shave ice & gelato

I grew up in Massachusetts and am a passionate passionate Red Sox fan. I am a preschool teacher living in Hawaii. I love taking photos, traveling to Italy, climbing towers, and blogging.

I enjoy the beach, the mountains, the warmth and the beauty of Hawaii. I also enjoy spending time on the internet checking out the latest on the Red Sox, Slow Travel Talk, and reading blogs.

My first trip to Italy was in 1999. The day I stepped on Italian soil, I was hooked! I travel mostly in the summer time because I am a cold weather wimp. While in Italy, I love to climb towers, take photographs, drink espresso every morning, eat fabulous Italian food, meet new people, and work on improving my Italian. I find myself walking much more while in Italy. It is a great way to take in the history, art, architecture, and beautiful scenery.

My time on the North Shore with Katia and Guido was heavenly! We had so many laughs together. The weather was great. We saw dolphins swimming by, a seal on the beach, and the turtles at their regular spot. I will post pictures and write more soon when I have a little more time.

After dropping off Katia & Guido at the airport, I started catching up on my email and some of my favorite blogs. As usual, I became easily sidetracked. After reading Leslie and Kim's blogs, I started to make my own "Where have I been map" when I should have been doing laundry.

Here is my map:

Red shows where I have lived - Massachusetts, Colorado, Washington, and Hawaii. Blue shows where I have visited. Green shows where I would like to go (if I can every find enough time to visit both Italy and another place when I have time off and the money to travel).

To clarify, I have only been to the southern part of China on a daytrip from Hong Kong. I guess that China could be both blue and green as a place I have been and also a place I would like to go to. Also, I have only been to a tiny portion of Mexico - Tijuana and so again a big place gets marked but I have only seen a tiny portion of the country. At this point, I don't have a big desire to spend more time in Mexico and so it would not be a "green" place. I have never been to New York City but have been to upper state New York, to Lake Placid when I was little where I won a free round of miniature golf for hitting the ball into the mouth of some animal (I think it was an alligator). I still have that free ticket coupon. I also did not count Rhode Island where I have departed from but have not spent time in (except the airport) and places where I have stayed over night at an airport hotel except for New Jersey since I Kim gave me a little tour of the area we did have dinner outside of the airport hotel.

Oh, and why Madagascar? I always wanted to have control of that country when playing Risk. I liked saying the name. A few years ago, I found out that a friend of mine lived there and found her stories so interesting about growing up there. Perhaps one day?

Well, back to laundry and other fun things!

I figured it was about time to tell everyone a little bit more about myself. I thought that thinking up 100 things about me would be a tough task but it ended up being pretty easy. I even had a few more leftover which I will save for another time.

So here goes...

1. I grew up in a very small town in Massachusetts (there were only 2 stop lights in the town).
2. I am the oldest of five children. I have two younger sisters and two younger brothers.
3. I am a huge Red Sox fan. Did I say huge? Make that obsessive! I even wanted a job at Fenway being one of those bat or ball girls when I was little.
4. I was a cheerleader in high school.
5. I also held the javelin record in high school, even though I lost to everyone on the track team in arm wrestling.
6. I graduated from Worcester State College with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Disorders (speech/language therapy).
7. I was briefly engaged while in college. That didn’t end well (I will leave it at that).
8. In 1981, I flew for the first time to Colorado to attend graduate school.
9. I graduated with a master’s degree in Communication Disorders (GO RAMS)!
10. I worked as a bartender and a coat check girl while living in Colorado.
11. I spent as much time as I could visiting my aunt and uncle in Steamboat, Colorado and have so many wonderful memories.
12. I love downhill skiing although I am not a great black diamond skier.
13. I am not as much of a fan of cross country skiing.
14. I love snow. I just don't like cold weather.
15. I bought a one-way ticket and moved to Hawaii the day Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island started to erupt, to do my internship during my last semester of graduate school.
16. I have wanted to live in Hawaii since I was a little girl.
17. When I was little, I used to watch "Let’s Make a Deal" with my grandma and always told her that if I won the trip to Hawaii, I would take her with me. My grandma did visit Hawaii once before she died.
18. I also watched the show “Little People”, (a show about Hawaii), which sealed the deal on my wanting to live in Hawaii.
19. I worked on a sailboat serving Mai Tai’s for a few months.
20. I dated a surfer for a while.
21. I went to Hong Kong (my first trip out of the country) in 1985.
22. I was a Speech/Language Therapist for 5 years.
23. During that time, I went back to school and graduated with a master’s in Special Education (GO BOWS).
24. I started working on my genealogy around this time.
25. I was always told that I was Italian & Jewish (mother’s side), and Irish (father's side).
28. I found out that I am Italian & Jewish (mother’s side), and Irish, Scottish, English (father’s side).
26. During a visit to Massachusetts, I dragged my mom and dad to 4 churches in the North End of Boston in search of the marriage record of my grandfather’s parents (mother’s side). I found the record at the last church.
27. My great grandfather was born in Montefalcione and my great grandmother was born in Lapio, both in the province of Avellino, in Campania, Italy.
29. I also went to Martha’s Vineyard with my mom and dad to seek out some of my great-grandfather’s family history (father’s side).
30. I saw the streets named after my family in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard.
31. I also saw the inn in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, which used to be a tavern that my family owned for over 100 years. If only we owned something on Martha's Vineyard now!
32. There was a ferry that ran across a river in Rhode Island that my father’s side of the family ran. It is now a bridge named after my family.
33. I have yet to find the birth place of my great grandmother (mother’s side) whose family came from Russia.
34. I also have not found the birth place of my great grandfather (mother’s side) whose family came from Austria – when he arrived it was the Hungarian/Austrian nation.
35. And, I have not found the place where my grandmother’s mother and father were born (Scotland and Ireland).
36. I have stopped the genealogy for a while but need to get back at it…it may have to wait until I retire though as it is a big task and I am at the point where it is like a needle in a haystack for my two grandmothers’ families.
37. I moved to Washington and lived there for two years.
38. Things did not work out.
39. I did not like the weather and missed Hawaii much too much.
40. I moved back to Hawaii the summer before Hurricane Iniki hit.
41. I bought a studio townhouse the following spring.
42. I think I now own the door and maybe a couple of the windows.
43. I started teaching preschool special education in 1994.
44. My 4-year old students from that class will be graduating this year!!
45. That sure makes me feel OLD!!
46. I love being on a boat and even just being around boats.
47. I sailed with friends to Molokai and Maui for a weekend trip. A trip I will never forget!
48. My mom, dad, sister, and brother moved to Hawaii when my dad retired. My uncle moved here a year later.
49. I started taking Italian classes in 1999 because I wanted to go to the villages where my great-grandparents were born and figured not much English would be spoken there (I was correct).
50. I took the leap and bought a plane ticke and a Eurail ticket.
51. AND I went to Europe for the first time in 1999.
52. I visited France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
53. I fell in love with Italy.
54. I have been back to Italy 7 more times.
55. My mom passed away suddenly from a heart attack in Feburary, 2000.
56. I finally went to see my great-grandfather's birth place, Montefalcione, in the summer of 2000.
57. I also visited Capri that summer, a place my mom always wanted to visit.
58. It was difficult not being able to share my visits to Montefalcione and Capri with my mother, but I knew somehow she was with me in spirit.
59. I have not yet visited Lapio (where my great grandmother was born) but hope to go there one day.
60. I went to my first opera in Verona in the summer of 2000.
61. I studied Italian in Siena for two summers (5 weeks total).
62. I attended the Palio in June, 2001.
63. I have a picture on my wall of the Palio with the horses racing and the big crowd in the middle. I am somewhere in that crowd.
64. Wednesday, October 27th, 2004 – the RED SOX won the World Series!! One of the most memorable highlights of my life. (2007 was a bonus)
65. I watched the final game when they won with my dad - a dream of mine. Red Sox fans world wide can now all die in peace.
66. I love taking photographs, especially in Italy.
67. I have taken a couple of photography classes (one many many years ago and one more recently).
68. I am now more critical of my photos – not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
69. I am thinking of finally getting a DSLR camera but am a little overwhelmed with all the lenses and photo talk at that level.
70. I will probably need to take more photography classes. I need to find the time for this.
71. I can retire in 7 1/2 more years!
72. I will still have to work but maybe I will be able to find a less stressful job.
73. I love technology.
74. Perhaps I will take some classes and find a job in the technology field (entry level of course with all the geniuses out there…don’t think I could compete with them).
75. Or maybe I will try to get a job at Borders?
76. I am NOT a morning person. Never was, never will be.
77. A job that started at 10 or later would be a dream job for me!
78. I love cats.
79. I grew up next door to a mean dog.
80. The dog bit me when I was little.
81. I am afraid of dogs.
82. I am also afraid of thunder and lightning.
83. And I am afraid to fly. Ativan helps.
84. I love the color purple (the movie was good too, but I am talking about the color).
85. My favorite foods: strawberries, nectarines, & Maine lobster.
86. I also love chocolate – but can’t eat it anymore as it is a major migraine trigger.
87. Perfume and cigarette smoke smells also give me instant migraines.
88. I don’t like mushrooms and black olives but love green olives
89. I love gelato. My favorite flavors are peach, coffee, pistachio, & hazlenut
90. I love good Italian food
91. I have been spoiled by Italy and now can no longer drink American coffee
92. My youngest sister has Down’s Syndrome.
93. She went to the World Games for Special Olympics this past October.
94. My youngest brother is deaf.
95. He was in a bad car accident and has a traumatic brain injury
96. My other brother still lives in Massachusetts. He and his wife have two children
97. My other sister lives in California. She has two children.
98. I am still waiting for my prince charming.
99. The hot flashes have begun
100. Yikes!! …. A new chapter in my life begins.

*Edited to add: The idea of the "100 things about me" came from michelle's bleeding espresso blog, which is one of my favorite blogs. You can find her 100 things here. Thanks michelle!

My second trip to Italy, in the summer of 2000, included a visit to the Campania region. This is the region where Montefalcione and Lapio are located. My great-grandfather was born in Montefalcione and my great-grandmother was born in Lapio. My hope was to visit at least one of these two towns while staying in this region.

I met a friend who would be joining me on my Sorrento leg of my trip in Florence the day before we were to travel to Sorrento. We traveled by train the following day. After a day or two, we stopped at the tourist information booth where I inquired about directions and transportation options to get to Montefalcione. The man at the desk offered to take us if he would be going that way during the week while we were in Sorrento, and if not, he would try to find someone else to take us there. I was thrilled as I thought the only way to get to Montefalcione would be spending most of the day on trains and buses. That evening, he called me and said that his brother, Luigi, would be able take us the following day.

Luigi arrived at our hotel at 8am the following morning. After years and years of genealogy research, Wednesday, July 5th, 2000, would be the day I would finally step foot on the land of my great-grandfather's birthplace! I was a little nervous at first not knowing this man, but he turned out to be a very kind person. It took us about two hours to get to Montefalcione because part of the Salerno to Avellino autostrada was closed for construction. We had to take a long detour up and down a mountainside, stopping for directions a few times along the way. I know I would have never found it on my own. Montefalcione is located up high on a mountainside (monte=mountain). It seemed to me to be a pretty modern little town. We drove thru part of the town and then parked the car.

Luigi took the picture of my great-grandfather along with my genealogy list with of all my relatives' names from Montefalcione and started to ask some of the people if they knew if any of my relatives were still living in the town. Because Montefalcione is not a town where many tourists visit, we seemed to be quite a curiosity to many of the residents of the town. They seemed quite amazed that I came all this way looking for relatives. We did find a woman whose mother had the same last name as my mother but her mother was very old now and would not be able to help us.

We then went to the main piazza. This is a picture of Luigi and the main street in the town. Pictures in this post were scanned into my computer. Unfortunately I did not have a digital camera at the time and did not take that many pictures of the town.

I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. This was my original hometown where I spent most of my life until college, but today I consider Hawaii as my home.

My family moved to this small town in Massachusetts when I was three years old. I lived there until I started college. I returned in the summers and during the holidays while in undergraduate school. I moved away to Colorado for graduate school and then to Hawaii, only going back to for visits. My mom and dad sold the house about 10 years or so when they also moved to Hawaii.

My hometown has changed a lot since I grew up there. When I lived there, we only had 2 stoplights in the town. There were about 200 in my graduation class. I can't say what the current population is or how many stoplights there are now but I do remember being quite amazed with the town the last time I was there for a visit.

This is "a picture of a picture" of the house where I grew up. My mom sent me this picture one winter after I moved to Hawaii.

Below are two photos I found on the web of my home town. I originally had them linked to the webpages where I found them but the webpages are no longer active.

The first is the town common in the wintertime. Do you see the big tree to the right of the flag pole? I used to go sliding down that hill when I was little. One winter, I crashed head on into that tree.

The second picture is of the town common in the summer time.

I currently live in a town on the south side of Oahu. It was originally a tiny little town but it has recently exploded with housing developments. When I first moved to Hawaii, I was based at a school in this town. I can remember driving by all the sugar cane fields and even drove through a couple of controlled sugar cane burnings, which were a little scary. The sugar cane fields are now all gone.

After living in Honolulu for a few years, I grew tired of all the traffic and buildings and decided to move out to the "suburbs". I rented a couple of places and then after a few years, I finally decided to buy. I purchased my little studio here in this town. I have been very happy living in my quiet townhouse community (except for the traffic that has seemed to follow me) and have been very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors.

Here are a couple of photos (taken a few years ago) from one of the beaches nearby. It's difficult to see but Diamond Head is in the background of the photo with the little girl.

Here is the view from one of the golf courses in the area:

If I had to pick just five favorite foods to wind up with me when I was stranded on a deserted island, I wonder what they would be...

1. Strawberries

~ my absolute favorite food. I love fruit in general but my absolute favorite fruit and food in the world is strawberries. I love, love, love strawberries. I could eat them morning, noon, and night. I don't like anything on them, just plain strawberries. I remember going strawberry picking with my mom when I was little. My mom would have 3 or 4 bowls overflowing with strawberries and I would still be on my first bowl with only about a quarter of it filled because I was too busy eating all the strawberries.

2. Ravioli

~ cheese, ricotta & spinach, pumpkin, any filling except for meat, served with burro & salvia (butter & sage), tomatoes, or pesto.

3. Gelato

~ none of this American gelato crap, only authentic Italian gelato for me. Coffee, pistachio, hazlenut, passion fruit, peach to name a few of my favorite flavors.

4. Pizza

~ there are a few pizza places in Boston which I would say make a good pizza pie, and I am sure there are some good pizza places in New York City (have never been), but the pizza in Italy is what I drool over!! My favorite types are pizza margherita and pizza con pepperoni (the vegetable peppers…not the meat kind).

5. Seafood



~ Maine lobster, steamed clams, lobster roll, fried clams & fried scallops. I sure do miss New England seafood!

What five foods would you choose?

This post was inspired by Krista's In and Out of the Garden blog entry...
who was inspired by Ed Levine's New York Eats blog entry...

(today was my 100th blog post!!)

My mom passed away eight years ago today. It seems like just yesterday but it also seems like forever. I was going through my box of old photos the other day and found a few a few pictures that I loved. I only have a film scanner, so I took photos of each.

This post is dedicated to my mom, we all miss you very much! xoxo

St. Patrick's Day always gets me thinking about my Irish heritage. The funny thing is that I was brought up thinking that my father's side of the family was all Irish, making me half Irish. Once I started doing genealogy research on my family, I discovered that my father's side of the family was Irish, English, and Scottish. I guess no one really talked about where their families came from back then. If they did, my research would have been much easier.

I have had the most luck tracing my father's paternal line. I won't bore you with every detail, only a few of the highlights. If you want, just scroll down for the photos.

Dunkin (also spelled as Dunken/Duncan) was my great great great (8 greats) grandfather. He was born in 1664 in Rhode Island and lived in Barrington Rhode Island. I have not been able to determine where his parents were born. I have read accounts that he was possibly Scottish and not Irish, mostly because of his name, Dunkin. I believe his wife, Patience, was English but have no further information on her. I wonder if I could be a relative to those on the Mayflower? Dunkin's big claim to fame was when he took over the Toogood Ferry in 1713 (I assume John Toogood who ran the ferry either died or retired - did people actually retire way back then?). The ferry's name was changed to the our family's name. It ran from Swansey to New Meadowneck. Dunkin's son, John, and then his grandson, Duncan continued to run the ferry until February 1794 when the bridge (named after our family) was built.

Dunkin's other son Captain Duncan (also spelled as Dunken/Donken), my great great great (7 greats) grandfather. He was a master mariner and moved to Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard. His son Lemuel was also a master mariner who married a woman named Bathsheba. Bathsheba's father ran a tavern in Edgartown. When Bathsheba's father died, Lemuel took over the tavern and named it after our family (our other big claim to fame). The next few generations continued to live in Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. My great great great great grandfather, Joseph, was a block and pump maker. I am very distantly related to Grover Cleveland (the president) through Joseph's wife, Eliza.

Joseph's grandson, Joseph, was my great grandfather. He was a sta. engineer?/sailor on a packet boat, transporting cotton from Savannah, Georgia to Boston, Massachusetts. He was the one that left Martha's Vineyard after the my family lived on the island for almost 200 years. If only we still had some property there. This is also where our direct line of the family stopped running the tavern that turned into an inn (named after our family) on Martha's Vineyard.

Joseph (my great grandfather) married Sadie (my great grandmother). I don't know much about Sadie's family except that Sadie's father, William, was born in England and her mother, Mary, was born in Ireland. Sadie was a devout Catholic and raised her children as Catholics. She was said to have converted her husband (my great grandfather) on his deathbed. I don't have a photo of my great grandfather.

My great grandmother - Sadie:

I have written about my Italian heritage, my Irish, English, Scottish heritage, and now I will write about my Jewish heritage.

Again, if you are not interested in the details, you will find 3 more photos when you click on the "Continue reading "my Jewish heritage" » link at the bottom of this post.

My great grandmother, Rosie Kaplen came from Russia probably in the late 1800’s but no later than 1902. She was a very strict Orthodox Jew.

My great grandmother, Rosie Kaplen when she was young (I love this photo):

My great grandfather, Jacob Sperber came from Austria in 1988 (which at the time was the Austrian-Hungarian nation). He was a merchant, selling vegetables from a cart. He later became a butcher and owned a meat market.

Both of my great grandparents were previously married. My great grandfather’s first wife died at the age of 33. They had three children together. I never knew any of these children.

No one knows the story of what happened to my great grandmother’s first husband, Isaac Kaplan. His name was never spoken of for some unknown reason. My great grandmother had one child with Isaac Kaplan, my Aunt Edith.

I don't know the story of how my great grandparents met. My great grandmother was living in New York when my great aunt was born. My great grandfather was living in Massachusetts when his first wife died.

After my great grandparents married, they had one child together, my grandmother.

girasoli ~ I originally chose this name when setting up a yahoo email account many moons ago (or at least it seems that way now). My real name is such a common name and it was always taken. Even my last name is a pretty common name.

I wanted to come up with a unique Italian name as my user name. During my first couple of visits to Italy, I fell in love with the fields of sunflowers. After thinking about things that I loved about Italy, I decided on using the Italian word for sunflower ~ girasole as my user name. The problem was that girasole was taken. Now I know that I am a singular person and "girasoli" means sunflowers (a plural word), but the only way I could use sunflower in Italian to create this new email account was to use the plural form of sunflower ~ girasoli.

Since then, I have used girasoli in various combinations as well as by itself. At first, I tried to stay grammatically correct using girasole whenever possible since I am a singular person but it was just too confusing for my fingers to remember and for family and friends to remember when to end the word with an "i" or with an "e", especially since just pronouncing the word correctly was was sometimes a challenge. And so, that is how I became to be known as ~ girasoli.

Photo of a sunflower ~ il girasole (singular) ~ that I took while on the island of Burano two years ago.

Three months ago, I wrote about "my visit to Montefalcione", where my great grandfather was born. After writing that post, four people with ties to Montefalcione left comments on my blog. I have also noticed quite a few hits on my Irish, Scottish, English side of the family post and hope one day to find a connection there.

So, today, I decided to write about the town of Lapio where my great-grandmother, Giovanna Romano, was born, with the hope that this post may help me to find connections to Lapio and possible relatives from there. I have not yet visited Lapio but hope to go there someday.

Here is one of the few photos I have found of Lapio:

Like Montefalcione, Lapio is also located in the Campania region of Italy. It is
22 kilometers from from Avellino and is very close to Montefalcione. I can't believe I was so close to Lapio but did not visit!

(I can't seem to find the source of this map anymore.)

According to this Lapio website, there were 1,750 inhabitants living in Lapio during the 2001 national census. The inhabitants were distributed in 590 families with an average of 2.97 people per family.

I found this interesting bit of information on the ten most common surnames in town of Lapio.

Key to the chart: The left hand column displays the estimated number of individuals with the given surname displayed in the right hand column. For example, 106.10 estimates there are at least 106 people in the town with that name.

My great-grandmother, Giovanna Romano, was born in Lapio on November 20th, 1878. Her parents' names were Gennaro Romano and MariaTeresa Zarella. Besides Romano and Zarella, direct descendant family names further back include Carbone and more Romano names on the Zarella side. Hey, maybe Ray Romano and I are related somehow :)

Here again are my great-grandfather, Angelo Raffaele and my great-grandmother, Giovanna on their wedding day. They were married at Sacred Heart Church, in Boston's North End, on April 6, 1902.

I saw this meme on Valerie’s blog, 2 Baci in a Pinon Tree. Valerie was tagged by Rob. Check out his blog Wind Rose Hotel when you get the chance. Instead of tagging anyone, Valerie opened it up for all to play along. Here goes…

1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
I have not been to the movies in ages but plan to go see Sex & the City as soon as work gets out (3 1/2 more days!!).

2. What book are you reading?
I just finished reading Playing for Pizza. This book is about American football in Parma, Italy. I enjoyed the book up to until the last couple of chapters, when it seemed to me that the author, John Grisham, decided he had enough of the book and just sort of ended everything abruptly. I enjoyed his other book, The Broker, which was set in Bologna, Italy a lot more.

3. Favorite board game?
I love board games...a few of my favorites are: Yahtzee, Risk, Scattegories, Clue, and if I am in the mood - Monopoly.

4. Favorite magazine?
I’m not really much of a magazine reader, although I do enjoy catching up on all the gossip at my dentist office twice a year while waiting to be called.

5. Favorite smells?
Coffee, fruit smells, rain.

6. Favorite sounds?
The sounds of baseball…the sounds of the crowd, the cheers and boos and the singing, the people selling food and drinks - "hot dogs, get your hot dogs" and "beer here", the sound of the ball hitting the bat, and I loved hearing Sherm Feller's voice at Fenway, as he announced each new batter.

7. Worst feeling in the world?
When someone you love is ill.

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
On a workday – "just give me 10 more minutes before I have to get up", which can turn into 20 minutes, 30 minutes...
On a weekend (waking up much later) – "I have the whole day ahead of me".

Stolen from Kim and Jerry who both got it from Krista who got it from Last Night's Dinner who got it from Andrew over at Very Good Taste.

Directions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

I added one extra step - a * next to those I would never try again.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (not sure if I would try this or not)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht (not a beet person)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho (would have it again if it was a chicken version)
13. PB&J sandwich* I had PB&J once as a child. That was the day I realized that I can't stand peanut butter.
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart* do not think I could eat one today now that I know more about the water the dogs sit in...eeeew
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (might have??)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans* not a bean lover
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut* not a sauerkraut fan
35. Root beer float* nor a root beer fan
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (YUCK)
37. Clotted cream tea (sounds yummy)
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (not if I was starving)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (might have?)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (would take a sip but am not a whiskey person)
46. Fugu (don't think I would take the chance on the chef being knowledgeable enough to not poison me)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel* had eels in Hong Kong, couldn't get past the idea I was eating eels!!
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (just never had the chance)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal* loved them as a child but do not eat red meat anymore
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini (would take a sip but am not a martini person)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (I don't like beer)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads EDITING this one - I originally bolded this one thinking that sweetbreads meant the Portuguese sweetbread popular here in Hawaii, but after seeing Marta's list and that she crossed this one out, I googled sweetbreads and found out it means the thymus glands of lamb, beef, or pork...eeeeewwwww!!
63. Kaolin (what is this??)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs* eeeew again! tried a taste once but could not get past the thought of it being frogs' legs!
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (seriously? would anyone eat roadkill?)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie* there are too many other desserts I would rather eat
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong (might have?)
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe Beef
86. Hare - EDITING this one - I originally bolded this one thinking that rabbit and hare were the same, but found out they are not and so although I originally thought that I had eaten hare, now I am not sure.
87. Goulash (might have?)
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam* now that I know what is in spam, not a fan
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (too similar to eels for me)

Deborah at Old Shoes-New Trip posted a list of 43 interesting city squares, plazas and piazzas from around the world. She is challenging her SlowTrav friends and travel blog readers to list the number of squares they have visited.

The rules:
Copy this list into your own blog and put an asterisk after each city square you've actually spent time in. (Riding past in a taxi or bus doesn't count.) Please include the link back to Old Shoes-New Trip in your own entry and then leave a comment on Deborah's post so she can find your blog and admire your count.

The Forty-Three MEME from Old Shoes, New Trip
1- Piazza Del Campo, Siena, Italy *
2- Piazza Della Signoria, Florence, Italy *
3- Staromestske Namesti, Prague, Czech Republic
4- Markt, Bremen, Germany
5- Grote Markt, Brussels, Belgium *
6- Piazza and Piazzetta San Marco, Venice, Italy *
7- Piazza Del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy *
8- Krasnaja Polscad, Moscow, Russia
9- Sultanahmet Meidani, Istanbul, Turkey
10- Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy *
11- St. Peter's Square, The Vatican *
12- Place Des Vosges, Paris, France
13- Place Vendome, Paris, France
14- Place Des Terreaux, Lyon, France
15- Place Stanislas, Nancy, France
16- Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Spain
17- Schlossplatz, Stuttgart, Germany
18- Plaza De La Constitucion, Mexico City, Mexico
19- Praca do Comercio, Lisbon, Portugal
20- Trafalgar Square, London, UK
21- Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin, Germany
22- Konigsplatz, Munich, Germany
23- Winter Palace Square, St. Petersburg, Russia
24- Piccadilly Circus, London, UK
25- Piazza Duomo, Milan, Italy *
26- Piazza Dell'Unita D'Italia, Trieste, Italy
27- Theaterplatz, Dresden, Germany
28- Maria Theresien Platz, Vienna, Austria
29- Hosok Tere, Budapest, Hungary
30- Plaza De Mayo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
31- Times Square, New York City, USA
32- Tian'anmen Square, Beijing, China
33- Praca Dos Tres Poderes, Brasilia, Brazil
34- Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada
35- City Hall Plaza, Boston, USA
36- Plateau Beaubourg, Paris, France
37- Tsukuba Center Square, Tsukuba, Japan
38- Place Du Nobre D'Or, Montpellier, France
39- Placa Dels Paisos Catalans, Barcelona, Spain
40- Parliament Square, Canberra, Australia
41- California Plaza, Los Angeles, USA
42- Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
43- Potsbamer Platz, Berlin, Germany

So far, I have read that Deborah has visited 15 squares and Marta has visited 13 squares. My grand total: 8! Pretty pitiful. Guess that means that I need to do more traveling! The only problem is that it is pretty difficult to tear me away from Italy whenever I do get the opportunity to travel. I just need more time and a stronger dollar!

Thanks Deborah for coming up with this fun post!!

I have definitely been a lazy blogger this week. I found the perfect meme on
Fizzy Thoughts blog tonight ~ Have You Ever…A Meme For Lazy Bloggers.
This meme comes from chartroose's blog.

have you ever...

1. gone on a blind date? Nope.

2. skipped school? Yes, I skipped Sunday School and later got caught. Not a good thing since Sunday School (which was held on Saturdays – don’t ask me where the name came from) was a religious class.

3. been on the opposite side of your country? Yes. I grew up in Massachusetts and now live in Hawaii. That is pretty much as opposite as you can get.

4. swam in the ocean? Yes, both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.

5. had your booze taken away by the cops? Nope.

6. lettered in a high school sport? Yes, cheerleading (which I am not sure is really considered a sport, at least back when I was in High School) and Track.

7. cried yourself to sleep? Yes.

8. played a musical instrument? Yes, if the flutophone counts.

9. sung karaoke? Nope. I don’t even like to sing in front of my kids at school unless a song from a CD player drowns out my voice.

10. cheated on an exam? Hmmm? I bubbled in the SAT tests making a duck picture once. Does that count?

11. played spin-the-bottle? Nope.

12. laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose? I can’t recall some sort of beverage ever coming out of my mouth, but I have laughed hard enough to pee my pants.

13. watched the sun rise with someone you care about? Yes, but not very often since I am not a morning person.

14. ever been arrested? Nope.

15. gone ice skating? Yes, and I even have a scar over my eye to prove it.

16. been skinny dipping? Nope, at least I don’t remember skinny dipping.

17. been on television? Nope.

18. thrown up in front of a date? Yes.

Don't forget to check out Jill's meme responses and if you decide to play along, please link back to chartroose's meme blog post.

I stole this from Fizzy Thought's blog who stole it from Stephanie at The Written Word.

I continued to search backwards to try to find the origin of this meme and ended up on monnibo's Monniblog.

Anne & Kim have also played.

The things I have done are in BOLD!

1. Started my own blog (this is my 4th but the first one I have continued after a trip)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (do I get extra points since I have been visiting Hawaii every day for almost 24 years?)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain (a 14er… a very proud accomplishment!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables (never successfully)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (of course!)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (does a wiffle ball home run count?? I’m counting it!)

Click continue for more...

This is a short video clip of me a long time ago ~ Christmas 1961.



Merry Christmas everyone!!

I found this cool meme at at bleeding espresso. She found it at Yankee in a New World. I was planning to do two more Sant' Erasmo Festival posts next but decided to briefly interrupt the festival fun to do this 5 things meme (since I had 5 things on my to do list today that I actually did).

Here goes...

1. What are 5 things you were doing ten years ago?

*I started teaching at my current school.
*Planning my first trip to Europe.
*Traveling to France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, & The Netherlands.
*Falling in love with Italy.
*Celebrating my 40th birthday with my mom and dad (a very special birthday since it was my last with my mom before she passed away).

2. What are 5 things on your to do list for today?

*Go to the eye doctor.
*Make a hair cut appointment.
*Go to the bank.
*Refill a prescription.
*Buy a battery for my smoke alarm (realized I need 2 so this will be on my to do list again tomorrow).

3. What are your 5 favorite snacks?

*Strawberries.
*Cheese.
*Good yogurt (European or Greek).
*Gelato.
*Nuts.

4. What would you do if you were a millionaire?

*Quit my job.
*Travel a lot.
*Buy season tickets to the Red Sox.
*Give money to family members and charities.
*Buy a nice place up on the North Shore with room for friends/family to come visit (if I was a rich millionaire the place would be right on the beach).

5. Where are 5 places you have lived?

*Massachusetts – small town where I grew up.
*Massachusetts – college dorm.
*Colorado – college town.
*Washington - near the beach.
*Hawaii - where I am now :)

If you decide to play along, let me know so I can check out your 5 things.

I'm really late to this party. I first saw this on Marta's blog. I have lost track of how many other bloggers have also joined in. Here's mine...

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My mom said she used to name her dolls my name, so I guess I was named after a doll.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Last week Tuesday watching the inauguration and then again the following day looking at the pictures in the paper about the inauguration.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No, I sometimes can’t even read it myself. Thank goodness for computers!

4. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Nope.

5. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Yes.

6. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Sometimes but probably not a lot.

7. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS
Sure do.

8. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
No way! I won’t even go on a carnival ride.

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Maple Pecan Crisp Peace Cereal.

10. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
I rarely wear shoes that tie, but when I do, I slip them off if I can.

11. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Physically, definitely not. It took me 15 minutes to open up a pickle jar tonight. Emotionally, I used to be more than I am now.

12. FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Coffee. If you are talking gelato, I have four: hazelnut, coffee, peach and pistachio (the real kind/not that fake green stuff).

After reading Kim's What Metal Are You? blog post, and taking the quiz myself (I am also copper), the website sucked me in as I spent quite a bit of time taking many of the other tests. Funny thing is, Anne did the same thing.

I only saved the results of the test below, although I do remember that I was a calculator for the What Office Supply Are You? test and blue state for the Should You Live in a Red State or a Blue State? test. I took the red/blue state test to check the *reliability* of these tests. :)

Your Travel Profile:

You Are Well Traveled in Southern Europe (47%) You Are Well Traveled in the Western United States (47%) You Are Well Traveled in the Northeastern United States (43%) You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in Canada (40%) You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in Western Europe (36%) You Are Mostly Untraveled in Asia (8%) You Are Mostly Untraveled in the Southern United States (8%) You Are Untraveled in Africa (0%) You Are Untraveled in Australia (0%) You Are Untraveled in Eastern Europe (0%) You Are Untraveled in Latin America (0%) You Are Untraveled in New Zealand (0%) You Are Untraveled in Scandinavia (0%) You Are Untraveled in the Middle East (0%) You Are Untraveled in the Midwestern United States (0%) You Are Untraveled in the United Kingdom (0%)

I'm not sure how I scored so high in Canada. I have only been to Quebec, Vancouver, and Victoria and Victoria was not even on the list. It is obvious I have neglected quite a few areas, including the Midwestern US. So many places and so little time...and Italy always on my mind. I think I need to win that lottery soon so I can quit my job, travel year round, and score a little higher on this test.

Jill at Fizzy Thoughts recently posted about the ten T's she loves. I took a leap and decided to participate blindly in this letter meme hoping I would not get the letter
Q, X, or Z. To participate, all you have to do is ask for your letter, and voila...you will have an instant topic to post about. Jill assigned me the letter G. At first I though G would be pretty difficult but surprisingly I was able to come up with a list of 18 G things that I love. Here are ten of them...

1. Google – How did I ever survive before the world of Google? Now whenever I need to find anything out, I just grab my computer and google it. Can you imagine the look on people's faces years ago if you said, "Wait, let me google it?" Now what else can you think of has an I'm Feeling Lucky button!

2. Greek yogurt - two of my favorite flavors are:
Greek God's Reduced Fat Vanilla Cinnamon Orange Yogurt
and Greek God's Pomegranate Yogurt

3. Gymnastics - I love to watch women's gymnastics, almost as much as watching baseball. The uneven bars is my favorite event.

4. Girasoli - Sunflowers!! During my first couple of visits to Italy, I fell in love with the fields of sunflowers. When signing up for an email account many years ago, I decided on coming up with an Italian name as my user name. After thinking about some of the things that I loved about Italy, I decided on using the Italian word for sunflower ~ girasole as my user name. Unfortunately girasole was taken. Now I know that I am a singular person and "girasoli" means sunflowers (a plural word), but since girasole was taken and it became too confusing for my fingers to remember when to sign in as girasole and when to sign in as girasoli, I decided on using girasoli as my user name. I have used girasoli for so long now that it almost like my second name. That's how I became to be known as ~ girasoli.

5. Gas stove - After having a gas stove, I hope to never have to use an electric stove again. What a cool gadget to be invented. I don't understand why all houses are not equipped with gas stoves. I googled the history of gas stoves to find out if perhaps the gas stove was invented after the electric stove, thinking that could be the reason why more houses seem to have electric stoves, but found out that the gas stove was invented in 1826 and the electric stove was invented in 1891. Now if we did not have google, would I have been able to find out this important fact so quickly and easily?

6. Gelato – Specifically Italian Gelato.

7. Gaucamole - The first time I tried an avocado was after moving to Colorado for graduate school. Mexican food was not big in Massachusetts when I was growing up. Once I tried gaucamole, I was hooked! Deelish!!

8. Genealogy - I started researching my genealogy over ten years ago. I have gotten pretty far with a couple of lines, even visiting the village my great grandfather came from in Italy but still have a ways to go with a few other lines. I received a surprise email on Saturday from a woman answering a question I left on a genealogy forum back in 1999. Her great grandmother was my great great grandfather's sister. Now how cool is that?

9. Going to Italy - it's a stretch using the letter G, but I had to find a way to include traveling to Italy in this list :)

10. Gilmore Girls - I got hooked on this show a few years ago. I was pretty sad when the show finally went off of the air. One of my all time favorite episodes was Season Five's "Jews and Chinese Food".

If you would like to participate, leave a comment and I’ll assign you a letter. After getting your letter, write about 10 things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and when people comment on your post, you assign them a letter, and so it goes and goes and goes...