NATALE 2014 WRAP UP!
Rome: December 31, 2014
felice (quasi) 2015!
I decided that I couldn’t wait until 2015 to tell you all about my Christmas Eve, Natale Day and the day after, another National Italian holiday –il giorno di Santo Stefano. Apparently St. Stephen’s is believed to be the first Christian martyr and thus celebrated per usual with food, festivals, more food and wine. Followed with a family outing to one of the elaborate nativity scenes or to one of the hundreds year old churches scattered throughout Italy. I also leave for Parigi (not a typo- it’s Italian for Paris) in a few hours and I am SURE there will be A LOT to woof for and write about come the New Year.
Even though I could not celebrate the holidays with my direct family in the USA (or Colombia rather, since my mom thought this year of all years would be the perfect time to visit for Christmas), my adopted Italian/American/Ex-Pat families definitely made me feel 100% at home away from home. Ellie especially made Christmas extra special in our mini-apartment simply by being SO excited for the holiday and everything associated with it. She used the lamp as a makeshift 'tree' to put all the wrapped gifts her family sent us to open the morning of.
On the Eve before Natale Eve, Ellie and I finally got to see the Nutcracker at the beautiful Teatro dell’Opera di Roma thanks to her cousin Stiles who acquired the tickets for us. AND speaking of beautiful, other than the venue, the classical music and choreography- the lead male ballerina in his nutcracker-red tights provided a bit of eye candy. Clara totally had the right idea when she dreamed up her favorite toy in human form.
Christmas came early for Ellie and I with the ballet, but the following day was slightly more unconventional, but still absolutely spicy (partly to due with the Mexican cuisine). A fairly last minute decision to hitch a ride to Foligno for the night, a small town an hour or so outside of Roma, to the home of our adopted ex-pat mentor (or big sister figure) Heather, was an early Christmas gift for me for a few reasons. Not only did I finally get the Mexican food I have been craving since I arrived in Italia (homemade tamales, guacamole, TORTILLA chips), but we also avoided having to take public transportation. We got to ride in a car (other than a Smart) for the first time in four months and had scenic views of the countryside all along the way. Ellie and I were fortunate to snag a ride with our good friend Lauren in her British pal Dave’s brand new car. Dave also happens to be an airline pilot (next ride…) in addition to our pro-bono carpool driver to Foligno on Christmas Eve. Dave’s brand new car coincidentally is also Ellie’s DREAM car- the newest of new Land Rover Defender. So in addition to Faith Hill’s rendition of “Where Are You Christmas” from the soundtrack of the holiday classic, The Grinch, on repeat from Ellie’s iPod, Dave got to hear every reason under the sun as to why he should let her drive the dream.
Foligno was absolutely picturesque and a very nice change of atmosphere from big citta -Rome. Heather, our host, greeted us with cold prosecco, chips and guacamole and homemade peanut brittle for us to munch on.
After dinner and dessert, we all strolled through the town sparkling with Christmas lights before Ellie and I BYOB’ed the last train back to Roma in an attempt to catch Papa Francesco’s midnight mass. Whoever decided to call the Pope’s annual natale mass, midnight mass, clearly had never been to his Christmas blessing, because we sprinted from the train station, to the bus station, to the Vatican right as the clock struck midnight. Sadly, Papa had already retired for the evening. The mass started at 11pm and ENDED at midnight. It was a Papa Francesco #fail. But I know it is only a matter of time before I have the opportunity to close-talk him in his native language and snap that unfiltered photo I can literally #hashtag AS #blessed.
It was probably for the best we weren’t out partying with the rest of the pilgrims and Papa past midnight, as both Ellie and I were responsible for some key XMAS dishes at her cousin Stiles’ apartment the next day. Ellie volunteered to make a red velvet cake with the help of my mom’s homemade cream cheese frosting. I was responsible for a 4 cheese spinach and artichoke casserole dish (and the white wine). Not wanting the lovely evening to end and thinking not so clearly with our wine goggles on, we decided to start cooking these dishes around midnight or so on Xmas Eve…and to my surprise (the next morning) both dishes actually came out buono! There was a slight hiccup in that our oven did not speak English, Italian or any other language that made it easy to work with. Thus Betty Crocker’s red velvet got the broil end of the deal (just a little crispy on top)…and Ellie may or may not have forgotten a small ingredient called water… but the cream cheese vanilla icing was definitely a delicious security blanket for the dessert and apparently no one could tell the difference!
The Christmas Day menu was a bit more traditional than our Natale Eve menu. Ellie woke me up early to open gifts and to exchange the gifts we got each other. Some of the things we gifted ourselves included an enormous jar of Jif crunchy peanut butter, Nutella, these fancy ear plugs (because we live on the loudest street in Italy), kitchen linens & chotchkies, an ex-lover voodoo doll and (NON-BOXED) wine.
Stiles’ made sure that in true holiday form we had a tacchino (turkey), stuffing, a honey- soaked walnut and pear salad and copious amounts of wine (provided from a client of the Alphabet School who owns a vineyard). Stiles and his fiancé, Lamis (an incredible artist by the way- you can check out her work here) even had gifts for us to open under the tree. As a ‘thank you’ I provided the table-topper attire for the booze :)
And other than Ellie cutting it close for her night train to Austria (the train left at 7 pm NOT 8 pm) and a linen napkin a little to close to an open flame…my Natale was everything I could have hoped for living abroad. The day after Christmas as I mentioned is St. Stephen’s day, so people flocked to the streets and piazzas to celebrate, shop, eat, drink in honor of a Saint named Stephen. I think I am learning more about Catholicism in Rome, including holidays I never knew existed, than I ever did during all my years in catechism class! My mom should have just taken all her kids on an extended vacation to Italy before First Communion and Confirmation- don't you agree Mom? I had the opportunity to visit a number of cathedrals and churches opened to the public on St. Stephen’s Day on a tour led by our friend Lauren (same Lauren who rode shotgun in Dave’s Defender). She is a part-time tour guide for an agency based out of Rome and she needed a guinea pig to practice her Roman history on before a few big (and private) tours the following day. Rome REALLY was not built in a day and I realized that one could probably live here all their lives and still not have all the answers for tourists. But it really is just amazing how many stories this city holds from Julius Caesar to Benito Mussolini and everything in between.
Okay, I literally am leaving for Paris in an hour with currently zero hours of sleep and if I don’t force myself off this computer, it would not surprise me if I missed my ride from Ryan (Air).
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE everyone from this side of the Atlantic and au revoir until 2015!
Mallory
