Thanksgiving prep

Thursday was mostly spent on food preparations for tomorrow night's feast. I did call my mom and sister in New Mexico to say happy Thanksgiving some time before they were going to eat. In the morning we went to the butcher to pick up the whole  turkey (8.1 kilograms), plus four huge turkey legs. He was very pleasant and helpful. We will go there again.

When we got to the Institute with a ton of things to carry in, the elevator was already partially occupied with a mop and bucket, which was strange. It was apparently from a guy washing the (marble) stairs.

So my wife fit in with most of the stuff, while I walked up a couple of floors. It's tight enough when the elevator is empty!

During the afternoon and evening, my wife worked on sweet potatoes, stuffing, as well as cooking the turkey legs and planning for tomorrow's logistics.

Sweet potatoes coming out, turkey legs going in

Modern art: stuffing fixings, laptop, and Nutella

We taught the advanced English class tonight, and my wife was the star, showing them our Thanksgiving food prep and explaining how it all works. So many things are unknown here, such as cranberries and sweet potatoes. The class was quite interested in it all. In talking about Thanksgiving in America, we also somehow got onto the topic of sports: first American football, then soccer, and baseball. Italy just got eliminated from the next World Cup qualifying tournament, which is a huge embarrassment and disappointment for everyone here -- it hasn't happened since the 1950s.

I worked a lot on my talk for Sunday and a couple of upcoming lessons, in between doing some dishes and odd jobs for the boss of the kitchen. We only had a few kids in during the day -- Thursdays are generally slow, but it's actually nice to get to visit with the kids one-on-one.

Day at home

Wednesday being our day off from the Institute, we stayed close to home. In the morning I walked down to the bank on the corner to try to open an account so we could get a Bancomat (ATM) card. No luck -- they require a permesso di soggiorno, which we won't have for months to come. So there are certain automated payment locations, including many gas stations, where we still can't buy anything. Bummer. While out, I also bought a few small things at the Chinese store for our Thanksgiving meal: aprons, trivets, and a potato peeler.

With heat being on during the day (mostly when we are not here ;), the laundry is drying much faster than before, which is nice. However, the lack of a dryer has another unfortunate impact for me: my wrinkle-free white dress shirts are chock full of wrinkles after hanging to dry. So I am getting pretty good at ironing, usually doing two or three at a time. 

In the afternoon I ran out to fill up the car and wash/vacuum it (only 1.50 euros at the do-it-yourself place).  Here is the reading from the gas pump:  17.85 liters at 1.57 euros per liter, which is over 7 dollars per gallon.

On the way home I went to Lidl to buy a small list of food items for Friday. We did a taste test on three different kinds of Lidl rolls for the meal and decided which one we liked most, which also happens to be the cheapest: 12 cents each, in the center of the photo. They're called little milk mouthfuls (bocconcini di latte):

I made some calls to the US to talk about rolling over my 401(k) account into an IRA, since Exar, my former employer, got bought this year and is closing its account next month. It fortunately appears to be a fairly simple transaction, with just a bit of paperwork.

Other than that, I was here all day. My cough still hangs on a bit, but overall I am feeling pretty good, including exercising in the morning. I worked on my talk for Sunday, translating quite a bit of it from a talk I gave a few years ago, with some Italian twists added. Tomorrow I'll work on the two lessons I'm teaching this weekend. It feels like we have been serving here forever, in a good way. We love what we are doing.

Dee writes: On Tuesday night, Alessio (the pizza maker) was laughing with Oscar about the way that Americans ask for the recipe for spaghetti and meatballs. He said it's not a recipe; it's a way to use up the leftover meatballs from the meat course the night before :)

A majority of the GANS are recent converts of less than two years, and the only member in their family. The Institute is a great blessing in their lives, allowing them to learn about the gospel, give service and socialize with other members. They're opening up to us more and more. It's difficult to get a job in Italy, and many of them are a bit stalled due to financial difficulties that are out of their control. We pray for them a lot.

A few things I love in Italy:

• The massive buildings
• The quattro fontane statues we pass on our drive each day
• Amazingly tasty produce
• Dish drainer over the sink

Food, glorious food

We went shopping at Lidl in the morning to get a bunch of stuff for home and for Thanksgiving. Then we went in to the Institute for Taco Tuesday.

A former missionary who had served in Rome, Anziano Kelly, showed up with his mom to see Jayno and Jomar. Jayno's mom had prepared a bunch of wonderful Philippino food (rice,  chicken, vegetables), so everyone had plenty to eat.

Afterward, my wife wanted to make a trial batch of a stuffing recipe with sausage, so she spent much of the afternoon preparing it. It turned out quite well, and everyone finished it off quickly. The trial was a success!

Alessio, who is a pizza maker by trade, then brought in some flour and stuff to make zeppole, which are kinda like donuts, covered with sugar or chocolate powder or Nutella:

They were wickedly delicious. We ate really well at the Institute today! All healthy, of course 😋. Sometimes it feels like we are on a culinary mission here -- life is tough.

I ended up teaching the advanced English class again and enjoyed it. There were five guys in the class, and one of them started asking me about how I knew there was a God, and whether science precluded belief. We had a very nice philosophical/religious discussion, in which I explained my beliefs and the church's position on science (hint: we're all for it!). Normally the English class isn't really about religion, but they were asking all the questions. Everyone contributed to the conversation and I think they enjoyed it too.

Turkey ordered, FHE feast

In the morning we ran around to several local supermarkets (Coop, EmmePiu) looking for whole turkeys, to no avail. So we went back to the butcher and ordered one, to be picked up Thursday. It's expensive, but it'll be fun for these kids to see what an American Thanksgiving meal is like. The fixings are coming together. My wife finally decided that the poultry she bought over the weekend was indeed chicken, not turkey, so we'll keep it frozen and use it for future dishes.

My wife walked from the Institute to find some local stores where they had jewelry pieces that she will use to fix a necklace (for one of the sister missionaries living below us). She found a bunch of the little brass rings she needed for under one euro, and she already has her jewelry tools from home, one of her many craft skills.

The afternoon was very slow, with no kids coming in, so we prepared for upcoming lessons and talks. Things picked up as FHE approached. My wife gave a nice lesson using some things from Marilyn Faulkner's book on the Book of Mormon, about how to prepare before we ask for things in prayer. Then we had cinnamon rolls (from Ikea) and finished off the casserole from last night. Several of the GANS, including the Ganziani, were really excited about having so much food! There was one extra cinnamon roll left, so we played a game of Uno for it, and Anziano Waddell won.

 

We got home a few minutes earlier than usual. It was fairly cold today, and I wore my new heavy jacket, which worked quite well. My cough has been fairly subdued all day, but still isn't gone.

Chilly Sunday, with potluck

It was fairly chilly today, but the sun was out, which helped. Church was very enjoyable, with some good talks and lessons. There was a young family from Utah with two small kids, visiting Europe for a couple of months; they stayed for the whole time, which was quite impressive since there wasn't English translation for the last hour. We sat with the younger Perego kids during Sacrament meeting since their mom is out of town; as a result, we missed some of the talks, but it was fun.😊

I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting next week, which will be enjoyable for me, with a topic of my choosing. My wife will speak in a few weeks, since she's already teaching Relief Society next week. We're a bit surprised it took this long for them to ask us, given how small the ward is, but we are delighted to take our turn.

My cough seems to be pretty tame today, though perhaps my wife is coming down with it. If she gets it, it will probably last two or three hours. That's how she is. I'm jealous. 

I spent much of the afternoon working on my talk and lesson for next Sunday. My wife was in the kitchen, preparing a ham and cheese pasta casserole for a senior missionary potluck dinner at the mission home this evening.  The dinner was very enjoyable, getting to know the folks better, including some people who work full-time at the temple construction site. They had us and the Balzottis introduce ourselves, since it was our first time. There were lots of laughs and lots of good stories all evening.

Funeral

Saturday was our P-day. Lorenzo Perticaroli, a long-time member of the church here in Rome and one of the early branch/ward leaders, passed away of cancer this week. My wife knew him and his young family in the 1970s when she was here, and I had met them a couple of times over the years -- wonderful folks. The funeral was this morning across town, and I was going to attend along with my wife. Unfortunately I forgot to take my cough meds last night before bed (because I hadn't been coughing much), so I woke up coughing for a good while in the middle of the night and wasn't feeling well enough to attend. If you know my wife, you know that she loves a good funeral. She got to see some people she knew from way back when and enjoyed it all quite a bit, though it took a good part of the day.

When she got home, we went out to Conad to do some shopping for us and for a senior missionary potluck dinner tomorrow. My wife saw a real deal on some turkey legs and bought a bunch to freeze for our meal next week. When we got home, the printed labels said chicken, not turkey. Since she had never seen any chicken legs that big, she assumed it must be turkey! Having tasted it now, we're fairly sure it's turkey, so that's the story we're sticking with.😋

In the evening, the Balzottis came over to use our printer for their Sunday school lesson because theirs isn't working. We had a great time -- they are so nice and so funny, with a really entertaining way of telling their stories. We just laugh a lot when we are together.

It was nice to have a relaxed day. Hopefully my cough will be more tame overnight. We are looking forward to being with our ward in church tomorrow.

Two lessons and two casseroles

Friday was several degrees warmer than past days, which was a welcome change. I had energy all day and my voice is almost completely normal, so this this illness is nearly over after a tough week.

In the morning we went to a local butcher shop, recommended by Sister Knies, to ask for a whole turkey. The customer service was great, but it turns out that turkey is much more expensive here than at home, so my wife wanted time to think it over. We'll probably go back tomorrow and place the order. She then found some sweet potatoes at the open market, and Sister Knies found her some (expensive) cranberries at an international market, so the Thanksgiving dinner is coming together. Cranberries are not well known here; the word is translated in Italian as "red American blueberries".

My wife drove to the Institute, so she is getting a bit more comfortable with driving around. I spent most of the afternoon preparing my lessons, while she heated up some frozen cinnamon rolls from Ikea for my Seminary kids (only three today) and worked on the two big tuna casseroles for the Institute dinner tonight. Lots of stuff went wrong with the latter -- she had made it before very successfully, but somehow every thing went sideways today, so the dinner was a bit late after the lesson. Fortunately, the kids had a great time hanging around visiting, and then they ate everything up once it was done.

My Seminary lesson was on the atonement of Christ, and it went well. The kids are pretty comfortable with me, and they are happy to share comments and experiences. My Institute lesson also seemed to go ok, on 2 Nephi 25-30, which has some favorite scriptures and fun quotes. The class was a little smaller than normal, but I was able to get a fair amount of participation from the kids in discussing how this all applies in our lives today, which is always my goal.

We got home late due to the food delays, and the kids didn't want to leave, which is a good sign. The radiator heat turned off just as we walked in the door, but the apartment is very comfortable with the heat on.