Thanksgiving in London

For Thanksgiving we went to London for a long weekend to visit my aunt and uncle (Joyce & Roger). We did so many things in four days, I have to break it up into a few posts.

We arrived late Wednesday night, so we only had time for a midnight dinner. Late Thursday morning we to a 350 year old pub in their town, walked to their allotment (like a community garden in the US) and Joyce and Roger prepared a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Roger grilled the turkey, Joyce made porcini soup, vegetable pie (originally made for my sister who couldn't make it), mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and a berry crisp. There were 8 of us for dinner, 3 of Joyce & Rogers British friends, and my cousin Nathaniel's cousin Shirley, who is studying at the London School of Economics. We all had a wonderful time, and everything was delicious!!! It was great to have a traditional Thanksgiving my first year in Italy.

350 Year Old Pub

David the giant inside the pub

The Allotment

Porcini Soup (the picture doesn't do it justice)

Vegetable Pie

All the traditional fixings

In between courses

Berry Crisp

Pumpkin Pie

First Press

Last Wednesday night we went to a tasting in celebration of the 2011 first press of the Cimicchi's (Fabio's family) olive oil. The tasting was in a room at the mill where they process the olive oil, so we got to see the machines in action.

Andrea and Fabio's mother Stefania prepared a huge spread, everything designed to pair and enhance the flavor of the olive oil. There was crudite for dipping, bruschetta, several types of beans, meats and sausages, plus an assortment of desserts (the latter was not dipped in olive oil, at least by me). It was a fun experience and of course delicious!!! There is nothing quite like olive oil that is less than a day old.

Only half of the dining table

Olives starting to be moved through the cleaner

Going up the conveyor belt to the cleaner

The machine before the press

The final filtering process

Andrea and I in the tasting room

Bartender Gig, Milano - Leoncavallo

Bartender played a show in Milan at Leoncavallo on October 15, with DJ Myke and Rancore. I was still in Boston, so I didn't get to go, but here are some pictures David took.

Outside of Leoncavallo

Setting up

Hanging out before the show

Rancore

DJ Myke

Full house

Bartender

Lilo relaxing after the show

Boston

It has been a while now since I blogged. We were in Boston for over a month, having a wonderful time visiting family and friends. Now that we are back in Italy, I am ready to share again. I wanted to show a few highlights (or at least what we remembered to take pictures of) from our trip to Boston.

Jonathan eating while picking apples

Elissa doing the same

Rooster at the Littleton farmstand

Can you tell it's Fall and almost Halloween?

Pigs at the Codman farm in Lincoln

And a goat

The sculpture park at the Decordova museum

Aren't we so cute in front of the giant hearts :)

My mom and I on the top of the museum

Notice the resemblance to the picture below

Chipmunk

Crazy looking mushrooms in Lincoln

Typical Canadian geese causing a traffic jam