. Try cooking a chicken in 15 minutes, resoto or polenta in 8 and no sturring for 45 minutes over a boiling spattering pot.

San Candido to Lienz by bike

This year Giovanni, I and my brother Rocky made the trip on the bikes.
40k of fairly easy riding, but the butt is still sore after 4 hours
on the bike.

BBQ Cookoff in Belluno

Next year I'm going to enter, I think I have a good chance with my
California BBQ skills. It was all booked up this year when I found
out about it.

Close to Home

A few pictures within a little walk from home, taken with the new
camera. It seems I lost our other one on our recent trip to Croatia.

Sun Tans

Big discussion on the expat website about Italians, especially women, spending too much time tanning in the Summer. There is a tradition that at least two weeks every Summer are spent at the beach, more if possible. During that time the main goal is to get as dark as possible. Of course not everyone does this, Luisa for example has always found it to be too boring. The schedule is like this. Rise fairly early get to the beach by 9 the kids play the parents chat and lay in the sun. Around noon or so, go back to the camp, apartment or hotel for a big lunch followed by a rest. Finally return to the beach around 3 or 4 and stay until 7, go home, eat, go out if you don't have kids, and then repeat the same thing the next day.

Many women in Italy still think that tanning is good for their looks. This works great for the under 30 generation, but one does notice many of the women in their early 40's that look much older. The sun doesn't do the face or skin in general any favors as far as the aging process goes.