Category Archives: Uncategorized

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The Italian Experience

Let me tell you a story…  As most of you know, I am teaching high school English in Seriate, Bergamo.  This means my upper-level students are only 2-3 years younger than me.  In my fifth level classes I have been teaching lessons on American politics, which happily coincides with the elections in the US.

I remember in high school, my history teachers were always careful not to push their political views on students, and some even refrained from saying if they were conservative or liberal.  I have to say that Italian teachers are very opinionated and do not refrain from sharing their personal views in class.  I had a very interesting discussion with one class, when their teacher exclaimed that although she is very liberal, she believes that gay marriage is simply wrong.  All of the class except one student agreed with her, and so I asked if they had a problem with a man liking a man or a woman being with a woman.  The answer was a resounding no, but of course a legal and ceremonial bond between two people of the same sex is out of the question for many of them.  The class was shocked when I said that I voted for gay marriage in Maine.  It is discussions like this that really give me a look into Italian society and politics.

Meanwhile in another fifth level class, we were going through the process of electing a president.  We started discussing the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties.  I then asked them according to their personal opinions to choose to be Republican, Democratic, or independent.  I was absolutely shocked when 80% of the class decided to be Republican, and only three students wanted to be Democrats.  Yes, we had about 6 independents, but were all these kids seriously conservatives?  It was kind of hard for me to believe.

Fast forward 2 class periods.  A week after Obama won, and time to hold debates in our class.  I asked the students to break into their parties.  Suddenly there were only three Republicans and the Democratic group had grown to four times its original size.  ”What happened?  I’m glad you guys decided to become Democrats, but what changed your mind?”  Most of my students tried to explain that they had originally been confused about which party was which.  I finally got a straight answer out of one of the students who stated, “I don’t want to be on the losing team.”  This made me laugh, and now I understand, the Italian media had been predicting Mitt Romney to win after his performance in the debates.  This is why many students were originally part of the Republican group…  Needless to say, our class elections had the same result as the American elections, the Democratic candidate won both the electoral and the popular vote.  Our class elections weren’t even close, some of the members of the republican party wanted to vote for the Democratic candidate.

From this activity I have learned a lot not only about my students, but also about Italian politics in general.  Italians tend to have a huge number of political parties, which are quite fickle, changing their views or even the name of their party (Forza Italia) from election to election.  It makes sense then that my students see fit to jump from party to party, as it is quite common in Italy with their multi-party system.  This phenomenon brings to mind a video I once watched in my Italian class about Italian stereotypes.

This video may seem like an exaggeration to someone who has never lived in Italy.  In my opinion, it’s pretty on point.  Watch the elections section and you will see the exact phenomenon I experienced with our mock elections in class.  I’d say that the only section that isn’t exactly true is the coffee one.  Although there are many different types of coffee here, people pretty much only order cappuccinos in the morning and caffe (espresso) the rest of the day.  I think there are more options for coffee in the rest of Europe.  Watch and enjoy this take on Italian culture by a famous Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto.

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Zucchini Bread… What was that about not liking vegetables?

I have never been a picky eater.  In fact, there is a family myth that when I was in the hospital diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of two, the foods I requested were barley soup and avocados.  Now, tell me is that the food of choice for a normal two year-old?  I think not.  I have continued like this my whole life.  Yes, like any normal human a good dose of sugar or carbs is sometimes comforting, and now that I live in the world of pasta and pizza I admit that I may be eating a little more than necessary; however, the truth is that I LIKE VEGETABLES.  Presented with the choice between plain pasta and grilled eggplant, I would go for the eggplant 90% of the time.

This is why I can’t understand when kids refuse to eat vegetables.  Yes, uncooked vegetables are more daunting than vegetables in disguise, but really throwing a fit because you can’t seem to fit a tasty carrot down your throat between heaping bowls of pasta is ridiculous to me.  This is why I have made it my mission in Italy to introduce vegetables into the Italian child’s diet.

Lesson #1: Vegetables are not poisonous

In the child’s mind, green seems to be connected to fear.  This also applies to American children as well as grown Italian men, and I have yet to understand the psychological connection as I am an exception to this phenomenon.  I have seen many people refuse to touch a fantastic plate of food, because there is a single green leaf (usually basil) among the white carby mush.  Seeing this breaks my large healthy heart!

My first  order of business is to sever what I refer to as the green-fear connection.  I do this with zucchini bread.  Zucchini bread is not threatening.  On the green spectrum it is very low.  The zucchini is disguised in a soft moist cake, so that only specks of green are visible to the naked eye if examined closely.  The trick is to avoid telling children what is in the bread, and just calling it cake  obvious chocolate chips will add to this facade.  After they have tasted the zucchini bread and probably even gone in for seconds, you can let it slip that the main ingredient is in fact the vegetable they hate most in the world.

In my personal experience this is highly successful and extremely amusing for the baker.  I got one particularly picky eater who hasn’t touched a zucchini for 10 years (she’s 14) to eat an entire piece and more.  Here is the recipe I used:

Zucchini Bread (the not-so -healthy version)

adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-zucchini-bread/

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla lievito2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs1 cup olive oil2  cups white sugar
  • 3 small-medium sized zucchinis grated

1/2 cup chocolate chips

  1. Beat liquid ingredients (eggs, oil,)Add sugar and lievitoAdd zucchini and mix

    Slowly add in flour, cinnamon and salt

    Mix until mixture has a smooth runny texture

    Add chocolate chips

    Bake in bread tins at 170 c or 350 f for an hour or until toothpick comes out clean…

    My Healthier Version

    When  I make this recipe for myself, I change a lot of things…  I use whole wheat flour, I substitute 2/3 cup olive oil for plain nonfat yogurt, and I use 1/4 cup honey or agave instead of 2 cups of sugar.  These substitutions make for a very different bread.  It is still moist and soft thanks to the zucchini, but it is less sweet (more of a muffin) and it has a heavier richer taste thanks to the whole wheat flour.  Although I prefer this recipe, it is not exactly kid-friendly, which defeats the purpose of my experiment.

    As always buon appetito e in boca al lupo!

A Permanent Pizza Party
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A Permanent Pizza Party

” Pizza: 3  Julie: 0″

I thought as I methodically sliced my giant “piece” of pizza into inch long, bite-size portions.  I watched in amazement as my eight year old host sister devoured a piece the size of her abdomen “come un lupo” (like a wolf) before I had eaten two bites.  Oh if I could eat like that and not send my blood suger (not to mention my weight) into a steep climb!

La Collazione (Breakfast)

Meals here are a ceremony, a family affair.  Breakfast is the only meal not compulsory, and coincidentally my only essential meal.   Breakfasts here resemble more of Britain’s afternoon tea ritual.  Breakfast is coffee (meaning espresso) and cookies.  The thought of eggs and toast in the morning makes almost every Italian want to vomit.  I personally satisfy my morning fruit and protein requisite with bananas and yogurt, which I somehow get away with as acceptable breakfast food.

Il Pranzo (Lunch)

Lunch is a sit-down meal unlike our grab and go American way.  The children get out of school at around 1 PM (something I only dreamed of in high school) and head straight home for il pranzo.  Il pranzo usually consists of pasta (as always), lettuce or tomatoes (on the side), cheese, wine, and maybe salami.  Lunch can like most meals last over an hour, which is of course ok because Italians have la pausa, their version of siesta.  Everything closes from 1-3 PM.  This is the ideal nap time for those who have consumed a tad too much vino at lunch.  As a teacher who starts work at 7:55 AM every morning, I truly enjoy my afternoon pisolino during the pausa.

La Cena (Dinner)

Dinner is very similar to lunch except it tends to include more courses and of course last longer.  The first course is obviously pasta pasta pasta.  Pasta never gets old, however, as there are a million different ways to prepare it.  As the primo piatto my well-trained American mind is constantly confused by the fact that the carbs come first.  In fact, I am sometimes tempted to dump some lettuce on top of my pasta, pour some oil and vinegar (when available) on it, and eat down to the pasta from there.  I think that might be somewhat impolite, so I refrain.  After la pasta, there is sometimes another course that is meat.  As I am in the north, this is usually red meat like a hamburger or some kind of sausage type thing.  I of course don’t really know what it is I’m eating as I am not accustomed to eating red meat.  Again by this time I am well into my food coma and very ready to tuck into the TV room for some Harry Potter with the kids.  We have agreed to watch it half in English half in Italian so as to satisfy both my need to better my Italian and the kids’ desires to learn some English.

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Recipe for Summer Wellness

This week I seem to have caught a mild version of the plague, giving me lots of time to relax in bed, soul search, and consider my overall health.  In light of recent exam period, senior week, and my college graduation, I’m actually shocked that I am still standing (somewhat).  Alchohol, pizza, cheese, and chocolate have tipped the scale 6 lbs, My fitness goals have been set back by a shocking bacterial infection that has left me bed ridden for 5 days now, and I am ashamed to even check what my A1C currently is.  All in all, I’d say that something needs to be done differently.  My recipe for wellness is not only packed full of vitamins, but also satisfying enough to get a sick diabetic foodie back on track.

Recipe for Wellness:

Andalusian Gazpacho (Adapted from Yolanda’s recipe): When its winter and your sick, hot soup is the best cure, but what to do when its 85 out and sunny?

  1. Blend these ingredients in blender until smooth
  • 2 lbs very ripe tomatoes boiled and peeled (I used roma tomatoes…  less juice more meat)
  • 1 green pepper finely chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic peeled
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar can be substituted)
  • 2/3 cup olive oil (I used more like 1/2 cup)
  • 2tsp salt
  1. Garnish with:
  • 1 small shallot chopped
  • 1 ripe tomato finely chopped
  • 1 green pepper finely chopped
  • 1 hardboiled egg
  • 2 oz. cucumber peeled and finely chopped

Banana Pear Smoothie: My cravings for milk were satisfied with almond milk, which is high in both protein and fiber, but doesn’t increase sinus congestion as milk does.

  1. Blend these ingredients in blender until smooth
  • 1 banana
  • 1/2 pear
  • 1 cup vanilla almond milk
  • 1 hand full ice

Power Breakfast:  The morning is when your metabolism is in full swing, and as a diabetic I find that I am most insulin resistant first thing in the morning.  This means a low-carb high protein breakfast is usually my best option.  Eggs are also loaded by choline, which is a compound known to block fat absorption.

  • 2 egg whites, 1 egg
  • 1/4 onion
  • 1 tomato
  1. oil pan with a tsp of olive oil.  Saute onion and tomato and then scramble eggs.
  2. Serve on a piece of low carb high fiber bread (I buy Smart Carb #2 by Julian Bakery from Whole Foods) http://www.julianbakery.com/
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Autumn in Maine

It was a record eighty degrees this weekend in Brunswick, Maine, which is unheard of in October.  My response to the strangely sunny skies:  I put my computer and my 200 pages of reading away (save it for a stormy day), I packed my bikini and my new camera (a birthday gift from my parents), and I headed to Reid State Beach.  Here’s what I found:

1. There were thousands of flies that seem to like the taste of human flesh

2. The water was numbingly chilly

3. Autumn is the most beautiful season in Maine…

4. Dancing in the garden is the best form of meditation there is.

 

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Dance Dreams

I am absolutely in love with this pas de deux performed by Denis and Anastasia Matvienko.  Their chemistry in this piece is particularly breathtaking, and I have never seen movement quite like what they perform in this piece.  I’m hoping that it will inspire me to be a little more creative with my choreography.

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Maxed Out on Maxis!


They are popular with the Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Simpson crowd.  They first hit California last year and this year they seem to be gaining in popularity.  The maxi dress is one trend that I had no intention of ever following.  I am 5’4” and muscular, a far cry from your tall leggy celebrity, so I never had any interest in the maxi, that is, until I traveled to Fiji.  Here, everyone seems to be rocking this trend.  Everywhere I turn the petite, the hourglass, the pears, and even the obese have taken the streets by storm rocking their maxis as if they had just stepped off the runway.  I for one suddenly developed a terrible case of clothes envy.

I have to ask myself, why is this trend so popular here, when even Californians have been slow to pick this up?  Looking at the population of Fiji, it is made up of Fijians and Indians.  Both Indian and Fijian dress is traditionally modest with long hemlines and lots of coverage considering the high temperatures.  In Fiji the traditional lava-lava continues to be popular for every kind of occasion both with Fijian women and men.  Women, however, usually opt for longer ankle-grazing versions of the knee length man skirts.

Considering traditional garb, you could argue that the maxi is a sexy modern take.  It provides adequate leg coverage and most importantly it breathers in hot, sticky tropical climates.  For increased coverage you can even layer with a shirt as was exemplified by the middle aged Indian woman shopping next to me.

Even though I could see them all over the streets, finding the perfect maxi dress proved a bit of a challenge.  I had something specific in mind.  I was looking for something cotton and breathable with a simple pattern.  I wasn’t interested in any bright overwhelming colors.  This proved difficult as bright reds and oranges are in here, something’s paler complexions can’t quite handle.

Unsure of where to start my search, I ventured to a place I am now quite familiar with the Morris Headstrom Mall (see navigating the food court).  On the second floor, I found two that interested me, one a black with color-blocked striped piece (79 Fiji dollars and way out of my price range)

.  The other a grey tie dyed number on the sale rack.  Both were about a size too big.  Disconcerted, I exited the store, headed to the main street and tried six more stores.  Everything I saw was either too cheap looking, made of spandex, too expensive, or simply unflattering.

As a final thought I headed back to the first shop where I tried the dresses on.  They were both slightly too large, but lucky for me 100% cotton.  A couple good washes and it would certainly shrink to the perfect size.  I purchased it for 28 Fiji dollars, the equivilant of about 15 US dollars and well-worth the price.

Quest accomplished!!!