Today we started our Italian lessons together with Susan and Gary. Lingua Piu is the name of the school. It is in Citta di Castello which is not too far from here with relatively easy traffic and easy parking as it is in the top of a strip of stores.

Prior to this Susan and Gary went to a language school in Perugia. Perugia is not user friendly. It is big and congested and there is no parking. The classes were dead center of the hilltop town. In order to go they had to drive circuitously around the city, park in an outlying lot. Take the MiniMetro to the center and walk to the class. Then reverse. All together it took most of the day. We were trying to avoid that hence the school in Citta di Castello.

Gary and I are sort of at the same level and Susan and Luther are about the same as well. So we decided to pair up. They give Gary and I an hour class first and then Susan and Luther for an hour. I have mixed reactions to the lesson. It was essentially conversation. I guess that is OK but I was hoping for some more structure. I would benefit from some grammar book-type work so I learn the “Why” of it all and learn the proper grammar. Otherwise I have no idea why something is said the way it is said. I think the theory is that if you say it enough then you know what is right. Doesn’t really work for me. But I will give it a try. I am sure it can’t hurt.

Otherwise not a lot happening. It is gray and dreary with temperatures at night around freezing rising up to the 40s during the day. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be a little warmer with highs around 55 or so. I am getting quite used to Centigrade for weather temps. Something I never did when we lived in Germany.

We also made reservations for our first trip! It has been over 15 years since we visited England and there is a daily flight on RyanAir every day from Perugia to just north of London. We made air reservations and then I made reservations with the National Trust to rent a cottage on an estate in East Anglia for 5 nights. It is on the east coast and we have never been there. We will go in March. Paul, our friend across the Piazza is taking care of our boys. He is a retired veterinarian and I am sure he will take good care of them.

Today was a busy day! We headed out this morning to the “home depot” – OK it’s called Leroy and Merlin – I have mentioned it before. We bought shelves for our pantry and a shower rod and curtain for the guest bathroom.

This bathroom has a tub. It has a hand held squirter. It was hard to take a shower without a curtain and since this is the one guests will use we wanted to make it more user friendly. Now, with the rod and curtain you can stand in the tub and use the squirter to wet and rinse. Still not the best but way better than having to sit in the tiny tub. It is a clear-ish curtain with a pattern. Looks OK.

The new shelves for the pantry I put together myself. This allowed me to store all the buckets, mops, brooms that Vera uses when she cleans. Plus a lot of other things that needed a place. Still plenty of room for more.

Next we were off to Deruta to pick up a ceramic piece I had ordered back in December. I needed it to be a specific size because it needed to fit into the shelves behind the counter in the kitchen and allow the sliding door to open. I measured 15 centimeters. Back in December the man helped me find an oblong shallow dish that looked like it would do the job. I got to pick the colors and design I wanted so it is a one of a kind piece. I got the word it was ready so we picked it up. Here is a picture plus two others showing how it sits on the shelf.

Finally here is a picture of the amphora that Don and Jodi brought us last week as a gift. Apparently over at the recycling place near them people often throw these away. They offered to grab one for us and bring it over. And here it is! Very pretty.

So, we are having guests for lunch tomorrow and it has again, been an adventure. I planned a classic chicken stew which is American comfort food and non-threatening in every way. Of course it called for boneless chicken thighs. Not happenin’ in Italy. So I bought the closest thing. They just chop the crap out of the legs so there are splintered bones throughout. I did my best to de-bone them but I will warn my guests of possible hidden bones. Here is the stew.

Next I wanted to make Panna Cotta. This is a classic Italian dessert so I figured it would not be hard. The first hurdle was the gelatin. In the US it is powdered. Here it is in hard sheets. Plus I had to look it up on the internet (thank you that there IS an internet!) and got a picture of what I needed. Then I found it at the Coop. Then I had to guess how much to use. The recipe calls for strawberries over the panna cotta. They don’t have them here at this time of the year but I had a great idea that I could put some of the frozen cranberry sauce I made for Thanksgiving on it. I bet that will work great. I hope it turns out OK.

This was the first time I spent a lot of time sitting in the kitchen. That got me to thinking about cooking in the big fireplace here. I opened up the wooden doors and peered up the chimney. Scary.

I also noticed that it was once a cooking fireplace. Note the iron hook to hang meat or pots from…Cool!!

Now I am pretty psyched about this. I think what needs to be done is that the wooden doors need to be removed and I need to have a custom wrought iron with glass door made. Uh oh… costly… well we shall see. Here are the existing doors and the fireplace behind them.

Finally a note on the ridiculous refrigerators here. They are sooo small. And we got a big one! I knew of this before we came but, maybe you didn’t. And to boot, the freezer is not frost free. Frost free!!? what is that?

Yea verily, this is the entire inside of the frig.

Lastly I got a lovely, olive wood cutting board that a friend made for me to my exact measurements. It covers the drain on the sink that I did not want and gives me more working space. Here it is!