Boom! What you do to me!

 Real food, Part II

Yes, I am still waxing poetic about the food here.  

I heard there is a show...is it Netflix?...that deals with the horrors of processed foods and animal products.

I am not a vegetarian, although I think I would be if I weren't married.  That being said, the only meat I ingest is poultry.  And an occasional can of tuna.  I gave up pork after stopping at a farm when my daughter was little.  She wanted to see the pigs.  They totally broke my heart and I didn't touch pork again.

I gave up beef after reading about arthritis and what foods can cause problems.  

The thing is, even Italians didn't eat A LOT of meat many years ago.  I read a book that was loaned to me about the history of this area.  In it I learned that even when most people were agrarian, they usually only ate "meat" maybe twice a year, Christmas and Easter.  And when that was done, they stretched it out in every way imaginable, right down to boiling bones for broth.  They also shared what they had with friends and neighbors. 

Anyway, in sharp contrast to the aisles and aisles of "snack foods" I was accustomed to before (here I use the term "food" lightly) there is one small section in our local supermarket dedicated to "snacks."  That's because, once again, they are natural, rather than loaded with artificial colors, flavors, what have you.  

There are taco chips.  Just taco chips, plain taco chips.  NO honey mustard, or sour cream and chive, or hot pepper....the list goes on.  Same for potato chips, which, by the way, also have less salt than their US counterparts.

And then, much to my delighted surprise, just when I was having cravings for what we called "cheese doodles" (which I now understand come in super hot, extra crunchy and who knows what else?) these appeared on the shelf!   Yes!  An Italian cheese doodle!  Baked in the oven!  REAL cheese.  No artificial anything.  No preservatives. No bright orange powder slopping up your hands or clothes.  Also, no gigantic, supersize bags.  Less is more.  They are a bit larger than their overseas cousins with no tiny bits flopping about, just easy to eat (and digest) real food.  

Beyond these "snack foods" the Italians themselves have tarallini.  They are, of course, all natural and oven baked.  They come plain, or with garlic and onion, or rosemary.  They are a bit more filling, shaped like giant Cheerios.....something more appropriate for cooler weather, which I hope is just around the corner.  

In the meantime, cornetti formaggi!! Yay!

Hot diggity., dog diggity

 Have I ever waxed poetic about the food here?  If not, I am about to.

There have been some surprises.....such as the Italian love of potatoes.  They love French Fries and there is even pizza with fries on it, or one that I myself like, which has bits of soft baked potato on it, mozzarella and sausage.  Croquettes, mashed, side dishes....lots of potatoes.  Who knew?

That being said, the most amazing thing for an American to discover is pure, fresh, unadulterated FOOD.

There are laws here, laws against harmful additives and preservatives.  Even familiar (global ) brands like Heinz and Hellmann's have to adhere to the requirements here or their products will not be sold.  So, mayonnaise has three ingredients.  Foods are emblazoned with the words "Senza olio di palma"..."No palm oil." 

When we first arrived, I spent far too much time reading the labels on food products because I was in awe of the fact that there were no additives, no long strings of equally long indecipherable and unpronounceable words in the list of ingredients.  Just.....food.  Even snacks, like potato chips and taco chips and the Italian version of a cheese doodle.  Nothing weird and no artificial "cheese product" either.  And no orange powder getting all over the place!

The vegetables are, for the most part, local.  Never before have I so consistently had lettuces with white stalks.  I used to search and search in the US, and often settle for one that was the "least brown."  

The other big surprise was the popularity of hot dogs, which are often called "wurstul" here. They are a whole different animal here, so to speak. Not only are they a bit larger than their American counterparts, but they have no nitrites or preservatives, and "chicken" dogs are easy to find.  I remember searching for them in the US, often to no avail.  As with potato, you will see "wurstul" on pizza. 

But the difference doesn't stop there.  The buns are not the same either.  Meaning they are not squishy soft styrofoam, but they are actually bread.  They have substance and flavor.  Also, no artificial ingredients.  They are not split, either, so you better have a good, sharp knife to cut them with.

And while I cannot find any sauerkraut, I have not problem substituting grilled onions.  They agree with my stomach better, anyway.  The cheddar here isn't very "cheddar-y" so I use provolone instead.

And, while French's brand sells yellow mustard here, I have found that regular Italian mustard has much more flavor.  The local deli here has Dijon "hot" mustard that has become my personal favorite.

Between the quality of the bun and the size of the dog and everything else, after one I am stuffed.    

It seems Italians don't really do pasta salads, which I found surprising.  REAL Italian pasta (elbows, which are ridged, fusilli and orrecchietti) make excellent, and also filling, salads.  Unfortunately, the good Italian brands are not sold in the US. I found that Trader Joe's had some decent pasta, but even that doesn't compare to the real deal here. 

We are in yet another "heat wave," hopefully the last of this summer, so chicken dogs, turkey burgers and pasta salads are often on the menu.  Along with a quick focaccia pizza or an easy penne alla vodka, minus the vodka. 

Hopefully September will be beautiful as usual.  In the meantime, Buon Ferragosto!

 

It's too hot, too hot baby...gotta run for shelter, gotta run for shade

Honestly, I don't remember now how many days it has been.....hot.  Like NYC, these small and large Italian towns are made of stone and brick.  They bake in the sun.  It is like an oven.

It hit one hundred degrees Fahrenheit yesterday.  Today we held at 95.  

These temperatures were unheard of just a few years ago.  IF...and that is a big "if"...If they happened,, it was for a day..or two.  Not weeks.  Not months. 

I have stayed inside most of the time, only going out if I must.  I had to go out today....thank goodness, early in the morning before the blistering heat set in.  It was 90 degrees at 8am.  

I needed x-rays.  The hospital was hot.  The halls were hot.  The elevators were hot.  There were a few small spots with some cool relief...behind the receptionist in the radiology department.  And while it wasn't great, the actual radiology department was better than the waiting room, or the hallway.  This was the hospital I hate that I will never, ever go back to for any kind of actual care.  But I remember one year ago, when I had emergency surgery in Chieti.  The surgical unit was great.  The ER was great.  But when they finally moved me up to the room I would spend the next two weeks in, it was stifling.  

I also noticed today that the radiology department had a decent bathroom.  It was complete.  AND it had toilet paper...the toilets had lids!!!  There was hot and cold water! (Probably for the benefit of the radiologists)  Patient rooms are not equipped with such "luxuries."  I never was able to take a shower.  Sometimes there was no  hot water.  Sometimes the toilet didn't have a rim....just the porcelain....real nice for a female.  Sometimes...often...no toilet paper.  

Well, anyway....here we are in a heat wave...like many other places in the world.  Luckily, as uncomfortable as it is, it is not as bad as many other locations in the US and Europe.  We have so far lucked out.  Supposedly tomorrow we get a bit of a respite and the temperature backs off to a nice, cool 80 something.

I cannot understand how anyone can keep ignoring this blaring siren of climate change.  It isn't "summer"..it is an inferno.  It is stifling.  It is dangerous and frightening and no one is doing a damned thing about it.  They have to destroy courts first, and ban books, and take away human rights....and make money, money, money.   I am not just talking about the US.

I never thought there would be any advantage to being old....until now.   Sometimes I wonder if I am old enough.

Bill! I love you so, I always will.....

 Years ago, when we lived in New Jersey....I was still ...we both were still...working in Manhattan.  It was brutal.  Just literally 12 miles west of the city, yet two stinking hours away.  Drive?  Sometimes...it could be done...VERY early in the morning....before the traffic jams.  I mean...early.  And then there were the tolls and the cost of a garage for the day.

It was bad enough trying to get in via mass transit. More "reliable" but not cheap.  And very time consuming.  Going in the morning, early....early morning..wasn't so bad.  Except that it was basically the middle of the night, but the commute was tolerable.  Quiet.  Dark, for the most part.  But it was still night for most of the normal people. 

Getting home was a totally different story.  Crowds.  Tired and angry people.  Spent.  Crowded subways.  Crowded buses.  Lines. OMIGOD...sometimes the lines in the Port Authority would make me cry...literally.  All the way down the escalator.  Was the escalator working?  Was it busted or was it turned off because of the crowd?  

Once you got to the top...where then? Where is "the line?"  God forbid, don't get out of it, SOMEONE will call you out and want to kill you!

I remember one evening when a lovely gentleman seemed to notice that I was suffering (I have 2 kinds of arthritis) and I do not try to advertise that fact, but he tried to get me "ahead' in the line and I declined and he got a bit upset.  I tried to explain to him that I didn't want special treatment, that people took it the wrong way.  He happened to be a black man, and I think HE took it the wrong way, but we were able to come to an amenable conclusion.  Oy.

Eventually I managed, temporarily, to work out an arrangement so I could work three days a week rather than five.  I didn't care, thank goodness, about the pay, but it made it easier for me to see my doctor and also to rest and finish my online degree.  This would, however, have consequences later on.

Also, while I was home two days a week, I joined a local gym.  It was on the main street in town and I had passed it sometimes.  I noticed that people inside had gray hair...some of them, anyway.  I noticed guitars on the walls.  It was called "Mr. Bill's"...like the old Saturday Night Live character. 

One day I mustered up the courage to go in.  I had been gaining weight for years and could not shake it.  Of course, I was trapped in a commuter lifestyle...but I had eliminated all sweets and fats as best I could and still....still......

So, I walked in and this bald, lean man approached me...friendly...introduced himself...Mr. Bill!!  Sat me down at a desk toward the back....and we started talking and soon I recall saying..."Hello!"...it was Cody...his big black and white dog....just came up and stuffed his head under my hand..and it was...love.

Yeah, so I joined.  Monthly fee...doesn't matter how many times you come in.  He personalizes your workout...so I was told what to do and how many times and I had a paper to fill out each time I came to prove I did it!!!  You could do more...if you wanted...which I did...I nearly killed myself on the treadmills.  

I managed to eventually lose a few pounds, maybe 10 at the most.  What I gained was camaraderie.  I gained a sense of belonging to not just the community of Mr. Bill's but of the community in which I lived.  I had an identity.  I didn't just live to go to work and come back and do it again.  I had friends.  Mr. Bill organized walks.  One was on the summer solstice.  One was in the fall.  And he always had a big party at his house on Cinco di Mayo.  The fifth of May....every year.  Everyone came, with their spouses, partners....everyone brought something...potato salad, guacamole, chips, dip....

I eventually was able to retire while still going to Mr. Bill's.  It wasn't a "happy" retirement...it was awful, actually.  But, I had my home and I had my degree (yay) and I had a new adopted dog....and I still had Mr. Bill's.  

Soon afterwards my husband lost his job too....*2008 fallout....and we had to sell our house and move.  

It broke my heart.

We moved to central New Jersey...to a "retirement" community that I hated.  I loved that house, I hated the place.  There was a pool you could never get into because it was always so crowded.  There was a gym I went to where the had fucking Fox on the TV until someone must have complained and they finally set it for a music channel.  But I was never comfortable there. People were dying.  It was an awful place.

So we decided to move to Italy.  Radical, yes.  Practical....pretty much. The food is magnificent and the cost of living is cheap.  The climate is moderate....it was gorgeous until last year when it was hot, but it is better again this year.  No one escapes climate change.  And there is socialized medicine.  It has advantages and disadvantages.

I nearly died last year.  Twice.  First from pneumonia (brought about by a botched gall bladder operation) and the second time from the botched gall bladder operation.  I went to an ER and they decided after an entire day that I had "diverticulitis" which I have never had.  I went home and took the medication and it exacerbated the already existing problem.  My intestines perforated.

My dear neighbor brought me to the hospital in Chieti. I also owe my life to her. They did a scan with dye and saw the perforation and leak.  They told me I would have surgery...then.  I was put in a room, in a gown, hooked up to IVs and made comfortable.  I was, for a bit.  Then something went...poof.  And then I was screaming and taken to surgery and a male hand was gently holding an oxygen mask over-ish my face...and I thought I would die.

Mr. Bill had been jogging on May 5th.  He had been happily jogging along when he was hit by a car.  He was rushed to a hospital and he nearly died.  That's why he had a big party every Cinco di Mayo.  He lived.

So did I.  This my MY party and I'll cheer if I want to.  I lived, too.  On June 30th, 2022.  

I'm not feelin' too good myself.....

 Sooooooo, I saw a rheumatologist at my own expense.  He ordered blood tests and x-rays and since it was only 3 pm in the afternoon, I wondered why I could not have them right then and there.  He shrugged.  He is the top specialist at the hospital in the larger city nearby.  So....soooooo.

So I left with a letter that detailed the blood tests and x-rays he wanted.  I contacted my local doctor.  He said he was "in vacanza"....on vacation.  Swell.  Mi dispiace.  I had no idea.  I waited.  I waited until today. 

The weather was decent.  The incessant rains seem to have ended.  Now it is getting warm...some might say "hot." But, it was a nice day and I rested this morning and we set out at 5 pm for the local UTAP...which is the local health care facility.  Why?  Because it said my doctor would be there from 5 to 7 pm.

Since my nightmare year last year, this was the longest walk I have taken.  I used to do it every month all by myself.  I enjoyed it.  Then, after getting my prescriptions for the month, I would stop at the nearby cafe and have a cup of tea.  Sometimes I ran into people we knew.

This was torture.  This was painful and difficult. I had to hold on to my husband.  I had to sit down several times.  Damn!!!  But, we got there.  Thank god the elevator worked.  WHY, seriously WHY would they locate a "health center" up a double flight of stairs?  Just wondering......

It was hot.  No fans, although they had windows open and if you were in just the right spot there was a lovely breeze.  There was a small line and I placed myself at the end.  That part didn't take too long, maybe 10 minutes and I could lean on a wall. 

Finally, my turn.  I was happy that I was able to communicate in understandable Italian what I was there for.  I've been sequestered home for so long, I was worried.   She understood and took the letter from the Pescara doctor and started issuing orders.  Blood work.  (July 4th...haha) and x-rays...hands, knees and chest...July 25th!  What?  Are you in a hurry?   Oh, and don't forget to pick up your own urine vessel for the the analysis...the hospitals don't provide those.

I did also get some kind of prescription for something to use either on my knee or my hands...maybe both.  I have no idea, but I suppose I will find out.

Then, when I had all the orders and appointments, it was time to head back.  Ouch!  I have to sit again.  Give me a moment.

We got near Aldo's around the corner and I was ready to drop...right into a seat...thank goodness he was open.....I will have a whiskey and Coke, please.  Ice?  Oh, yes, sono Americana.  

The only good news is that none of these tests will cost a dime.  The bad news is that they take so damned long.  And then we have to get to the Questura during the summer for our resident cards....that will be fun while I feel so wonderful...and I don't know ...August is "Ferragosto" month...vacations!!!  Will I be able to see the rheumatologist?  Time will tell.

When the rain comes....

 Relentless.  It is relentless.  Not like when we were kids...and it rained for a day...maybe two.  No...now it rains for an entire week.  It rains for an entire season.  It rains and rains and rains.

And I know damned well it is burning elsewhere.  It is burning in Canada!!!  Canada???  It is heating up in Oregon and Washington state.  

I see the reports of hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones....Auntie Em!!!!  I see them, of course.  How can you not?  How can you not?  Except many do....they ignore it...."just the normal rhythm."

  No it isn't.  That ...THAT is total nonsense.

I do not understand the apathy about this. But, then again, I don't understand why Al Gore wasn't President. Well, yes, I understand it...from a political and selfish point of view....but I don't UNDERSTAND IT from a human point of view.  I will never understand how perverted my country became, how perverted the entire species became. 

It is May in southern Italy...and I am still in sweatshirts...plural...and two layers of socks.  What scares me is that, if this year follows the same pattern as last year, the weather could change on a dime and suddenly turn hot.  With no respite. For weeks or perhaps months. Neither option is appealing.

I am a self hating human. 

I accept that. I hate it, but I accept it.

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain

 The first three springs and summers we were here were glorious.  Warm, sunny, with the occasional rainy day or night, as expected.  Sometimes I would have my first cup of tea in the morning out on the balcony, listening to the birds, watching the commuters come into the parking lot below and gazing out at the beautiful hills full of olive trees and fields that stretch all the way to the sliver of the Adriatic that is visible in the distance. We had open windows and happy cats watching birds outside. Idyllic.

The summer sun can be very strong, so sunscreen and hats were necessary, but the overall temperatures were pretty much in the 80s with low humidity, making even the hot days much more comfortable than any I can recall in the "states."  I have scads of pictures with clear, glorious blue skies.

I confess I don't remember last year too well, I was busy being ill and going in and out of hospitals, but I seem to recall it was not "ideal."  I do remember the temperature shooting up to 90 degrees early in June and staying there for three entire months, though. 

This year brought a mild winter with very little snow but lots and lots and LOTS of rain.  Did I mention lots of rain?  The freaking forecasts show rain nearly everyday with possible breaks that last one or two days at a time.  

There are construction workers in the parking lot.  It is being expanded for environmental reasons, so there will be better drainage.  That is, if it stops raining long enough for them to get any work done!  Right now there are former puddles that became little ponds that are now expanding into small lakes. 

We have had a total of ONE day where the temperature finally reached 70 degrees. The local schools posted an announcement that they are keeping the heat on past the time when it is usually turned off for the season.  The humidity has been sky high, 70% and more nearly every single miserable day.

Wait a  minute?  Isn't one of the reasons we moved here for the wonderful weather?  What the hell?

I shouldn't complain (except I have both kinds of arthritis and my joints are revolting against me). I know that there are situations in the US that are worse.  But we have two fears.  One is that this is a harbinger of what the entire summer will be, wet and unusually cool.  The other is that it will suddenly change, as it did last year, and we will be thrust into blistering heat and high humidity for the duration. Neither one sounds pleasant.  This is climate change. It is horrible and it is scary.

So, its almost May and I am still in two layers, sometimes three.  Double socks, a tee under my sweatshirt, sometimes another uber large sweatshirt over that.  I want to get out and walk but it is impossible in this, sometimes the rain is very, very hard and these streets are cobblestoned and hilly.  So I do some exercises inside, trying to get stronger and more flexible.  I need to see a rheumatologist 25 miles away, but I don't want to go in miserable weather nor do I want someone driving me in it.  Some of these small roads could be flooded.  

The forecast is for rain every day until the weekend.  A two day break, then more rain.  Hoping I don't go stark raving mad in the meantime.