Putting Winter into the Winter Olympics ...

Yesterday it was rain and today and still as I write this Sunday night, it is snowing and, even better, sticking to the ground!

I have always loved the snow, especially when our family endured the Thanksgiving and Christmas blizzards in Colorado and, of course, the snowfall in Alaska as a child. I can also say that I've been in Bakersfield when it has snowed.

Even better is that on Sunday I got to hang out with Giusi and her friends Luigi, Guido and Ita (short for Margarita). We drove about 45 kilometers outside of Torino and into the mountains (non-Olympic ones). We stopped for coffee (and a cappuccino for me) and bread filled with marmalade before continuing up the hill to park the car and hike a bit.

I must say that being bundled up and doing a hike in the driving snow might not be the No. 1 priority for most, but for me, someone who has been doing a lot of walking around town in Torino, was a great way to spend the day and time with people who are quickly becoming lifetime friends (I have to learn more Italian though by the time they all come to California in August because I'll be chastised if I don't!!).

We hiked at least a mile and Giusi said normally, if not for the weather, they like to hike for as much as three hours. The snow might have slowed us down, but the real thing that did was ME. I am 36 and it was a new thing for me to hike, even after all the working out I'd done before this trip and the blisters I have from walking so much in Torino. My companions, meanwhile, are all aged $%&£ç°ç$ or more. ... you didn't think I'd really list their ages, did you?

Anyway, they were really nice about it and we stopped and headed back and were back in the car two hours later. We did see some animals far up the hill (they were camascio) but in the snow and all, it wasn't like they were going to come our way.

We got back in the car and drove to a place that will get my mom's attention -- to the Hotel Blanchetti and its Caffe Blanchetti (No Mom, no relation to your grandfather but we did ask). Instead, we ate some bruschetta (bread with what is called lardo here ... thinly sliced fat from pork), really good pasta with a sauce that included herbs from this mountain region. Delicious. Then, we ate something that will also get the attention of my mom, dad and my brother ... I ate polenta! If you've never had it, you should try it sometime. It is a corn-based product and it comes served SEPARATELY as its own thing. This polenta tasted a bit like grits. In addition to the polenta, it was accompanied by some very good sausage in a very tasty tomato-based sauce, some roast beef that was marinated and the last meat choice to eat with the polenta was ... a friend of the camascio we saw during our hike. I will update this blog later with the exact name, but I will tell you this ... he wasn't half bad. We then had a tray full of cheeses and some "cookies" which were more like eating pastries with such things as chocolate, marmalade and a cream-filled one that if I didn't know better, was the icing used on those instant cinnamon rolls Pillsbury made a long time ago (maybe they still do). Anyway, I had another cappuccino and we all polished off our meal with a digestive-helping finisher known as some sweet sherry from a flask that Luigi brought and was homemade. It was very good. I also want everyone to know that white wine is tasting better each time I have some (sorry Aaron, there will be more beer to drink in places other than Italy). I NEVER thought that would happen but hey, every day and every glass of wine makes me a little more Italian.

If only I could speak the language better ...

Ciao!