The Italian Voice

After almost one month, I am back, not to the normality, but here on my blog.

My personal situation is still pending, but I am trying to be strong and continue to look for a job, while trying to wait to get the chance to prove that I am sincere, very sorry for what happened and willing to sort out everything, at least with him because I love him to death, but I hope with time also with his family.

I titled this entry in this way because it is just the case to tell it: “if the mountain will not go to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain“.

It is exactly what I am trying to do.

My mother’s friend asked a few times to her friend about my job application as merchandiser and she told that my CV is in pole position for an interview, but maybe they are not needing someone in this period and anyway I can not wait for too much time.
Yesterday morning I wanted to browse the job offers on Infojobs.it (if you are interested, you must know that it is also available for Spain and Mexico, reacheable at the url http://www.infojobs.com and they offer jobs also in foreign countries, just give it a try, for me it is fantastic) and I found two interesting ads, so I immediately sent my application.
You know what? After one hour I received a call from a job agent near Bologna which asked me my availability. I replied positively and she assured me to send my CV to the company and to let me know about an interview.

So yesterday I thought a lot about something which always caused me discussions in the past with my parents about the kind of job which I should consider, I guess it is all about different points of view.
Well, first of all now I am not in the right position to be picky and I actually do not mind what kind of job I can have, I only need to work and earn money, while proving that I very much want to live a simple serene life with my boyfriend, being a good person.
Then I absolutely do not judge any kind of job because I firmly think that every job is great if it is honest.
What I want to say is that I do not mind to be a secretary or a labourer, because the job should be only considered as something which allow us to live decorously and for me it should not be seen as the reason of our life!!

That is why I am waiting to tell to my parents that maybe I found a job:

- because they still need to call me for the job interview;
- because that job will be as char in some companies in my surroundings.

my personal shot

Now the question comes spontaneously: Do you have a bias against some kind of jobs or do you consider everything as an opportunity, like I do?

P.S. Thanks a lot for your friendship, I am ok, sorry if I did not have the time and the right mood to reply personally to each of you, you are in my heart and I hope to see you all here again. See you soon, my friends!

I decided that I have mulled over too much, now I want to react, even if my boyfriend and I will be in the distance at least for a while, even if nothing is ok for us yet, even if I have to do something which I never imagined to do here once again.
I want to stop crying, I already did it for 8 consecutive days, and I want to roll up my sleeves while waiting to change things and have my life with my boyfriend back (I really hope so).
I also want to stop telling a lot about this situation, because I have the fear that something could be misunderstood, like in fact happened some days ago.

I prepared my CV, I asked myself what will be my ideal job in this situation and I started to send my application to some agencies, supermarkets and ipermarkets which offer a job as merchandiser.

Fortunately my mother has a very kind friend who works for a supermarket of the same chain for which I worked some years ago, she wants to tell about me at the director so that maybe he will be able to offer me a position soon, it would be great!
That friend works during night shifts and I must admit that I would appreciate the same hours, as I am almost used to be awake during nights, especially in this period with this love difficulty, and as it would allow me to be free during the days and maybe also to reach my boyfriend more than what I could do with day shifts.

I started to remember that I loved that period in 2004 during which I worked as cashier into an ipermarket near Bologna, I worked only 18 hours per week receiving a nice salary and everything I did in addition was all cashed as overtime, it was wonderful!!

Cashes at the ipermarket where I used to work in 2004 and
where I sent my application again in these days (my own shot)

I know it will be hard to meet my boyfriend a very few times per month or maybe only once or nothing at all, but I totally trust in him and I know he loves me, I am sure that he knows what to do with time to avoid to force the situation, especially with his family.
Anyway, I hope he will really be able to give me another chance soon, that is why I want to wait and to “follow his rules”, showing him that I am judicious and adult, I hope that this good behaviour will pay me in the future, I really love my boyfriend and I want a future with him.

Well, I just realized that probably titled this entry in the wrong way, because nowadays the young Italians do not care much about love; if they do not have what they want, they immediately look for it somewhere else, they do not fight but, on the contrary, they choose the easiest way to be happy, which is often a fake happiness.

Sometimes I think to be very different from the major part of the young ones, I am a sort of “old fashioned” girl, the first and most important valour for me is LOVE LOVE and LOVE again, in every form, for my point of view without it I am nothing, we are nothing!!

So please, wish me good luck with the job, but especially with love, I am determined to resist and struggle because I totally love!!

I feel so bad in these days.

Three days ago my boyfriend’s family found old entries of my Italian blog where I put them down, it was when I didn’t even know about the relocation and something also later, but all written no more late than this spring.
They found harsh word which I never wrote, I realized that someone had access to my Italian blog and changed a lot of things. Yes, I criticised my boyfriend’s family and I am convict about it, but I never thought and written those bad words.
My boyfriend’s family does not believe me or maybe they even do not know this fact.
I do not know how to explain things if someone does not give me the opportunity to do it.

They obviously took offence, I felt bad even by myself reading those words which I never wrote, and now they do not consider me anymore. My boyfriend is unsure about what to do, he took offence too, but maybe he still feel a little bit of love for me.

I had to leave with my parents for Belgium now, but I decided to stay at home to have more chances to talk to my boyfriend as much as I can. I want to proove him that I am not that bad person, that I stopped to think and write those criticisms for several months now, that I was very happy to get along well with his family and to move and that I love him with all my heart.
I hope he will be able to give me that opportunity, but I am not sure at all.

I can not think about these 4+ years together, we were almost ready for the final relocation and we were so happy to start a new life, me too, absolutely (I also wrote it in several entries here).

The unique thing to do now is to stay in touch with my boyfriend, who asks for time and space, and to show him my real intentions and the truth about who I really am.
I hope so badly that he will give me the chance to do it!
Now he does not want to meet me, only phone calls and one or a very few ones per day.

It is ok for me, I can imagine his contrasting feelings, but I also hope that he will think about our relationship, I am ready to be put to the test completely, I am determined to fight for my love and future with him, but I really need to act immediately about the flat and the job.

photo by sp_clarke

I am deciding to spend the major part of the day at my parents’ flat (fortunately they live just at the end of this street) to avoid to see the bills here growing and I am planning to send my CV at some job places around here.

I feel so badly, I hope to retrieve my life with him, but I need him to give me another opportunity, please please please pray for us!!! Then maybe, later in the days or months, I will get the chance to talk to his family.

Everything changes so quickly in this life, I was not ready for something like this, I was ready to move and start a new life with my boyfriend, I love him so much!!!

P.S: Sorry for the whining entry, but I really need to give vent to my feelings.

In this period, I am again dealing with the constant thought of the job hunting.
It is really psychologically stressful, especially if you live in Italy and if you already changed your job some times, like I did for several unwilled reasons.

photo by abuigues

Here you never know what to expect from an interview; in fact, if you changed a lot of jobs, some recruiters may think:

1) that you are very adaptable and flexible and is obviously good;
2) that there is something wrong in you, so maybe you are a goof-off.

So what is the right behaviour to have? What to say exactly during the interview? How to introduce yourself and your working experiences?

I guess that in Italy nothing is ok when you talk about the job, never! If you say that you are flexible, they will think that you are not reliable; if you say that you want a steady job, they will surely end up looking for someone with a more modern mind.

I am also noticing a substantial difference about the job offers in my region, which is the Emilia-Romagna, and my future place, which will be in Piedmont. Maybe I am prejudiced, but it seems that here we have more varied job offers, in many more fields, while there they only offer positions in two or three fields…

Well, I do not mind. I know the job hunting is always hard, I guess everywhere, especially in this era, but I also know that it can be quite stirring in my situation, as I will have the chance to start all over again, choosing exactly who I would like to be and this opportunity comes only a few times in life or maybe only once.
I absolutely do not want to waste my time, I have so many ideas in my mind to explore just before and after my relocation to low Piedmont.

Now I only need a 10 days-vacation to Belgium with my parents (fortunately I was able to plan a little getaway this year, I will say good-bye later, as we will leave only on July 31st), then I will start to move the last things and to really think about my future in Novi Ligure.
Yay, it sounds very exciting!

I am bolognese, so I was born with the bolognese habits, one of them is using massive quantities of the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese onto the dishes, it is perfect for their taste and it is wonderful also if eaten alone!

I tried to search for foreign online news about the “Parmigiano Reggiano case“, but it seems that anyone abroad knows nothing of what happened, so I am here to inform you and to find a solution for my own little world.

Some months ago, Greenpeace published an article with the news item that the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese woud be at risk of OGM; it does not mean that it is made with OGM, but the problem is due to the fact that the cows which produce milk eat the genetically modified soy produced by the Monsanto company (read the translated article HERE, if you find errors it is because the translation has been made by the Google’s automatic service).
By now, this Monsanto firm is famous to work with OGM without scruples only to get rich.

Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

I will not write here my thoughts, even if you can easily imagine, together with the citizens’ reactions to this bad news item, especially because it is about a famous great product which everybody abroad envy us, but I wondered how will I act when I will move to low Piedmont.
Now I am already trying to avoid the Parmigiano Reggiano, here we do not have a great choice which could replace that cheese, but other Italian regions surely have!

My boyfriend, who lived with his family in low Piedmont for more than 20 years, affirms that there is a great valuable product which comes from Lombardy with a nice flavour and even a nice price, if compared to the Parmigiano Reggiano: it is called Bella Lodi.

Bella Lodi cheese

Well, the unique evident difference is the rind; while the Parmigiano Reggiano’s one is yellow-light brown like the rest of the cheese appears, the Bella Lodi’s one is black.

Absolutely nothing to say about the flavour, as my boyfriend told me that, every time I visited his parents, I ate it onto the first courses.

Well, I can not be 100% sure about its cows’ nutrition, but they seem reliable, I also found their website which is available in 3 languages.

Extraordinary discovery, I am pretty satisfied today, I can not wait to buy and use it again, when we will establish into the new flat.
For me, without doubts, Bella Lodi knocks down Parmigiano Reggiano!

P.S. I would like to thank the wonderful Joy O’Hare who some days ago wrote a nice review about my blog and the ABolognaNet’s staff which discovered my previous entry and mentioned it into their Italian blog, thanks a lot for your kindness!!

Hi my friends, I am finally back from the first part of the relocation, I am really satisfied about the result and now I absolutely want to share with you the reportage with the photos which I took during Saturday, it is so much exciting!

On Friday afternoon we loaded the delivery van which one of my foster father’s colleagues offered for the relocation.

On Saturday morning we woke up at 3:30 am to meet 1 our later at my parents’ flat together with my uncle, who did the night shift at work and came with us without sleeping at all.
Along the road, we met my foster father’s colleague with his delivery van, then we took the highway to Tortona, in Piedmont.

From top to bottom, from left to right: my mother driving the car, my boyfriend next to me, my uncle sleeping (with my foster father and his colleague onto the delivery van in front of us in the highway) and myself with the pigtail.

We arrived there about 3 hours later without problems and with 2 brief stops.
We immediately unloaded the van and put our stuffs into the garage, then we went into the flat with the visitors, who clearly showed their big appreciation for it.

After some minutes, men started to assemble the kitchen while my mother and I took the documents of the delivery of the kitchen, which arrived at the flat on June 27th, and drove to the Ikea Store in Genoa to ask for a replacement of 4 doors which were damaged.
On the way to the capital of province of Liguria, which is Genoa, we chatted a lot and enjoyed the landscapes of the green mountains between the two regions of Piedmont and Liguria, I look forward to visit all those beautiful towns.

From top to bottom, from left to right: the Scrivia Valley, a nice town between Novi Ligure and Genoa (I do not know its name yet, but I will visit it soon), highway between the mountains near Genoa, Genoa Bolzaneto (one of the areas of the city Genoa).

It was not hard at all to find the Ikea Store in Genoa compared to the previous time when I have been there with my boyfriend, maybe because I already remembered the path.
The operator at the customer service was very kind (and also young and handsome, hahaha), he explained that they will deliver the new doors in one week directly in Novi Ligure. Great news item!

After that, we immediately drove back to Novi Ligure and, before going to the flat, I wanted to show my future city to my mother with a brief tour by car, it was my very first time without help for the directions to take.
When we arrived at the flat, we discovered that my boyfriend’s mother and brother visited men, who were assembling the kitchen, just some minutes after our departure to Genoa. It was the first meeting for them, fortunately my foster father and uncle were able to know two members of my boyfriend’s family, but my mother was curious too and I wanted to see them as well…well, it will be for the next time.

We continued to work together to assemble the kitchen. We had lunch in the balcony onto the package of the kitchen, because there are no chairs yet into the flat, with pizza, salted croissants and croquettes of potatoes; we needed to be quite quick, as my uncle was very tired after the night shift and we had to be back home not very late in the evening.

From top to bottom, from left to right: our quick lunch in the balcony (already full of plants, hahaha), men relaxing before continue to work, a glimpse of our kitchen, the part behind our block of flats (our flat is at the 2nd floor).

At 6:30 pm we had to stop working at the flat, because we realized that we still had 3 hours to reach Bologna and we all were very tired.
On the way home, my parents and uncle expressed their satisfation for my future flat, kitchen and city; I was worried especially about my mother’s opinion, because I get along very well with her (well, it is my mother!!), but she told me she liked everything a lot and now she can picture her only daughter over there living her new life with her boyfriend.

You can not imagine how much I was relieved to see those positive reactions, now I really feel better and practically ready for the last part of the relocation at the end of August 2008!!
Another big news item is that I decided to travel with my parents to Belgium for the first week of August, so I will have some days to spend with them into our camper van, before moving permanently.
I could not imagine to live such an exciting summer for this year, it turned out to be one of the best ones in my life, I feel ready to move and finally able to look into the future without fears, it is a great feeling!!

P.S: Tomorrow evening I will attend the Notte Bianca with my mother in Bologna (via S. Isaia), so stay tuned for updates and new shots about the event which will take place with nice music and shopping!

I am still alive, my friends!! Do you wonder what I am doing?

shot by aemkei

Yep, I have been busy for some days because my boyfriend came home and will stay here until Saturday, when we will pack our things and we will start the first part of the relocation to low Piedmont; we are plenty of commitments, such as meeting friends to say goodbye before moving, buying products for the new flat and obviously packing the major part of our stuffs.

On Friday evening we will get the delivery van and will load everything on it, then on Saturday we will wake up at 5 am, we will meet my parents and uncle to reach Novi Ligure, which is our future city, to unload our stuffs and to assemble the kitchen, which is already arrived at the flat.

How exciting!! On Saturday I will surely take some photos to show you the works, the flat and the kitchen.
So stay tuned and have a nice rest of the week, I will be back soon.

Another little news item before cooking lunch today: I joined the contest called Blogger’s Choice Awards and my blog has been nominated for the Best Photography Blog and other sections; if you want to vote for me, you can click on the homonym banner of the section called “Get Updates” here in the right column or simply click here, I would be very happy to receive your recommendation.

Ciao my friends and thanks for following my steps to my new life, it is great to share all my feelings with you!!

Today I am again dealing with problems at the internet connection, I hope they will be solved soon as I am really tired of this situation (fortunately my boyfriend and I will move soon and will get the internet connection with another company) and I do not know if I will be online later.

That is the reason why I am posting today a very nice food meme which I found at the Frutto della Passione (Joanne’s blog), it is perfect for a quick and funny entry like this one and please forgive me if I am in a hurry, but I am also busy calling the Ikea operators to tell that part of the furniture which they delivered this morning at our new flat is damaged (obviously we are always lucky) and to ask for their replacement as soon as possible.

This Food Meme works at the same way of the past Photo Game about Desi (me).
In reality, I had to choose if preparing a mosaic adding the selected photos from Flickr to the Mosaic Maker or if answering directly to 12 questions, but I was not able to decide and especially…why to opt for one solution if both of them can be complemetary? Hihihi, I know, I know, I am un-correctable!

So enjoy, I do not want to tag anyone because I think bloggers should be free to play if they really want it, but remember to let me know your result if you decide to do it too as I am too curious to see your answers!

My personal Food Meme

Questions

01. Favourite food scene in a movie? German film “Mostly Martha” (or “Ricette d’amore” with Martina Gedeck and Sergio Castellitto), all the movie, but especially the blinded dinner (trailer HERE);
02. Favourite breakfast food? Cappuccino and croissant;
03. Favourite ethnic cuisine? Italian regional cuisine;
04. Guilty pleasure? Dates and mascarpone;
05. Favourite ice cream flavour? Hazelnut flavour;
06. Favourite cookbook? Cucchiaio d’argento;
07. Favourite snack? Yogurt;
08. Favourite kitchen gadget? Whisk;
09. Chocolate: dark, milk or white? Three kinds of chocolate;
10. If you were a dish, what would you be? Tiramisu;
11. What did you have for lunch today? Riso cantonese;
12. Favourite beverage? Cedrata and lemon.

Credits to the great photographers

01. Mostly Martha, 02. Croissant & Cappuccino, 03. regional-italian-cuisine-co, 04. Mascarpone Stuffed Dates, 05. Hazelnuts and coffee, 06. De Zilveren Lepel, 07. Rhubarb and Raspberry Yogurt Ice Pops, 08. Red Hot Whisk_8443–final-800-550, 09. Three Kinds of Chocolate, 10. do you ♥ a matcha tiramisu? ^-^/, 11. riso cantonese, 12. Bollicine

Have a nice weekend with your family and friends and see you in the next days, ciao ciao!!

When I used to live in Imola (province of Bologna, Italy) more than two years ago with my boyfriend, we discovered a wonderful Restaurant Pizzeria which quickly turned out to be our favourite one, it is called “La Toscanella“.

A couple of evenings ago, I went to have a fantastic dinner with my mother, as my boyfriend and my foster father were not at home, so we decided that we finally deserved a night out there together.

Entrance of La Toscanella Restaurant Pizzeria

La Toscanella is situated just along the main street called Via Emilia between Imola and Castel San Pietro Terme, in the town of Toscanella di Dozza, from which it takes its name. It is almost impossible to miss it, driving from Imola to Bologna.

The atmosphere is relaxing and quite elegant. Now that it is summer they suggest to eat under the nice big veranda just at the entrance, you can enjoy the gentle breeze of the evening and choose between the tables for smokers and for non-smokers.

The main specialty of La Toscanella is the giant pizza in several flavours, but they also offer a huge variety of great dishes with meat and fish.

My mother and I wanted to try a dessert which one of my mother’s colleague heartily suggested, so we decided to avoid to order a pizza and to eat only a first course per head, in order to feel not too full.

Risotto di mare

We both ordered this wonderful first course of risotto di mare, of course with seafood and parsley. You can see that it was really full of every sort of fishes: clams, mussels, shrimps, squids and squilla mantis.
It was really hard to finish the dish, but it was absolutely tasty.

Cestino dessert

Then we immediately ordered this awesome cestino dessert, which means “little basket”, with the choice of mascarpone or chantilly cream or soft fruit, with the add of Nutella, whipped cream and hot chocolate in a basket of wafer covered by icing sugar.
My comment can only be: heavenly!!

At last, we realized that the prices are quite cheap at La Toscanella; in fact, for two very bid dishes of risotto, two big cestino desserts and one litre of water, we spent only euro 32…and not per hea, but as total amount!!

So, if after this little recap of our dinner and this review of the suggested Restaurant Pizzeria, you are starting to have your mouth watering, you undoubtedly have to visit my area and book your place at La Toscanella for a fantastic dinner like ours, you will be totally satisfied by your choice!!

Details to find the place:

RISTORANTE PIZZERIA LA TOSCANELLA
Via Fernando Santi n°25
40050 Toscanella di Dozza (BO)
Italia

Phone n°+39 0542 672601
Interactive Map HERE (powered by Pagine Gialle)

Here I am again after a long weekend without internet at home, I took the chance to care about several important things for the upcoming relocation and especially…we ordered the kitchen, how exciting, I will show it soon!!

Today I already had a very busy morning, paying bills, doing the grocery shopping, looking for other stuffs for the other rooms of the new flat.
In the meanwhile, the weather didn’t know what to choose between being sunny or cloudy, with the result that this morning I was out with a big annoying dampness, which is quite typical in the area of Bologna in this period of the year.

The result was that I came home with a light headache and a strong desire to relax on the sofa or maybe to take a nap for a couple of hours.
I just laid on the bed at about 3 pm (Italian time), when my all-rounder neighbour decided to turn on the mower and to start to mow the grass behind our block of flat, which is just under my bedroom’s window. He didn’t stop it yet after 1 hour, grrrr!!

Ok, I am learning the lesson, evidently this is not the right day for a nap, but I am in lack of physical force, I really need something, but what? Hmm….
Easy! Nothing better than a good caffè italiano to keep my mind active during this afternoon!

Tourists who visit Italy always remember, together with pasta, pizza and desserts, the fantastic wholesome taste of the caffè.

I always wondered why everybody think that we are so good at making coffee, as the ingredient is not native of Italy, but you know what?
In the last years, since the moment when I left my parents to live with my boyfriend, I discovered the secrets which makes the difference and I am here to reveal everything I know.

photo by KevThaBass

So take your book of recipes or your notebook and write down my suggestions.

Before any other step, you have to follow some important expedients:

1. buy a moka (if it is new, be sure to wash it and to try it at least twice without coffee and simply with water);

2. buy a good quality coffee, which has been freshly roasted and freshly ground (it is good also the packed one, but you have to open it and use it in a few months); for this aim, I can suggest to look for it at your local markets and supermarkets and, if you are not able to find the Italian quality of coffee, you can order it at Amazon, the best and most famous brand names here are surely: Lavazza, Illy, Nespresso (wonderful George Clooney during its commercial at the Italian tv), Nescafè, Hag, Pellini, Segafredo, Kimbo, Palombini and so on (I guess you will find only the first ones);

3. use only fresh cold and clean water.

Now you are ready to prepare your caffè:

1. open your moka in 3 parts (container, filter and boiler) and fill the base of the pot with cold water up to the safety valve which is inside the boiler, this is the correct quantity to have a good taste of coffee, to avoid it to be too watery or too strong;

2. insert the filter, use a teaspoon to fill in completely the filter with the coffee powder, but avoid to compact it, because the water has to pass easily withuot leaving a burnt taste;

3. screw the two parts of the moka and tighten them strongly to get a perfect seal;

4. put the moka on the stove with a very low flame and wait until the coffee come out from the upper portion of the pot; for a better taste, remember to keep the cap lifted, so that the heat avoid to create a condensation which would alter its aroma (for this purpose, it is suggested to use a couple of metallic little caps to put onto the hole from where the coffee exits, to ward off the splashes);

5. when the moka is almost completely filled up, turn off the stove, ease the coffee pot onto another cold stove and mix the liquid for one minute with a teaspoon, then pour it immediately into the tazzine, which are the little cups for coffee, and taste it with you preference (with sugar, milk, whipped cream, corretto with the add of alcoholic drinks, with cocoa on it or simply black).

There are also some fundamental hits to remember, also for the post-preparation:

1. use only the necessary coffee for your immediate needs, to have it always fresh, and prepare it again if it is not enough;

2. avoid to reheat it, because its taste surely will change and it will not be so good anymore;

3. just in case the coffee is abundant, put it into a sealed bottle instead of leaving it inside the pot, because with the days it generates toxic substances when the coffee gets in contact with the air and the steel of the moka (so simply wash it as soon as it cools off);

4. avoid to wash the moka with the washing-up liquid, because it will probably place itself into the filter, altering the aroma of the coffee; simply wash every part of the pot with water and also vinegar if you want.

Well, I must admit that it is easier to do it than reading it, all what I wrote it can happen in just 10 minutes!
So why do not you give my suggestions a try and prepare your good caffè italiano?
And please send them immediately, hihihi!