I have been gone with a Youth
Conference, camping with the youth from
our church, but I am back for a few days
before I take the Young Women from church
to Lake Powell next week.
I wanted to continue my
trip to Paris and Italy by showing you
Antonella's home. Remember I promised
to show you her kitchen. My husband had
commented on the huge pans she cooked with
and mentioned the usually little Italian kitchens
so she invited us over to see her home, and
especially her kitchen.
As you enter the large doors to Antonella's
building, typical of old Bologna, you enter
this gorgeous colonade. This is a very old
lovely building.
This fabulous courtyard is opposite the
colonade. We had stopped at a flower
shop to bring Antonella some fresh flowers.
Amanda is standing by the fountain holding
the flowers.
She not only has the beautiful courtyard in the entry
colonade, but another one right off the living room
which you can see through this wonderful glass-filled
arched window.
This is the courtyard that her living room
faces. What a fun enclosed place to enjoy
peace in the city or to have your children play.
This is Tonya's oldest.
Through the glass-filled arch you are greeted with
the most beautiful turquoise living room. I adored
the gorgeous color of these huge couches. There
were touches of turquoise in the wool rug and in the
art on the walls.
The ceiling in the living room was magnificent
with fabulous detail.
Speaking of details, one of my favorite is
the circle of turquoise colored stones around
the brass circumference of this crystal chandelier.
The room was elegant yet inviting and warm.
She also had a family room or sitting room in a bright
yellow that was also absolutely stunning. That is
Victoria sitting on the couch. Antonella's manservant
served us chilled water. It is very unusual to have
chilled water in Italy. Mostly it is served room
temperature.
Isn't the ceiling in this room wonderful too?
Although all of the other rooms are very spacious,
her kitchen was typically very small.
But she proudly showed us where she kept her restaurant
size pans in an adjoining storage room,
and one additional storage room for her fine
china. Antonella let us know that she often
cooks for 45 in that kitchen and that is why
she has such large pots and pans.
What a treat to visit this fabulous home.
Then we were off to the busy market area
of downtown Bologna. Stores and shops are
closed on Sunday so on Saturday morning
the narrow streets and shops are filled with
people shopping for their food for Saturday
and Sunday.
These are the stores where Victoria and Antonella
bought the food for our cooking classes.
The fruits and vegetables are just gorgeous.
There is fresh seafood of all kinds.
The butcher was having a little fun here with the
pig's head and a beret.
After a lunch break we headed back for our second
cooking lesson at Tonya's house. Notice Antonella's
huge pan in this photo.
We then went home to make
Chicken Cacciatora
(Hunter's wife's chicken - they were quick to point
out that this was feminine, not Cacciatore - masculine!)
Fresh beans with tomatoes
and a Flourless Chocolate Cake.
(Here we are in front of the church building
on Sunday morning.)
We decided to go out to dinner and save this
meal for Sunday after church. We invited four
missionaries from our church, The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to eat the meal
with us. In many areas of the world where
missionaries from our church serve, they are fed
by the members every day or have someone who
cooks a main meal for them. Here in Bologna
the guys cook for themselves so they
were very grateful.
They got to sample some
of the pork roast and the semifreddo left from
the first cooking school day also. They said
it was the best food they had eaten in Italy.
I have to make a note here that the missionaries
translated the church service for us too. That
was very nice of them.
The missionaries left to right are
Elder Rich, Elder Lehnardt, Elder Dunshee and
Elder Duersch. Tonya's son is enjoying being
with the big guys. Elder is an office held in the
priesthood and a title, not their first names.
We still have Florence and our return to
Paris for one night. It is fun writing
about our wonderful trip. Hope you
are enjoying it with me.
Just a quick note
we found
Amarena Fabbri online!
Just Google it for several different sizes and
sources. It is pricey, around $21 for 21 oz.,
but it was $15 for 21 oz.
there in Italy. It is made in Bologna and
imported. It is well worth splurging and
is certainly cheaper than going there!