“Michael, I love you like a brother, but what’s with the $98 heart-shaped ice cream scoop?”
-From the article “Gadget junkie puts devices to the test” by Stacy Finz. Appeared in the Wednesday, July 18, 2007 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle.
I finally found an international book swap!! Yahoo!!! I only have ten books to share, but I’m going to try to convince Luca’s mom to let me add her vast collection of Italian romance novels so that we can bring in a bigger crowd. So excited!
In other news, I planted some pumpkins this weekend! I’ll take pictures tomorrow. I planted the seeds a few weeks ago and they’re growing like weeds!! The ten seedlings no longer fit in my window planter, so I went out to “the back 40” (scene of last year’s tragic “sundried tomato” experience) and started pulling out weeds. Unfortunately, 
my brand spanking new shovel purchased last season appears to have gone missing. (I secretly think that Zio must have stolen it!) So, I was forced to till the entire plot with a spade.
Good exercise. All I have to say is “Thank God for the high-tech gardening gloves Aunt Joan gave me last year!”
I also felt the need to build a tent for my seedlings after last year’s fiasco. Our plot of garden gets full sun from 8am to 7pm and I know pumpkins are hardy and all, but they just look so hot out there. I’m sure all the local farmers are getting a good laugh out of my make-shift shade producing apparatus. But they won’t be laughing when they see the super humongous pumpkins growing in a couple weeks! MWUAHAHAHAH.
And, I know the planting season is technically over, but today I bought more seeds. I can’t help myself! I’m addicted. It gives me s
uch satisfaction when the the seeds grow into little plants! I’m starting research for an asparagus patch. I hear it’s a major undertaking, but I love asparagus. Definitely need to invest the 14 euro for the right shovel (pictured bottom right) for that adventure.
Today’s word is: Asciugabiancheria (pron. Ah shoo-gah bee ahnk-air-eeyah). The Italian/English dictionary defines asciugabiancheria as “clothes horse”. However, I tried using the word out in everyday conversation and it turns out that it doesn’t mean the kind of clothes horse I was thinking about (i.e. a person with a penchant for hording attractive attire).
Asciugabiancheria actually refers to…well… any means of drying clothing. “How many ways are there?,” you might ask. More
than you might imagine. It amazes me how uninterested the Italian population is in modern technology. Dryers exist almost exclusively in public laundromats. That’s right folks, can we say, “Clothes Line”?! I’d have to say that probably 90% if not more of Italians hang their clothes up to dry on either the oldfashioned clothesline or the slightly more modern “clothes horse” pictured above left (also referred to as a stendibiancheria). This is actually a deluxe model. The one I have is a sort of folding table with a series of evenly-spaced dowels instead of the tabletop.
This technologically advanced version on the right is another drying option, though I’m not sure if it ever became popular. It guarantees dry clothes in 1-2 hours and warms the atmosphere at the same time!
But this is just the beginning of doing laundry in Italy…
I just returned from a month in NYC and a two week eno-gastronomical tour of Italy! Last weekend we went to the sea for some sun. It’s summer here in the Langhe!
I wore fishnet stockings today for the first time in my life. And to work, no less! It was quite the liberating experience.
We’re getting business cards made up and I highly enjoy the fact that mine says:
Dott.ssa Shira Crane International Relations
Hellow, can we get any hotter? I always have felt that I deserve a formal title. And “Doctoressa” is extremely sexy…hence the fishnet stockings.
Okay, okay. So I haven’t had time to do laundry this week and already used my two pairs of black stockings. So this morning, as I was running late, I came across these fishnetters and said, “What the heck! Other ladies at work occasionally wear fishnet stockings (interesting tights are VERY big on the fashion scene here in Alba), and I’m at least 20 years younger than they are, so I think I can get away with it.”
And I did.
Happy Chinese New Year!! What Chinese zodiac are you? I found these zodiac descriptions to be very accurate–I’m the year of the Rooster and Luca is a Tiger.
Here in Italy it’s Carnival season–confetti in the streets, bugie (little squares of fried dough sometimes filled with jam or nutella) in the pastry shops…
The weather man predicted snow for today, but it doesn’t look like it’s actually going to precipitate–we haven’t had ANY snow at all here; the grass is green!