Ciao! It’s been a busy weekend. After a long Friday night out, I got home past 3:00 and set off the alarm. Had a quick turnaround Saturday, hitting the gym in the morning before returning home to a lunch of pumpkin filled tortelloni (the best pasta I’ve ever had), cheese, bread, and fruits. Immediately after, the food coma took hold and I slept for what felt like 10 hours (it was 30 minutes). Decided to explore the area of Renazzo nearby afterwards. After I’d finished an hour (it’s a very small town) I came back for the Arsenal vs Chelsea match (COYG) and then got ready for a night of dinner out with the other au pairs.
We went for Japanese (because that’s totally what normal people do when in Italy…) and had a nice, but very lengthy meal as the language barrier became a bit of an issue. One of the au pairs David only speaks Spanish so for the first time in my life I served as a rough translator for him to the group (I rather enjoyed it). Decided to call it a night after so returned home at 11:00, set off the alarm for the second consecutive night, and then laid awake for about 4 hours before eventually falling asleep.
The shutters in my room keep it pitch black so upon waking up to what I thought was around 9:00, I was very surprised to see 12:30 displayed. I decided not to join the family for lunch soon after and went to the Pasticceria Bonazzi where I had a pistachio cream filled pastry and an espresso. Molly, Diya, and Bethany arrived shortly after, and we all got to chat before heading home. Now back at the Negrini’s, Carlo, Gio, and myself will be going out to see the Cento basketball team play…
What a game! The match was between Cento (our team) and their rivals, Ferrara, both bottom of the table in the second tier of Italy’s top league. Ferrara was ahead all game, but in the fourth quarter Cento went off, led by a guy named Reati, and ended up winning by ten points. Towards the latter portion of the game I realized how hungry I was and was praying that we would be having dinner when we got home…thankfully we had a feast.
Benedetta prepared another bean-based soup and piadini (a style of bread from the coast) which we were then able to top with speck, salami, prosciutto, and similar thinly sliced meats thanks to the Negrini’s meat business. Sparkling water accompanies every meal and is just as prevalent as the regular (side note, tap water is not used anywhere) which has been extremely nice to have. Carlo often adds the sparkling water (frizzante) to his wine to give added volume without diluting the taste too much and I now find myself doing the same at every meal we have. After the meal, I tried a custard filled tortelloni and a slice of a chocolate cake Benedetta had made which were both delicious. Before heading to bed, I finally got to have a much needed call with Sam to catch up as he was getting in to work for the night. Ciao!
The Italian Job 