Spent the morning looking up hotels to book for trips out of town, cooking classes for a trip to Orvieto this summer and looking at train vs air travel to Warsaw for a tour in July. We are thinking we will do the train and go a couple of days early. If we like the train, we can take one back to Rome or stop off in Brussels where I have a friend and go to Bruges also…then back to Rome. If we don’t like the train trip, we can fly to Rome.
At Noon, we met a dear friend at a great restaurant near our house. Bea and I met in Italian class at Richland years ago. She and her hubby moved to Killeen, but I got to see her in Dallas at a goodbye dinner before they moved to Tampa recently. Bea has been here in Rome a couple of weeks to welcome her second little Granddaughter who was born last Tuesday. Bea’s daughter has lived in Rome for 16 years and she and her husband have two year old Sophia and now new little Gwendolyn. It was so much fun meeting Bea in ROME! Maybe she can come back before the year is out. Hope so.
We are going to be in touch with her daughter and her husband works at a restaurant in Trastevere where we will eat soon.
Tonight we are having stuffed bell peppers and mushrooms simmered in white wine. Got to get that on the table, so will say Buona Notte – good night.

First, we hopped on the Subway and went to Piazza del Popolo and went to Mass at a church I have never been in. It has always been closed. Santa Maria di Montesanto is its name and it is the twin to Santa Maria of the Miracles I wrote about recently. They said it was the Artist’s Church. I was expecting artsy people and perhaps guitar music etc. instead it got its ‘nickname’ by the types of people who have had their funeral services there.
Most of the people were very nicely dressed with a few women wearing hats. There was a singer in a loft with an organist and she sang three lovely songs, one being Ave Maria. As we were leaving the church, we noticed a sweet, well-behaved black and white dog in the back of the church. His leash was tied to a table leg and he had eyes only for his owner.
After church, we walked around the Piazza. Little children in costumes …either for a birthday party or perhaps for the start of Carnevale. It started on the 7th and goes to the 17th…Fat Tuesday…Mardi Gras.
And, Michael Jackson is alive and well in Rome! We saw him singing, dancing and moon walking right there in the Piazza. He was very good! Most likely lip-syncing…but the moves were right on. Hopped on the subway and off to the Spanish Steps.
We went to a nice restaurant we had been to last week. They remembered us. Had lunch, then strolled around the Spanish Steps area before going to a movie. This shopping area in front of the Steps is VERY high end…Chanel, Prada, Harry Winston, Valentino, Versace etc. Beautiful clothes, shoes, handbags, jewelry and all priced accordingly. Quite like Highland Park Village in Dallas, Rodeo Drive in LA or Fifth Avenue in NY. But, NO Starbucks to be seen!
We went to see Mr Turner…the story of the English Painter J.M.W. Turner. I knew nothing about him before this movie, and decided that he was not a very nice man…altho an amazing artist. The acting was very good and I was glad to have the subtitles in Italian for two reasons…it helps improve my Italian language skills, and often I couldn’t understand the British English.
It finally quit raining…we have had several days of rain and we’re tired of it.
On the way home, we stopped at a little place and picked up dinner to go and brought it home. Both too tired to cook. A busy day.
Good night.

Requests have come in for last night’s dinner.

Chicken Breasts with Peppers, Onion & Olives (and capers).

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into fairly large chunks.
Season with 1/4 t. salt & 1/8 t. pepper.
In large frying pan heat 1 Tbs olive oil and 1 Tbs butter over low heat.
Add one small chopped onion, 2 red bell peppers or 1 red and 1 yellow cut into 1/4 inch strips. Cook covered until tender, about 7 minutes. Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates…about two minutes. Add 2 cloves minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Remove pan from heat. But mixture in a bowl.
In same pan, heat 1 Tbs oil – add chicken and cook, stirring til browned…about 4 minutes. Add 2 Tbs vermouth or white wine and stir to get browned bits from bottom of pan. Add pepper mixture to pan, reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until chicken is done, about 2 minutes.
Add 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted. Add 2 Tbs capers if you like them.
Add 1/2 tsp lemon juice and heat 30 seconds more.
Serve over rice, buttered noodles or pasta.

Today, we caught the subway to Piazza Barbarini and walked to the Church of Santa Maria Delle Vittoria to see Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Theresa – considered one of his most beautiful statues. It was completely covered by scaffolding and a curtain. Maybe for cleaning. After leaving the church, we went to the huge bookstore where Andy bought three huge books, and I bought 4 little books in English for a friend’s little granddaughter…Richard Scarry’s books on colors, shapes, numbers and opposites. Richard Scarry was Evan’s favorite as a child…may still be!!! I bought a book on Italian grammar. Have so many at home, but the one I brought with me was written in 1956 and revised in 1977 and the language is so archaic. I’m hoping Andy will start a beginner class in March and I will study in a coffee shop nearby if they don’t have an advanced class at the same time.
After that, we went to eat and then met my friend Nicola for a cappuccino before he went to work. Of course, he didn’t have a cappuccino because only Americans drink cappuccino after breakfast!
Did I mention that Andy now has money in the Post Office bank? Her money people transferred euros into her account here and she is set! The Post Office people have gone out of their way to help us open this account for her..and seemed surprised at how appreciative we were. As our newest best friend, Roberto said, ‘It’s my job to help you.’ And that has been the attitude of everyone we have met…they are most happy to help anyway they can.
We waited a long time for a bus that would bring us to a park close to our house, but it never came, so we just hopped the subway and came home.
Leftovers tonight…stuffed green Bell peppers for tomorrow night.
The rain finally ended today about 10am and supposed to be sunny all week.
Until Domani….

I fixed a recipe given to me by Joyce Mitchell and it was outstanding! Thanks, Joyce! Chicken strips with onion, garlic, red bell pepper strips, white wine and olives. And capers…we added that….
It was served over rice. Now, I have never cooked rice from scratch in my whole life. Instant rice, yes. But rice you boil for 30-40 minutes…nope. So what’s the problem, you ask? Just follow the directions on the box. Ok, but they are all in Italian. I got the part about boiling in cold water to start for 25-35 minutes. But…and here’s the clincher….50 grams of rice per person.
For 4/6 people they say 250 ml of water for each 100 grams of rice. even Google wasn’t much help. Did I pay attention when we were learning the Metric System in school years ago? Just enough to pass that weeks test. So, tell your kids and grandkids to learn that metric stuff so they can go to Europe someday and cook rice. Or bake a cake, or whatever.
The rice was almost perfect! I just winged the water to rice ratio and added water as it cooked down and stirred it a lot. The chicken and pepper strips over rice was just delicious. Recipe upon request. You’re on your own with the rice!

Today, we went to see the Museum of Rome. It is housed in an 18th century palace that backs up to Piazza Navone. It was a good museum day because it was raining. The museum was having a special showing of costumes from Italian film costume designers. They were beautiful! One particularly interesting display were several of the 22 costumes made for Audrey Hepburn in War and Peace. And the costumes made for The Leopard. The next floor of the museum had lovely furniture, tapestries, and paintings. It was a very nice museum. We went to a small church next door. The Church of St. Pantalone. Another lovely church with a smaller, more intimate feeling. Then we went to lunch. Andy had pasta with bacon and I had fried anchovies with a green pepper sauce to dip them in. Both very good. We stopped by a language school to see about classes and a grocery store and then hopped the bus for home. It rained all day and at one point…it was a gully washer as we say at home!
Good to get home and dry out. Tonight we are fixing Chicken with Peppers, Onions and Olives. A recipe from Joyce Mitchell. It should be great!
All for today….

I forgot to mention a church we saw yesterday before the movie. The church is Saints Ambrose and Charles. Very modern entrance of glass panels and the stations of the cross are very modern sculptures. The rest of the church is the typical over the top gold and ornate-ness. St. Charles’s heart is in a box in a back chapel.
After we got back to our neighborhood, riding the bus, the B subway line, changing at Termini, on to the A subway line to our stop, we headed to the Chinese place around the corner for soup and fried rice. And crispy duck. Then we went to the Post Office to open Andy’s bank account. She got it! They gave her all the contracts for her account…almost 100 pages. All in Italian! She signed more times than when we buy a house in the states. She has called her money people to send money to her new account…so,that should be in the works. Gan I hear a big hallelujah from all of you? Our next thing is to wait for a letter telling us our Elective Residence Card is ready and we go to our local Police Station to pick that up. Just a few blocks from here. Couldn’t be the one right around the corner from the apartment, could it? That should come in 4-6 weeks.
In spite of all the red tape, government papers, fees and inconvenience of all of this, not to mention the language barrier on both sides, the Italians we have dealt with have been kind, patient and just go out of their way to be helpful any way they can. American civil servants could take a lesson.
Worn out…going to bed…it’s almost 8 pm!
Another big day domani…I’m sure.

Break out the champagne! We are official!

I will start with yesterday. Andy decided that we should do a ‘dry run’ to the Questura (Immigration office) to be sure we would find it and get there on time for our real appointment today at 11:30. We got the subway to Termini and changed to another line and went as far as that subway went…the end of the line. Then we got on a bus and went quite awhile….got off and walked and walked. Finally came to a big building with hundreds of people milling about outside and inside. A military man told us where to arrive today. This area looks like a third world country. And most of the people look like they came from third world countries. And then there were the four Porta-Potties along the fence….pretty grim. Oh, did I mention the pouring rain? Back on the bus, back on the subway to Termini, and then we got off at the Spanish Steps. On the bus and subway, we sat with a young college student from Florida going tomthenCatholicmUniversity for a year. She told us to go past the main gate, buzz at an intercom and if they let us in, we would bypass all the people congregated outside. Went to eat lunch and then went to see a movie. The Theory of Everything, about Stephen Hawking. Very good. We met two fellows outside while waiting who told us that the new President of Italy had been sworn in near there at 11:30. The movie starts at 3:30 and the doors opened at 3:25. No popcorn, no drinks, no candy. We sat in a very small theater. We had exactly 5 minutes of previews and the movie started exactly at 3:30. It was in English with Italian subtitles and I found that very helpful to improve my Italian. Came home, ate soup and went to bed.
Left the house at 8am. Subway to Termini, the B line to the end, got a different bus. This one dropped us right at the entrance gate to the Questura. We walked past the throng, past the Porta-Potties and to the gate with the buzzer. We get right in, show our papers and are ushered to the x-ray machine, go thru security and a nice military man unlocks the elevator for us to go up to the third floor. We sit down inside after I pick up my packet mailed two weeks ago from the post office…after our 16€ stamp and 127€ fee were paid. Andy’s packet wasn’t there. But we had copies of everything that was in the packet…so no problem. These are copies of all that we gave them in Houston and Philadelphia to get our original long term visas also. Then we go together to a nice lady in Office A who takes all of our papers…mine from the packet, Andy’s from her stack of copies…4 passport photos…they now have 6 photos of me and 6 of Andy, and we are fingerprinted. Every finger of both hands. Then we go back to the waiting room until we are called to Office B. The waiting room is full and a nice gentleman gives me his seat and another gives his seat to Andy. I notice the gentleman has a badge on identifying him as a Morman missionary. We go to a desk in Office B and are again fingerprinted and hand printed. Maybe they are going to read our palms??? While Andy is getting her prints done, I ask the Missionary if he knows a young missionary girl I met in Houston when I had my visa interview. She is here in Rome and we have been emailing. Of course he knows her and sees her almost daily. Small world strikes again! There is a Mormon temple being built here in Rome. We leave and hop the bus. Before the bus comes, we notice an area at the corner that looks a bit like the City Dump, but behind the walls are shacks…and this is a Shanty Town. I mean poor…unheated and unsanitary living conditions.
To Be Continued…..

We have been here a whole month! The time has gone so quickly, so you know we are having fun. Yesterday we had planned to go see the Pope at noon, but at 11:30 it was pouring rain so we didn’t go. At noon, the sun came out and Andy went for a walk and I stayed in and worked on a quilting block and read. And gave the old knee and leg a rest.
In the middle of the night, our toilet broke! With each flush, water oozed out at floor level. Oh JOY! We wrote to our leasing lady first thing this morning, and she said the plumber would be here at 2pm. So, we got dressed and went to Piazza del Popolo. This is a lovely square with an Egyptian obelisk in the center and 4 churches – one at each corner. (We have 4 banks at each corner at home.) one of the churches is the office of the Carabinieri – the military police. One is a very small church called Our Lady of the Miracle. It was built on the site where a child who had drowned in the Tiber was said to have been revived. One church has never been open in all the times I have been there, so maybe it isn’t used as a church anymore. Then there is St Mary of the Popolo church with two beautiful paintings by Caravaggio. One is of Saul’s conversion that the pope didn’t like, so he had Caravaggio paint another of the Crucifixion of St. Peter. Guess that passed since there are only two in the church.
Back home to wait on our wonderful handy man, Constantino. He got the toilet fixed, and charged us 30 Euros…less than $40, but our landlord said it was our responsibility because we broke the toilet…by sitting on it and rocking it back and forth. I don’t think we will be staying in this apartment the whole time we are in Italy. This landlord is a piece of work and we have never met him. Our leasing lady, Gabrielle is wonderful…and she is in the middle of this tiff with the landlord. Oh well, we shall see.
While we were out today, I bought a pair of Clark shoes…my favorite. They were on sale…of course. I had looked for some in Indiana and Dallas, but the ones I liked were sold out in my size. Glad to find these.
Last night it hailed here and today on the way to the Subway I saw ice in the grass where the sun wasn’t hitting. But, all in all we have had very pleasant weather. But we are ready for Spring. Primavera…Spring.
Goodnight, all.

Yesterday, we rode the bus over the Tiber and stopped near the Basillica of St. Andrea. Another beautiful church. They were having Mass in one of the chapels, so we sat for awhile.
Then we went to a museum of ancient statuary. Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Egyptian statues and pottery. A free museum. Afterward, we went across the street to the Museum of Rome and it was closed until 4pm…too late for us. We had a wonderful lunch. Andy had freshly made pasta with bacon and I had rice with a beef sauce. They have a different special menu every day. We will go there again. Went to Campo di Fiori…a huge piazza (Not to be confused with pizza) where they sell flowers, fruits and vegetables, pastas, herbs, oils and anything else tourists might need…or locals who don’t want to go further afield for less expensive fare. Last year, there was a man selling the Italian version of a Vege-a-matic…’it slices, it dices….’. He was so entertaining – I could have watched him all day! Of course, after giving Andy the big buildup about how much fun he was to watch…he wasn’t there. It was raining off and on all day, but the sun finally came out. Got home and called it a day.

Today, we went to the market and bought fish. A trout looking fish called Orato. The fish man filleted it for us and we will cook tonight. Oil, garlic and fry in that, then a bit of white wine poured over at the final minute. Soup and salad to accompany. Also got vegetables, cheese, olives, wine and such to tide us over this week.

Can’t believe January is almost over. One twelfth of our Year Abroad gone.
Wonder what adventures February will bring? Stay tuned.

It was cold, windy and rainy all day so we stayed in…did some laundry and started a big pot of split pea soup…bigger than the one last week which didn’t last long enough. Spent a lot of the day researching cooking classes in Orvieto for a trip in June.
Then we got mail! The letter started: Dear Citizen…they were our Tax ID cards. We are ALMOST official! Andy must be doubly official as she got 2. One was the one that didn’t have her middle name on it…therefore worthless, and the correct one…making her a Dear Citizen.
The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy for the next two weeks. Yuck. But up until now it has been very pleasant. And it will be again.
Tonight coming back from dinner we met Gastony…a 12 year old Basset hound. He was wearing a headband to keep his ears warm and a very long rain coat…to cover his very l o n g body! All he needed were rain boots for his huge paws. He was very pleased with the attention we showered him with.
Off to bed. We are thinking a museum or two tomorrow.