My new blog: For those who came here for the cake pop class, I've created a new blog with updates on classes and photos over at guiri in the kitchen



Thursday, May 18, 2006

Chicken & Duck Talk

Finally arrived Rome this morning, and was greeted warmly by Federico who drove almost 2 hours from Perugia (and stuck in traffic as well) just to pick me up. I was then told that his parents will be at home in the afternoon for lunch .... unfortunately, neither of them speaks Spanish nor English. Federico said he would be the translator between us.

I arrived his house close to noon time, and was not too well received by his cat, Rambo. The cat seemed to think that I have invaded his territory and was not too happy about it, and decided to keep away from me. While waiting for Federico's parents to return for lunch, we took a stroll along the town of Ponte Valleceppi, where Federico lives. I was surprised to see that the houses here have grills and gates and fences, just like in Malaysia, not a very common sight in Europe; well... at least I haven't noticed it in Spain, UK, The Netherlands or Germany.

For the next few days, we had lunch at home, but Federico's mom just would not let me help. Not even the dishes or with the cooking. I was treated like a VIP in the house. Throughout lunch and dinner time, I attempted to pick out italian words which I understood. The rest I had to rely on Federico to translate it for me :P The second day of my stay I got to meet Francesca, Federico's sister, and her boyfriend. We had a nice dinner at home; his mom made gnocchi and verdure ripiene, while Francesca's bf brought a strawberry pastry. The gnocchi was so good I had to ask for the recipe. She wrote it in Italien of course, and Federico had it translated for me to Spanish :D

17th May - Federico's birthday!!! On this day, Federico took me to visit the Lago Trasimeno, and along the way, we visited several other towns close by, like Corciano, Magione, Castiglione del Lago and Assisi. Assisi was one of the World Heritage site. As usual, como una guiri, I tried to take as many photo as I could, and Federico was never too shy to be my model! :D Overall, the day trip was nice, but there were just too many hills to climb (like Perugia)! I felt sorry for Federico because the poor chap had to climb hills with me and work so hard on his birthday! :P In the evening, Federico invited his friends and myself for a drink at the town of Perugia. Feliz cumpleaños, Federico!

On my last day, Federico drove me to the airport. Just before I left Rome, I bought a bottle of Limoncello from the duty free shop.... hehehe ... I fell in love with it the last time Federico made me try it :) Erm, of course, the promoter at the shop also gave me another sampling while I was contemplating if I should get a bottle or not :P Oh well.....more to add to my luggage weight now!

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