Mille Miglia

La Corsa Più Bella del Mondo

                                                                                        

Mille Miglia, " Thousand Miles" passed through Bologna today. This is an endurance race that starts in Brescia goes to Rome and and back up to Brescia in the shape of a figure eight. The race started in 1927 in Brescia by a group of wealthy people, after two Italian racers lost the Grand Prix. 







375 cars can participate in the race, and they must be the same make as one of the original cars raced in the rally from 1927-1957.






It was a lot of fun walking the streets of Bologna on a Saturday afternoon, seeing classic car after classic car!

Culinary Alterations

Cooking in Italy isn't always as easy as you think 

it would be. You can't easily find things like vanilla, brown sugar, measuring cups, tablespoons/teaspoons, and many ingredients come packaged very differently making it difficult to know how much you should buy in order to have the right quantity. 

With my mom we made cinnamon bread tweaked and altered to fit the ingredients we had at hand. I'd say it turned out pretty good despite all the changes! 

                                                                              

I also made some lemon quick bread I saw on a blog. I didn't have vanilla, wasn't able to add the salt and baking soda with the exact measures, wasn't even if sure if I actually used baking soda, and just guesstimated the amount of yogurt I was supposed to add, and it wasn't even the right kind. However again here it was quite delicious and eaten up quickly!

Here is an Italian version of macaroni and cheese inspired by mom. Gramigna pasta, some butter, "sottiletto" cheese, some fresh artisan cheese, and milk. No cheddar or velveeta here! 

Napoli / Capri

May 1st was Italy's Labor Day.  It happened to fall on a Tuesday, so we took a long weekend trip down south to Napoli and Capri. I had been to Napoli before two other times, and I can say now after being a third I don't need to go back for quite some time and if I never return it'll be ok. 

Napoli is rustic, earthy, natural, and real. It's true that there is garbage everywhere,  they don't paint the buildings every year so the paint is peeling, the graffiti isn't cleaned up... it's raw society. 

Capri is a large theme park for adults. The population is only 10,000 an they have more visitors than that every day. You have to wait 30 minutes to get a bus ticket, then 45 minutes to get on the bus, and a small lemon granita costs $6. Despite the tourism, it is a very beautiful island with gorgeous views.

A Visit

This past week my Mom was able to come visit it me for a few days in Bologna. Since she was in Spain it was relatively close and so we got to spend 4 days together. I picked her up in Rome and we were busy, busy, busy shopping, baking, and traveling down to Poggibonsi, stopping at San Gimignano, and experiencing Italian culture. It was fun having her here and always sad to say goodbye.