The Making of Dobos Torta

Sounds awesome right? It has to be one of the weirdest baking moments of my life.

For Christmas I bought Drew a Hungarian cookbook (he wants to be a chef). It has the most basic Hungarian foods in it, from gulyas leves, Jokai bableves, rakott krumpli, paprikas krumpli, turos csusza, szilvas gomboc, to Dobos torta. Of course there are many more things in there, but these are the ones that pop into my head right now. Now, Drew is not a person who likes sweets a whole lot, but Dobos torta immediately stood out for him. Perfectly understandable. For those who are not aware of what this is, it is a layered sponge cake with chocolate mousse type of filling in between the layers and on the outside. It is topped off with a layer of hard caramel. Incredibly delicious if it is done correctly.

So, Drew and I decided that we will try to make Dobos torta. We went and bought the eggs (we needed 11!) and began. Since we didn't have 6 23cm round pans to bake each layer, we decided to adapt and do it twice and cut each cake into three layers. (It seems like adapting to the situation is something we do very often here at Casa Cares.) When we poured half of the batter into the pan, it seemed like a very little amount, so we poured the entire thing and decided to cut that into layers, not necessarily 6. Well, when it baked, it had a huge bubble on the top, that did end up deflating, but it was still very thin! So we skipped the whole cutting into layers and decided to just quarter the cake and have a very small cake. Now comes the filling. The recipe said to melt the chocolate and cocoa powder together. That wasn't happening. It was this clumpy mess that would not melt into smooth chocolate. So we put it in to microwave. It still wouldn't melt. So we just put it with the butter and finally it was a smooth liquid. I think the only thing that we did do right was the egg white part. We had to whip it with sugar into stiff peaks and fold it into the chocolate and butter. Now we had the filling. But it was definitely TOO much for that little cake. So we put as much as possible on the inside and outside and we still had at least half of the icing left over. I am currently working on licking the bowl, but it is soo rich! It takes like chocolate marshmallow. I have a glass of milk next to me and the bowl, so we shall see what happens. (We have normal milk now! Elisa introduced us to actual milk and Drew and I also bought some more of that today. The milk we normally have is not so great.) I might not be having dinner tonight...

When the cake came out of the oven, it smelt a lot like eggs. It smelled fine to me, since it was supposed to be piskota, but Drew was concerned. Hmm. The "cake" was to thin to slice into several layers, so we just quartered it and stacked them on top of each other. We spread the icing on it and called it a cake. We stuck in the fridge to set and went to get Rike (she spent the day in Florence, so she didn't get to experience this mess!). After we ate dinner, we decided to try the cake. Oh goodness. Our reactions were simply priceless. Eating a "cake" that tastes like frittata (basically, an omlette) that has the texture of polenta (a corn meal dish) covered in chocolate? You be the judge of that. The picture of the Drew and Rike explains all: As we were attempting to eat this concoction, tears were rolling down from our eyes, because we were laughing so hard. We ended up throwing it out because we were afraid of eating more of this and getting sick. Plus, the original plan was to take a slice to Paul, who is in the hospital recovering from a hip surgery, and we simply can't take something like this to him (he LOVES pastries!)!

We had plenty of the cream left over, but that was fine. We all kept eating it, either alone or with some cookies as a cookie sandwich. I even put it in my coffee. It was like eating chocolate marshmallows. :)


Making of Dobos Torta-Attempt #2

We felt so awful for the previous disaster, so we just had to try again! We looked up another recipe online, which claims to be the original one, and decided to go with that. But, it's not that easy. For lunch Drew made deviled eggs. We needed 15 eggs for that recipe and he left 14 eggs by accident, using too many eggs at lunch. So we decided to use the "original" recipe for the dough and the cream will the same as last week, so we were fine the number of eggs. Everything turned out fairly ok this time. The dough was nice and fluffy, the way it should be. Now the only problem was how to bake them. We decided the simplest way to do them would be like making crepes. So we put the batter into the pan and cooked them. We couldn't spread them completely into the pan to get a perfect round shape so we came to the conclusion to make individual one. So we cut little rounds with a cup and spread the chocolate cream in between. To get the hard top, you have to melt sugar and spread it on one of the layers. Well, I melted the sugar and poured it on top of the individual tops. Since this is caramel, it hardens quick! And that is exactly what happened. I was able to get one of the rounds off the plate before the sugar hardened completely, but the others stuck! We tried to get them out by using a sharp knife, but that only broke the sugar and the layer along with it. So, we stuck it in the microwave to melt the sugar a bit so we could get it off, and that was perfect! Rike frosted the layers in between, Drew the outside, and Rike again with the tops. The results were wonderful. Here are some pictures of the entire process.

The end is near!

The end of the harvest is so close! More like two days tops! We are at the top of the hill, where the terraces are getting deeper and deeper. Yesterday we were on the second to last terrace, which has three rows of about 20 trees each. The last one is a lot deeper, more rows, but it's the last one! It is very exciting to be able to finish already. We started on the 15th of November, and just might finish the 15th, maybe 16th of December. Our previous record was somewhere around 4700 kg, and as of last night we were at 5800 kg! We are definitely hitting the 6000 mark! And this is especially good since for the past week we only had one day of rain! And we weren't even working that day. Every day has been so nice and sunny. I missed the sun. During pausa, our break time, I always try to be in the sun. Oh, how good it feels to have sun on your face!

Other news. Raymond left, Drew came (back). Raymond left us on the 10th, also Friederike's birthday. He spent two night in Rome alone, and flew home on the 12th. He made it home safely and is happy to be home. We spoke to him via Skype when he was home, so everything is all right with him. A few days before he left, Drew came back. Drew was a volunteer here before I came (actually he left the day after I arrived here). His plans were to go to Germany, but things didn't work out there, so he came back here. He's from the States and wants to be a chef, which is awesome because we can talk food! And he eats meat! So I am looking forward to exploring dishes with him and making Hungarian food that I can share with someone! Yay! He also makes amazing fires which make the heaters super warm. (The heating in the Colonica works by making a fire in the fireplace which heats up water that is sent to our heaters. Unfortunately even the heaters are really hot, our rooms aren't. I mean, it's not freezing in there, but it's not super warm either. The hallway is always much warmer. How cruel.).

I only have one week left before I go home!! You have no idea how excited I am! It's the longest time I have ever spent without my parents, nearly 5 months! I have most of my gifts ready, now the problem is, will my things fit in my bag? Goodness.... The fact that Christmas Eve will be like when we were little, is very, VERY exciting! In addition to the seven of us, there will be two wives and one and a half grandchildren! For the rest of the holidays I have no idea how things will be, but I'm not really worried about it; I'll just go with the flow.

On Sunday we went into Florence. Rike and I went to church, the first in this Advent Season, and saw (well, heard. A column was blocking our view) the baptism of an adorable little baby. After church we met up with Kelly, Drew, and Clara (Rike's friend who is from the same organization as she is) and went to Santa Croce where there is a Christmas Market. There are many stands from around the world, but mostly European, two from Hungary! One of them sells these pillows that have some herbals in them that you can heat up or freeze and put on sore muscles, stomach aches, etc... But the other one is the BEST! It sells kürtöskalács!! Iris told me about them, so I just had to find them! People were crowding around this stand, so I stood in line as well. When it was finally my turn to order, I ordered in Hungarian. The guy was in shock for a moment, then made me my cinnamon and nut ones. When I paid, he said that he wanted to give me one as a gift, so I got one for free! It pays to Hungarian! :) I shared my sweets with the rest of my friends and they all enjoyed them, especially the cinnamon ones, which of course are the best ones. (For those of you who do not know what kürtöskalács is. It is a Hungarian delicacy that is usually sold at markets and bazaars. A yeast dough is rolled into about a finger's width of a roll and wrapped around a thick wooden log. This is then put into an oven which turns these logs and bakes them to a golden brown log. When it is done, the log is rolled in a mixture of either cinnamon sugar, ground walnuts, powdered sugar, cocoa, etc... and than eaten. Simple deliciousness. This might be a better explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCrt%C5%91skal%C3%A1cs)
After exploring the rest of the market and seeing German meat stands, Austrian strudels, a pig roasting, French foods, Dutch cheeses, French soaps, and many other things, we headed back to the center of the city and found Drew's favorite gelateria and had ice cream in the middle of December. How awesome is that? Very! Florence is very nicely decorated for Christmas. By the Duomo there is a huge Christmas tree that has the Florentine lilly in red hanging from the branches and lights. Simply decorated, but still beautiful. On some of the streets the Florentine symbols are also hung in the middle. I definitely do not miss the immense amount of Christmas decorations in the States! Simplicity is the best for me.
We took a risk and followed the schedule Paul made for coming back from Florence. It worked! A first. The trains are usually right, but somehow, the bus schedules never seem to match. But it did this time! We were very happy.

Thanksgiving in Italy, goodbyes, rain, Advent season!

The past few days have been quite eventful. We had an international Thanksgiving, said goodbye to many people, had lots of rain, and the Advent season started! (Duh, the title basically explains it all!)

Thanksgiving
Here at CC there are quite a number of Americans, or at least, there were when it was Thanksgiving. Zack and I have talked about having a Thanksgiving meal for quite some time. When Tony came back from the States in the beginning of November, he brought back a whole bunch of typical Thanksgiving stuff, like pumpkin pie filling, cranberries, craisins, etc.. It made everything seem possible, since I have not seen those things around here. There is a tradition to have a big meal at the end of the harvest, but since 1. we don't know when that day will arrive 2. it was almost Thanksgiving 3. there were a lot of people around from all over the world, we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner! We had a day before, since the appointment to take the olives was on the actual night. It was such a fun night! The tables were decorated with nice napkins and fancy glasses that are usually reserved for the guests. The people who were making all the food were feverishly cooking and baking all day. Tony took charge of the main meals, with the help of Elisa and Zack. Since Tony is a vegetarian and is lactose intolerant, the foods were altered a bit, but everything still tasted delicious. I don't think I have eaten that much since I got here. I was barely able to finish my plate. We had turkey, tofurkey, cranberries, potatoes, a delicious soup with chestnut pieces in it (how brilliant!!), roasted vegetables, and dessert thanks to Rike, Kelly, our South African volunteer, and myself. Rike made a German Apple Crumble, Kelly a Malva pudding (similar to a sponge cake, but it has apricot jam in it and some sort of sauce with cream in it) and for the first time ever, I made aranygaluska (which happened to turn out to be one of the best ones I have ever eaten. I am so proud of myself!)!
After doing all those dishes (we had about 25 people eating here), and cleaning up, Antoinette presented us with a game. Two teams, each player with a number. A asked questions about CC related things and then called out a number. The people with those numbers had to run to the "yes" or "no" chairs, and whoever sat down first, their team got a point. It was 'The Best' vs. 'Pink Olives.' Unfortunately, I was on the loosing team, but I think it was because Zack had the same number, and I am afraid that Zack might hurt me (things got pretty intense while fighting for the chair!). Zack used to play football and is quite bigger than me. I would rather loose to him than loose an arm.
There is a game called "Sardines" that we have been wanting to play for months now. We never got around to it, so we decided that that night would be perfect! The object of the game is the one person hides and everyone else searches for him/her. If you found that person, you hide in the same place with them. It's best to play with a lot of people, so you really do end up like sardines in a can! Paul hid first, and of course he knows every crook in this house, he found a pretty good place (I am still not saying where...); I found him first, than Ethan and Raymond. The four of us were in that little place for some time, and than we tricked the others are came out. Zack hid next, finding possibly the dustiest place in the house. There is a loft in one of the rooms and he climbed up there. Ethan and Raymond did too, so I was like, what the heck, why not! It definitely wasn't easy getting up or down! But so much fun! The night finished around this time, and we probably ended up watching a few episodes of 24 afterward (we have Season 3-7 here in the Colonica, and we all got hooked on it. Watched it every chance we got.).


Rain
There really isn't an update on this, but the fact that it has been raining almost nonstop. Well, today it was a better day; it didn't rain for the most of the day!

Advent Season
As you all know, Advent began last Sunday. This is exciting, because that means Christmas is a bit over 4 weeks away! We have a wreath, but no candles in it, haven't gotten around to it yet... On the first of December, when I stepped out of the hallway from my room, I saw that a little Angel, called Rike, dropped a few presents for me. She left me an Advent calendar and some delicious German cookies. Rike and I also made Cecilia an Advent calendar, with 24 little packages in a shoebox. She was so happy, and so were we when we saw her reaction.

Goodbyes
This is the saddest part of the blog for me. During the harvest we had several people come and go. We had the Swiss family with two little boys who seemed to make everyone's days a little bit brighter, Steven, the Dutch man, who went crazy with the chain saw and made pretty amazing tortillas (I rolled, he flipped), and several others. We still have Michael from San Diego and Kelly from South Africa, who are staying almost until Christmas. But the worst goodbye was Zack and Ethan. Their time here at CC expired and they flew back to Kentucky. It was not easy to say bye because we became such a tight-knit group and they felt like brothers to us. We became very close, so seeing the first part of our group leave was quite upsetting. Raymond leaves in 8 days, Dennis in 16. I even had a dream that Rike is also leaving, which made me sad, since it's only going to be the two of us after Christmas (though, there might a British guy named Adam coming!).
The last night The Klemme Boys were here was fun. We played a round of our favorite game, Apples to Apples, with Iris-o and Kelly. Took some pictures, remembered all the good times we had and said our goodbyes. Our group is missing a piece now, but glad that they home happily with their family.

By the way, bought some awesome Twinnings Infusion teas. Amazing! Currently I am sipping on a Raspberry-Echinacea cup. And, 19 more days!

That is all for now!

Where in the world does olive oil come from???

Mmmmm, so delicious on garlic bread, or with mozzarella and tomatoes, or salad, or anything (I really do mean anything. Italians put olive oil on everything!).... Mmmm, olive oil... This deliciousness is so wonderful. It all starts with a little tiny olive, and ends up being liquid gold. But really, how does that happen? Now let me try to explain this whole process a little bit. (Warning: it will not be perfect. You can ask Paul for a super detailed explanation)

It all starts with the olive trees. There are hundreds of different kinds of olive trees, but we only grow a few types (sadly, I'm not sure which ones). In the late fall, around November, the fruit of the olive trees ripen, turning black from the bright green they were previously. (See pic) In older times, picking the olives was simple. Like with any other fruit, you wait for it to fall on it's own. Thank goodness for gravity! But now in modern times, it's totally different. Large parachutes, some reminding me of the ponyvak we use in taborok, are laid underneath the trees. The pickers then go up in the trees, stand under, etc. to get down the olives. (We at CC don't wait for all of the olives to turn black. We pick all stages at once; green, green-black, and black) There are several methods to get the olives. 1. Use your hand. (Duh.) 2. Use a little hand-sized rake to 'comb' them off. Looks like you are trying to brush someone's hair. 3. Use a power tool which vibrates and shakes off the olives in the places you can't reach. We use the first two methods. I'm not sure if we own the power tool (I'm pretty sure we don't. We are waaay to ecological for power tools or modern things.). So after the olives fall onto the parachutes, they are put in crates and stored for a few days (in reality, they should be taken to the press within hours of picking to ensure the best oil. Yeah, ok!). When you've got enough olives, you take it to the press to make the oil! Yay!





At The Press AKA Bonsi Fattoria

So apparently, this Bonsi Factory, where we take our olives to make the oil, was some sort of farm house that belonged to a rich family, blahblah, ended up being an olive press and has some sort of castle-like building where rich people have their weddings and get horrible pictures taken of themselves (Some of them were really cheesy. A heart-shaped arch where you say your vows with the castle in the background. I mean, Come on!). Anyways, this place makes both wines and olive oils. Since we are in the Chianti area, lots of red wine made, but currently they were drying the white grapes to make delicious Vin Santo, a dessert wine (reminds me of a Tokaji bor, kesoiszuret/harslevelu, my faves! The Chianti wines, are too acidic for me. We have a house wine, that is absolutely horrible, but we do sell a wine that is pretty decent). They used to have a big cellar where they have barrels that hold up to 5200 liters (!!!) of wine. They were HUGE!

Back to olives. The olives are put in gigantic crates that are stored floor to ceiling. Don't know the exact amount they can hold, but oh boy, they sure do have a lot of olives in them! From the crates the olives are dumped into this huge box (can't think of a better description) with a hole on the bottom of it from where they go onto an assembly line to be washed. After being washed, the olives get crushed into this ugly brown looking paste (everything is included, the pits, the meat, and some leaves as well). From that paste the oil is extracted and deliciousness pours from a fossit into your choice of container. The oil is not clear at first since the fruit particles are still in it, but if it's left alone for a few months, the particles will sink to the bottom of the container and on the top is the clear oil. Back in the day, they used to have these giant pots with the insides glazed. The shape was perfect because the top and bottom were narrower than the middle, so it was easy to get the oil when it was finally ready.


Quick sum of the week. Rain, fog, rain, fog, rain, hail, rain, fog, sunshine, rain, fog, cold. This was the weather, meaning not a lot of olive picking. Currently there are around 20 volunteers, plus us, so we have a good number, but it is such a shame that during the time when we had the most people is when it rained. Though, Paul's goal was to pick a 1000 kg's of olives this week. The volunteers were outside for about three days in total and picked close to 1700 kg! Go them! I haven't been outside yet since Friederike and I take turns being in the kitchen and house. If there is not a lot to do in the house, that person would go out, that is if there is no rain. But of course with all this bad weather, we were both stuck in the house, though she did get to go out one of the afternoons.
We have many volunteers from all over the world. Spain, UK, South Africa, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Romania, and USA. And of course us, but we don't count. :P We have all ages, from age 2(?) and up to who knows what. There is a family here with two little boys, one about 4, the other 2. They are so adorable, most of the time all we hear is 'Mama!' but it's refreshing to see another age group of kids here, other than Pietro and Alberto.

Today was a nice day. In the morning it was foggy, so the volunteers didn't go out, but in the afternoon it cleared up nicely. I needed some air after cleaning the dishwasher (the worst.) so F and I decided to take a walk and visit the workers. It was nice to be outside in decent weather and see how the olive harvest goes (I hope this is not the only time I get to be near the olive trees!). After the visit, I sat down and gazed at the valley. I can never be thankful enough of being here. The valley shows me something new every day. Today is was especially beautiful because the sun was shining through some clouds and I could see the rays, which were shining on to a little village, as if they were spotlights. Such serenity came over me and I started talking to God. It felt so good. My heart was filled and I was totally refreshed afterward. I still can't believe how perfectly God created everything in this world, with such harmony.

Anything else? I don't think so. 31 days until I go home! YAAY!

The Moods of the Valley and Others

I can be considered incredibly lucky. I am spending one year in Italy in possibly the most beautiful place. When I look out my window, I see many things. Our garden, with many delicious things in it (zucchini, cucumbers, tons of tomatoes, salads of many kinds, cabbage, fennel, pumpkins, etc..), the laundry drying, cypress trees (two of which symbolize Aron and Ancsa), our fig tree, which had many delicious figs on it in September and beginning of October, part of the Villa, and behind the Villa, the Valley. It is absolutely incredible.



Each part of the day the Valley has different 'mood' to it. In the morning, if the weather is nice, the bottom is covered in clouds. It looks like a big, white, fluffy blanket covering the bottom. As the clouds start to clear away, little island appear. First, I see a little house, or another villa, or a hill. It is breathtaking. Sometimes, like the other day for example, it was a new experience. When I was making breakfast in the wee hours of the day, we were out of the fog, but as the morning continued, we were in the fog! It was so incredible to see the weather outside change so quickly! On a clear day, like today, you are able to see so, so, so far away! You can see the mountains behind the mountains that are on the other side of the valley, and the mountains behind those, and the mountains behind those! Some have snow of them already!!

Lately, the weather has been very typical fall weather. Rain, fog, cool temperatures, the whole nine yards. But today, it was incredible. It was a bit foggy in the morning, but the rest of the day was beautiful. Sunshine and warm temperatures were such a refreshment after days of rain; little bit heart- and soul warming too, since I've been sick for a couple of days now. But back to the valley. It wasn't perfectly clear, there was still a little mist in the air, but still so breathtaking as the sun shone through the air, and it gave the entire valley this heavenly glow. I really wish I could share the amazingness of this place. My camera is not capable of capturing such natural beauty, so you guys have to use your imagination for this.

I can't wait to see it in the winter when everything is covered by snow, but before that, we have to endure the olive harvest which starts Monday! yikes! I hope I get better by then and be able to put 110% effort into it. Paul says that he wants to take a 1000 kg (aka a TON!) of olives to the press on Friday evening. I hope we can do this. We have several volunteers coming, literally from all around the world. Spain, Britain, USA, South Africa (!), and some other places. In total, I think there are about 20 extra set of helping hands. Of course, the amount we take to the press also depends on the weather. If it's rainy, we can't work outside, so the harvest gets delayed. I really hope we can get everything done in 3-4 weeks. I want to be done with the whole harvest ordeal before I go home for Christmas! Yes, I am going home for Christmas!! Before those of you in the States get your hopes up, home=Hungary. This is such a special occasion because this is the first time since 2000 that the entire family will be together on Christmas Eve. Plus, the two wives, the nephew, and the baby on the way!! Yep, going to be an aunt again! Aron and Ancsa are expecting their baby, due at the end of May, beginning of June. So super-duper excited for it!!! The only thing I'm sad about is that I won't be there for the birth. I want to be there so baaaad when the wiiiiittle baby is born. But I have to wait a month after the birth to see him/her. But it will all be worth it. :DD

Other news. Hmm.. Life is interesting. The 'crew' here is becoming closer and closer. We spend a lot of time together, even if it's just sitting in the living room reading, or watching a movie together, or doing dishes, listening to the Dishwashing Song (aka Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. I got Zack, a manly man, to like it. I've caught him humming/singing it. He's not proud of himself. I am!), or spending an hour-two hours deciding on what to eat for dinner when Iris is not around to cook something. Sometimes, they can get on my nerves, but I love them so much. Ethan and Zack leave in little over two weeks, and I'm getting very sad about it, so I try to spend as much time with them as possible. Like last night, Ethan and I decided to stay up all night! We had no particular reason, but we just started talking about everything and it turned out pretty well. It wasn't the whole night, because I got tired so I went to bed around quarter past 3, only to wake up 3 and a half hours later to make breakfast. Totally worth it. Well, at first I wasn't tired, but after lunch it started to hit me. Plus I was left alone because the boys left to go to a Fiorentina (Florence's soccer team) game. So tonight, it's only me and F, experiencing yet again, what the next couple of months are going to be like (Raymond leaves December 10 (Friederike's birthday!) and Dennis somewhere around right before Christmas). Paul is trying to get other volunteers to come, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Anyone wanna come and join the awesome team at Casa Cares??? write to info@casacares.it Totally worth it.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of cooking and baking blogs. They are so mouthwatering, but maybe I shouldn't be reading them when I'm hungry.... Speaking of good reads, "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zuzak. Wow!

That's all for right now!

The Adventures at Casa Cares

During these two months that I've been here, many interesting things have happened that can (and will be) considered as adventures. Here are some:

-One of our guests got lost in the woods and spent the night there. After the incident, we got to know him a little better and he really is a lost soul...
-We had no water for a day. That day Friederike (will be referred to as F) and I were supposed to clean all the bathrooms. Not easy doing that, or washing dishes after meals when the entire house is full of guests. So we ironed all day.
- Getting soaked on my way to Italian class. It's only a 1km walk!
-Power outage several times.
- The Chamber of Mysteries, where sheets are counted every week.
- Emptying the rooms after a group leaves and finding 'nice' surprises.
-Spedning 7 hours cleaning the Colonica kitchen. No one knows the actual time when it was last cleaned.
-Driving to Iris's house in her car.
-Playing Apples to Apples with Iris.
-Being driven by Antoinette.
-Raymond Stew and Raymond Cake.
-Attempting to get a kitten out a wall.
-Brio. The dog that keeps on whining.
-Giving Ethan a haircut with a buzzer.
-Going to a Reggae concert with Iris, where we met her 'boyfriend' and had Raymond throw up several times on the way home from the moving vehicle.
- Going to Venice with a very loud American group and spending the day wondering around the city.
-Cleaning in the Villa kitchen: scrubbing kettles, copper wires, dishwashers, etc...
-Sweet tea and gumbo.
-Watching movies that took forever to download.
-The Romanian family that stayed with us for about 3 weeks.
-Being dragged into the bathroom by 3 boys under the age of 11 and having my face painted upon. And my ears too. The inside of my ears.
-Going to Florence with Zack, Ethan, Raymond and Friederike. The going and being there was ok, minus R's obnoxious ways. Nothing new.... But the coming back! oh boy. Deciding to take one train, than deciding the take another one and grabbing a Chinese lunch, getting off at a different train station and realizing that the bus we needed left right before us and the next one coming is two and half hours later. Exploring the town we were in and having a peaceful cup of tea with F in a little bar. Going back to the bus stop. Bus not coming, next one not coming, the one we were taking going in the valley, instead of up. Panicking on the bus, calling Paul and Dennis to pick us up. Getting off the bus at the last stop and seeing the right bus pull into the bus stop. God's grace.
-Vallambrosa on a very cold day with Z, E, R, and F. Absolutely breathtaking views of the valley fromm 1000m elevation. Having hot tea and nut rolls (ala F) and playing with a ball on the side of the hill. Being tackled by Ethan after several tries. Going to the supermarket and making an amazing lemon pepper chicken with Zacko!

*This is not in chronological order, but hey! they are most definitely adventures!
**More to come, undoubtedly.

Casa Cares

Just to explain a bit about Casa Cares for future reference. (Does anyone even read this blog?)

CC used to a children's home in Florence. It closed in the 60s and the Waldensian church got it. They didn't know what to do with it, and asked Paul and Antoinette, who were volunteers at CC when it operated as a children's home, to come back and do something. So they did and CC now operates as a guest hous. (This is a very basic intro. Paul can give you a very detailed background. Or the website: www.casacares.it)

CC accepts volunteers every year for how ever long period of time they want to stay. The volunteers are housed in the Colonica, where there is a kitchen and living room on the first floor and sleeping quarters upstairs with a common bathroom. In the same building live Paul and Antoinette and below them is The Apartment,which is for guests. (Basically imagine an 'L' shaped building. One wing for the volunteers, both levels, other wing for P+A upstairs, guests downstairs.)

The main building is called the Villa. This is where the office, the kitchen, library, guest rooms, etc... are. This where I spend most of my day. We have about 20 rooms, able to house 55 people. Each room is unique and there are no two that are the same. Some of the rooms have an incredible view of the valley down below. The rooms that have no special view (except the wonderful Colonica) are painted to make it nicer looking. (One of the rooms was painted by a Hungarian!) Some rooms have their own bathrooms, but most share a common one. The common areas are the eating room, where all three meals take place (duh), the soggiorno (which I called the sitting room, before learning it's proper name. Others call it the fireplace room), the piano room, where the conferences/meetings/seminars/etc take place (we had a piano concert here back in September!), the library, with many religious themed books, the downstairs piano room, and the downstairs eating room, aka the room with the triangle table in it! This house has many other rooms that are for staff only, but I don't want to let you all in on those secrets! ;) Though, my favorite 'staff only' room is the infamous Chamber of Mysteries. This room has everything in it; sheets to be taken by the laundry service, extra mattresses, art supplies, costumes, papers, toys, LEGO!, candles, and every other thing you can imagine.

Currently, there are 6 of us volunteers. Our jobs include a variety of things. Work in the garden, fixing the olive trees for the olive harvest in November ( we are all so excited about it!), kitchen work (including, but not limited to: making salad for meals, making yoghurt, cleaning dishes, helping make meals, etc...), house chores, like cleaning bathrooms, making beds, sweeping and mopping, laundry, ironing, etc... We have come up with the things we do like to do, and other, well, not so much.

Like
- Ironing
- Towels
-Laundry
-Being in the kitchen
-Being in the Chamber of Mysteries
-Doing dishes


Dislike
-Bathrooms
-Dusting
-Making beds alone
-Deep cleaning
-Cleaning things that have not been done in who knows how long

Of course, this list in reality is much longer, but it gives you a glimpse of our lives.

The Volunteers
Zachary- From Kentucky along with his brother. We have a very similar sense of humor, our sarcasm is alike. Aka Zack, Zack-o, Zacky.
Ethan-(Variations of pronounciation: normal, Eeeee-thaaaaan, E-tan) Also from Kentucky, Zack's younger brother. We've come to the conclusion that he has several sides to him. 1. The Ethan-Ethan, the one I first became familiar with; very quiet, keeping to himself. 2. The Passagero-Ethan. This term came from us observing him on the way back from Il Passagero, the local pizzeria, about 1 km from us. He is extremely hyper and crazy in this state of mind. 3. The Raymond-Ethan. This is when Raymond and Ethan are together being extremely stupid. Thank goodness, we see the least amount of this.
Raymond- (Pronounced: Rhy-mond!) From Norway. He speaks excellent English and is incredibly obnoxious (he even admits to it). He has black hair, and I have yet to see him with his original hair color, which I guess is blond. Though, he gets annoying at times, we all love him.
Dennis- The oldest of the group, from Denmark. His Italian impeccable. He keeps to himself a lot, but he's a pretty good guy.
Friederike- Well, I can say a lot about this girl, but I'll keep it short. She is from Germany, and speaks incredibly English and Italian (after only having it for two years), makes amazing food and baked goods, draws beautifully, plays the piano really well, and there is so much more to her! The two of us are very similar in many things and I feel like she is my sister. :)

I don't really know what else to say about CC, so if you have any Qs, just go ahead and ask!