TANTI AUGURI

How many elephants fit in a phone box? As Cristian discovered on Friday night, we can fit 27 people in our bathroom!! And they all bounced out to wish him a happy birthday!

Federico and Flavio were responsible for mixing the cocktails; Federica and Valentina for counting the plates; Manuel and Silvia for opening the white wine; Michela and I for cooking the pasta; Pamela and Paolo for letting Angelica run straight into the marble table; Andrea for getting Antonella pregnant; Luca and Barbara for bringing Deborah along; Carmen for Antonio's pink t-shirt; Iuri for Nicoletta drinking only water; Deborah, Alfonso and Matteo for Simone being fast asleep; Zampo and Paolino for traumatizing the panda - and that is about it I would say!

Some extracts from Friday night's surprise:


One of the five cakes - the one with more wax than smarties on it!


Cristian and Federico, i cicci.


I Ludovichi and I Tufo, looking formal whilst the lights were on.


Valentina and Fedy, posing as usual.


Cristian, Fede, Flavio, the boys.


Streamers everywhere.

RAGE AGAINST THE SYSTEM

This country is insane. One more government down and still no progress whatsoever on the ground. After fuming about the current situation in this country, where politicians spit at each other and make colleagues cry in parliament, I am now mastering the art of inner poise and deep breathing. Something in Buddhist teachings says you are supposed to see yourself above your body when you meditate. I am imagining beating some government official up and sending all ministers to the Andes to survive in a village for a while or maybe to Guantanamo Bay for ever?!

For the first time, I am actually contemplating not voting at all...

I read somewhere that since WWII, Italy has had 61 governments - an average of one a year.

THREE YEARS AGO TODAY...

We collected our backpacks from the luggage belt, walked through customs and out onto a red carpet crowned by all our friends and family.

There were lots of hugs and tears followed by cakes and celebration.

What a year 2004 was!

http://www.cgiardini.com/worldtour/


One of the many cakes!


Some of the many friends!

SUN WORSHIPER IN CORTONA

It is back and it is beautiful. After a week in the fog, today, finally, i have seen the sky!



Mr Molesini is both the wine merchant, the weather man and the head of the Molesini Empire.



Last night, we had a delicious dinner at Cortona's Osteria del Teatro. Ferruccio served us a very nice Nobile to go with our homemade pasta - pici con porcini e briciole for moi, strozzapreti with something green for Cris and Liz. Deserts were very naughty: semifreddo al cioccolato, charlotte al cioccolato, fagottino di frutta con cioccolato - biensur!!



Even the Via Crucis still had all its lights on, and it was nearly one o clock!



Santa Maria Nuova dodging the few remaining clouds.

PSYCHO PSYCHOLOGIST

A man walks into a psychiatrist's office wearing only underwear made of ClingWrap. The psychiatrist says, "Well, I can clearly see you're nuts."

...

"I see you were last employed by a psychiatrist," said the employer to the applicant. "Why did you leave?"

"Well," she replied, "I just couldn't win. If I was late to work, I was hostile. If I was early, I had an anxiety complex. If I was on time, I was compulsive."

...


To the left is my bro, the psychologist in the family!

WILD BIRDS HONK

After having got the beast into the freezer, I then had to maneuver it out again as there was no way i was going to chop it into pieces and could not get it into the oven whole either.

Gioia was thrilled to discover that it still had all its feathers attached and, not being very good at plucking, decided to skin it instead.

She made it into bite size pieces and cooked it for hours. That is when I discovered that pheasants are wiffy. Impossible to ignore it, those birds really smell.

Tasted good though!

PASTRY MANIA

Now tell me, how many people do you know actually make their own puff pastry?! i am not talking biscuit material, or pizza dough, but the real, buttery layered puff stuff that takes hours to make and lots of effort. the stuff you can buy pre-rolled in any supermarket.

On Friday evening, Pamela and Paolo pushed open the doors of culinary paradise - and also their new home - and treated us to all sorts of delicacies. One of the best cooks i have ever met, Pamela was breath-taking. She had done everything by hand - and when i say everything, i mean the puff pastry too, as well as a different kind of flaky pastry for the sweet tart, which was covered in home-made custard (bird's eye, hello?!) and fruit - yummy!

So much for New Year's diet... ;)


Puff pastry in the making.

THE ODD ONE OUT...

I am mystified as to why all biscuit-cutter-makers don't stick to shapes like hearts, trees, stars and triangles. Somehow there seems to be a huge demand for "different" shaped cutters. The packs were sold out for weeks on end, with no alternatives available. Finally, I managed to purchase one, so Cris and I made biscuits to give to our friends in Monte San Savino who moved into a new flat. A hit? Something original at least!


Not sure who ate the middle one?!

A FEW PICS FROM THE SLOPES


The teacher and pupil.


A couple of skiers with Avoriaz as the backdrop.


Les bronzés, c'est pas fini...


At Bains des Paquis with Sabine, in an attempt to recover!

UNE POULETTE SUR UN MUR QUI PICOTTE DU PAIN DUR...

ou alors une serie de poulettes autour d une table qui se font la raclette du siecle!

Option numero deux pour un top nouvel an passe avec ma bassecour adoree au Chalet Pasini dans La Vallee. On ne pouvait pas demander mieux. Ski + grand soleil le 31 a Avoriaz. Delire et danse du ventre le soir pour faire descendre la raclette et laisser place a la fondue au chocolat (qui ne contenait pas d'alcoool). Re-ski avec Sandra, Pixepat et Philippe (pas Philou, ni Philette ;) le 1er. Mais goooooo! On a bien commence l annee!

Ensuite c'etait noel-disco le 1er au soir au Pasini Lodge de Fechy, puis ski avec Alyssa and co le 2 et le 3 avant de visiter le Barcellini Palace le 3 soir et repartir le 4 apres une incontrounable soupe aux Bains des Paquis avec les Friedbachers. La base, je vous dis, la base!


La bassecour quasi au grand complet!


Toujours pas compris pourquoi les Italiens s'obstinent a manger de telles choses... autant dire que les Musulmans parmi nous etaient les premiers a apprecier ;)


Pure bonheur pour Freda et JP.


Quelques poulettes sur un banc.


Comment eviter que le champagne ne pete.


Trop tard, c etait deja dans les verres.