Tuesday, July 06, 2010

I had my first visitors this morning! Judy and Fausto came to meet Admir and I served them coffee on my terrace. Judy was amazed at the progress on the house. It is really starting to look like a home. Admir finished the work today and it looks fantastic. He covered the outside with white pebbles, called bricciole, and with the leftovers, he created a walkway from the garden stairs to the terrace stairs. Then he lined the walkway with stones he found in the garden. I am absolutely enchanted with the results. W e talked about him doing more work – leveling off the ground in the garden, making an awning for the terrace, and creating a fence around the property.

For dinner this evening I sautéed garlic and onions with olive oil, rosemary, red wine and some porchetta and turned it into sauce for fusilli. It was to die for. A fresh sweet peach for dessert; it doesn’t get any better. There was a light refreshing drizzle late this afternoon and the cool air was a welcome relief from the unrelenting heat and humidity. I went to the supermarket late in the day to buy some water. At this time of year you see Italians buying huge quantities of bottled water. It’s common for people to fill up their shopping carts with 10 2-liter six packs of water – 60 bottles at a time. I guess with a large family and the necessity to hydrate sufficiently in this heat, 60 bottles might last a week, but it’s still a bizarre sight to see carts filled as high as a human with bottled water.

All of the Italians drive with a cell phone or a cigarette, sometimes both. How are they able to do this? The cell phone is nestled between the ear and the shoulder and one hand holds a cigarette while the other holds the wheel. Given the speed at which most Italians drive, this combo is a recipe for disaster. But you see it all over, so they must either feel invincible or are in complete denial about the dangers of multitasking while driving. I try to keep my distance and always allow them to pass when they are in a hurry.

At Judy’s party I meet Belinda, a dutch woman who has won $4 million in the Italian lottery. She has bought herself a million dollar house and a very young husband from Cuba. Belinda is 50 her husband is 27 and speaks no Italian. She has brought him here and has bought him a motorcycle. In Cuba she bought his parents a washer and dryer, even though they live in poverty and have no electricity! The husband has now asked Belinda to bring over his friend from Cuba. Judy gives this relationship about three weeks.