Winter is coming. Arm yourselves against Emilia’s arsenal of food.
Our cohort of expat bloggers in Italy (#COSI) has bitten off about as much as it can chew this time: Italian regional food wars.
6 things to know about Reggio Emilia
I occasionally get asked to summarize my vast (ha!) knowledge on life in Reggio Emilia to those who are looking to visit or move here. The following is what I usually tell them… (UPDATE: Plus, get info on our live Q&A session on what it’s REALLY like to live in Italy)
How you know you’re in Emilia, Italy… even from inside an IKEA.
Somewhere in Sweden there’s a well designed room of blonde people eating meatballs and discussing how to best debilitate various consumer groups into subjection. I am here to report that they have yet to conquer the Italians!
6 reasons why Lambrusco of Emilia, Italy, will be the next trendy wine
I would like to put forth a prediction that this refreshing, fizzy, chilled red wine soon gets picked up as the go-to drink in trendy wine bars all over America. Here are my reasons:
La Casa di Sand and Fog, Emilia edition… (less sand and more fog).
This is the Hollywood-like (only not really) dramatic retelling of our persistent loathing of the vista from our balcony: ‘La Casa di Sand and Fog’.
If you’re going to live in Emilia, you need to know what “sisso” is.
What is sisso? Some would say it’s like gold. It’s the fuel of the regional agricultural industry. It’s the byproduct of the rich food culture of traditional Emilia. It’s a farmer’s most essential source of nourishment. It’s the smell that fills the air at dinner time in the summer. It’s the taste that lingers in your mouth after exhaling.
It’s pig poo.
A note about the recent earthquakes in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
I just started this blog last weekend, but I’ve already had a couple of people note that I’m located in the area where we’ve had multiple earthquakes recently… they’ve asked what it’s like, so I thought I would just write a quick note about our experience here.
Separated from Italy
Whence last we spoke, back in October, I was very focused on cocktail creation. Why? Well, drinking helps, right? 🙂 K, maybe that humor is a little dark for the moment. Joking aside, the short and diplomatic version of my story over the past few months is this…
How to make a frozen margarita in Italy.
So let’s say, hypothetically, that you’re a Texpat living in the province of Reggio Emilia (totally hypothetical), and you want to treat your Italian girlfriends to a Margarita Night. It’s not as easy as you think…
The fear of the fake: What “authenticity” means to a foreigner in a strange land.
“Authenticity… consists in having a true and lucid consciousness of the situation, in assuming the responsibilities and risks that it involves, in accepting it in pride or humiliation, sometimes in horror and hate.” – Sartre
The search for sex in Italy: 6 Italian slang sayings.
A journey through 6 Italian sayings that may or may not aid you in your search for sex this Valentine’s Day weekend.
“His name is Tony. He’s from Milano. He whispers softly in my ear in Italiano.”
I am back from my recent adventure, and I am overwhelmed by the quantity of material that warrants this blog’s attention and your comments. Take, for example, Tony.
It really is C.O.S.I.
Yesterday I was supposed to publish a post for you all to read, as part of our super-cool expat blogger group, C.O.S.I. (Crazy Observations by Stranieri in Italy. My fellow bloggers have dutifully presented theirs to you, but not me. Nope, I’m sorry to say that you will not be getting my thoughts on our…
6 years in Italy, and I’m still dumbfounded on a daily basis.
It took six years (to the day) to glean this little pearl of cultural wisdom… just one of many in the long pearl necklace that alternately chokes and adorns my neck.
Who is more powerful in Italy: the Pope or the Mafia?
I’m writing to you on this beautiful Sunday morning with a quick post that perhaps differs from my usual jesting with the Italian culture. My marito and I woke up to an Italian news article by La Repubblica that surprised us quite a bit.
COSÌ
Check out our new Facebook Page and follow us to get all the #COSItaly posts as they are published! You are here because you want to learn more about the authors who have (most likely) blown your mind with their incredible insights on what it’s REALLY like to live in Italy as a foreigner. The COSI…
World Cup 2014: Watching Italy lose to Costa Rica… in Costa Rica.
It’s hard not to love the Tico team. They’re like the little engine that could.
It’s hard not to hate the Italian team. They sucked it up pretty hard.
Becoming Bold and Italic… collectively.
This week, a group of us stranieri pazzi expatriate bloggers here in Italy have decided to join forces and tackle a common subject: Stuff we didn’t do before moving to Italy.
5 small town similarities between rural Italy and rural Ireland.
Many of the culturally shocking aspects of my life here in Italy cannot actually be attributed to living in Italy, but instead to living in a small town. Case in point, this past weekend I voyaged to rural Ireland and found it shockingly comparable to a small town experience here in Italy.
La Signora Maria: a Case Study
Please allow me to introduce you to someone very special. She is but a concept, yet at the same time very very real. She is the true heart of Italy. And she is the thorn in my side.
Watching the Super Bowl from Italy. Dedication required.
My tips about how to watch American men in spandex… with an Italian husband.
Olive oil. Like a Virgin… in Italy.
If two Italian staples like Buffalo Mozzarella and Catholic Nuns aren’t pure… then how do I know if anything is really pure?
The Gingerbread Crimes
Beer + Christmas Season + Crazy Italian Ladies = This.
Expat Vent Alert (E.V.A.) – an early detection warning system
A quantification of the amount of life being sucked out of an expat, as well as a measurement of the subsequent reaction one can expect.
How to purchase a little piece of Italy (and look like an idiot in the process).
A cryptic, yet literal, ‘How To’ guide for the logistics of buying land in Italy. (By the way, we now own 0.000023% of Italy!!!)
Caseifici Aperti: an Open House event for lovers of Reggiano-Parmigiano cheese
A caseifico is a cheese factory (case comes from the dialect for cheese; -ificio is from building “edificio”). Aperto means open. So it’s like an Open House event for cheese factories. Here are my photos and notes for your enjoyment and curiosity.
The historic demolition of the Ecomostro (Eco-Monster) of Canossa!
The whole region of Emilia is a buzz today with the impending demolition of this hideous, abandoned vertical pig farm that has been blighting the countryside next to Canossa Castle for decades. Come watch it go down!
The Golden Cup waited 3800 years. You should take 2 hours to visit it!
I am telling you, there is old stuff everywhere in Italy. Stuff just lying around all over the place. It boggles my mind.
My Pear Focaccia Creation (note: I did not use the sacred word “Pizza”)
A fun recipe for your pears AND for your marriage to an Italian man. Remember, your job is to open his horizons!
“The Crunchy Towel Blues” (from album: “Ain’t Got No Appliances”)
You ain’t got the blues ’til you lose what you got. I may have met the love of my life, but at what cost? Fluffy towels, baby, fluffy towels.
You know, you make me want to SPROUT! Kick my heels up and… SPROUT! Come on now…
I can now officially report that my sprouts have sprouted, and that I have consumed said sprouts without dying. So, I think that’s a pretty good outcome. Here’s what I learned along the way (#fitaly):
Italian pronunciation: papà, Papa, e pappa (the father, the Pope and the holy food)
Am I the only nutcase English-speaking expat who has problems with these words? Better question – am I the only nutcase who uses visualization techniques?
A call to arms: my war with the local militia of Tiger Mosquitos (Zanzare Tigre)
Tips for how to combat these potentially dangerous (and certainly annoying) pests.
Sprouts! A fitting start to my quest to get fit in Italy (#fitaly)
While the chains of love will forever bind me to tortelli and Parmigiano-Reggiano, I feel that I must break free. I must rebel. I must grow sprouts.
“Pan, parsùt, figa, e lambrùsc.” – Reggiano dialect phrase for the recipe to health and a long life.
An analysis of the keys to a fulfilling life, according a Reggiano farmer.
I remember when eating was fun.
My daily life can no longer support the onslaught of carbohydrates and pork that this country is wielding at me. This is my call for help. (#fitaly)
How to porcini like a pro.
The title of this post may be misleading, in that it implies that I already know how to porcini like a pro… Which is not, in fact, the case. It is the quest! Join me…
Please, please, don’t name your baby something that translates to ‘butt hole’ in English.
How do you tactfully beg this of your fiance’s brother at their mother’s dinner table? This was the task I was charged with one memorable evening two years ago.
è così: Potty humor and pace of life in a small Italian town.
The second week after arriving in Italy, as I was knee deep in my attempt to nest in my boyfriend’s bachelor pad, our toilet broke… it was a Friday morning. This is the story of my naive attempt to have it fixed.
Back off, Parma! The cheese is ours! (The fight for Parmigiano-Reggiano.)
This post provides photographic and definitive proof that Permigiano-Reggiano is Reggiano first and foremost.
From ‘cool’ to ‘c***’ : 50 shades of genitaliano slang.
What Valentine’s Day is complete without an extensive discussion of Italian slang derived from female private parts?
Somehow, between the chocolate covered strawberries and the bottle of passito wine, my husband and I ventured into this graphic subject late last night. It was actually kind of fascinating.
The annual Maialata, a traditional Italian pork fest.
It’s that time of year again here in rural Emilia… that time of year when La Famiglia gets together for a full day of literally pigging out. The Maialata (‘maiale’ means ‘pig’ and ‘-ata’ kind of makes it a ‘fest’) is a traditional meal that takes place in January, when farmers used to butcher their pigs for the coming year’s supply of prosciutto and salame.
Itanglish: “The fighettoness here is killing me.”
The word ‘fighetto’ has recently become somewhat of a staple in my ever evolving Itanglish vocabulary. Let’s dissect, shall me?
About
Welcome to ‘Married to Italy’ Big city Texan girl meets small town Italian boy. Chaos ensues. My expat blog stories – both funny and tragic – about loving, dating, living with, and marrying an Italian man in the province of Reggio Emilia… … with a dog. I am a thirty-ahahencoughugh-year-old American expat, married to a…
Quite possibly the best burger in Italy. With real bacon!
Yes, that’s right… I may have found it. While I cannot claim to have tried EVERY burger in Italy… (someday perhaps)… I will say that I have been grossly disappointed multiple times by restaurants claiming to have the real deal and not following through. My disappointment does not just stem from the simple fact that…
Married to Italy 