Birthday

Ciao a tutti,

This week has been my son's 11th birthday. His first away from home (which will forever be England) in Italy and he's been sick.

Properly sick, with whatever bug is going round. It could be Influenza A, it could be just a bug, but as in the UK we have not been told whether any other virus's are about its all (need italian accent) Influenza A. According to the news reports the main concentration of Flu A is Napoli. This doesn't surprise me. Its always Napoli. If someone is shot its in Napoli. If any Mafia are arrested its in Napoli. People are dying of Influenza A- its in Napoli.

So the birthday is on Monday, and the dizzyness, grey palour and sniffing start on Sunday. They are ignored as we have been invited to a friends Confirmation (Cresima). We have only been here 7 months, and feel very honoured to have been asked. The church is packed to the gills with standing room only, but we have seats. So when son turns grey and looks faint in church he and Dad are sent out to get a coffee and cake to revive small boy & keep going through the 2 hour church service, I desperately try & keep at least one of the seats. I fail. However it is outside the church the real party is taking place. When I pop out at some indeterminate point during the mass there are at least 60 people stood outside all chatting, and approximately 50% of them smoking. Its raining out there and is pretty miserable, but unlike inside the church there is air, and the ability to talk loudly (not even the Italians would talk loudly during mass, talk yes but not loudly). According to my husband the coffee shop is doing a sterling (well euro) trade during mass, with people popping in to get that caffine fix in an espresso cup and returning to church full of holy fresh coffee. One twix and a cappacino later boy is ready to face the rest of the day.
The lunch after Mass is at a local trattoria down a single track road. The car park is full & complete with umbrella's and coats we skip the puddles to make it to the patio where we are eating. Thankfully the patio has been enclosed in thick plastic for winter and has a stove burning (not near the plastic) and is cosy for the 40 of us in the party. Now much as I can string a couple of sentences together in Italian about all manner of subjects my understanding of what is being said back to me is limited, so there follows some very slow conversation with my poor Italian neighbour who doesn't know me whilst she endlessly repeats the most simple sentences.

After the first course of Antipasti and first glass of Vino Rosso I start to care less about my lack of understanding & rabbit on even more. There follows Risotto (one of my favorite dishes) of lovely creaminess, then squares of lasagna, then duck with funnel puree and roast apple, followed by chicken & rabbit in a potato and tomato sauce and more vino rosso. As each course arrives I'm not sure I can eat anymore but never one to be defeated by food I struggle on.
Prosecco and Cake finish the meal before we head back to our friends for Fruits of the Forest cheesecake & an orange cream dish the name of which I have been told a number of times, but as its Italian and not obvious like Pizza I always forget.

During this mammouth meal small boy with dizzyness plays outside in the rain and cold. My insistance of coat wearing is completely ignored in favour of finding dead frogs, alive cats and sparkly stones.

A warm bath is administered on our return but to no avail. Monday arrives with a temperature and more dizzyness. Merenda (tea for children) is cancelled with our neighbours and a small batch of fairy cakes with icing are made to stick candles in for Tanti Auguri & Happy Birthday later in the day. Plans for a meal out are postponed until well probably sometime before Christmas as is bowling with the Italian friend for a birthday treat (I am thankful for this for 2 reasons 1) I loath bowling and 2) I was dreading the whole dealing with and being responsible for an Italian kid for a number of hours outside of the safety of Magenta.

Daughter & husband have also gone down with the same bug so birthday week has turned into a nursing and disinfecting week for me with the added advantage of learning new phrases such as 'Can I have some cough medicine for an 11 and 8 year old please'.

However this has been the limit of this weeks Italian speaking as I have had to forgo my coffee with mums and the best Italian lessons I get every day. The television has also been taken over by the sickies and I have not seen any of my lovely Italian Cooking programmes this week. One of them is Ready Steady Cook in Italian which seems somehow much more glamourous than British RSC: no offence to Fern or Anslie and is set in the middle of a programme that makes my mouth water and improves my Italian recipe understanding no end. But instead we have had an endless diet of Doctor Who & Disney films.

Daughter is back to school tomorrow so only sick boys remain. I may go to the Outlet Store near Novara.

Arrivederci