an amaaaaaazing vicenza visit!

Vicenza is between Trento and Venice - well illustrated in this map of Northern Italy (there are so many places to GO!)

It's been an entire week since I've blogged - gasp! Hendrik and I made the not-so-long trip down to Vicenza to visit Steve's cousin (or second cousin or first cousin once removed or some such thing) for a few days, and we had an awesome time. Everything about our four day trip was fabulous: the company, the food, the weather, the drive, the scenery.... it was alllll good! Let's see if I can do a quick re-cap of our time there... We packed up here on Monday morning and left just in time for a morning car-snooze, and Hendrik (sleeping) missed all of the cute little mountain towns we drove through. Thanks to the GPS we borrowed from the Stokrs, we found our way to Gretchen and John's place in Bolzano Vicentino senza problemi, and with the exception of a trip to the local park, spent the afternoon relaxing at the apartment. On Tuesday we went to post, which, in military lingo, is the American military base where John is stationed. I've never been on post before, and I have to say that I was quite curious. There were gates and passport control for me, and with my day pass (and Gretchen at my side) I was free (right?) to roam around. Activities on post included a trip to the second-hand store (where I bought bowls and toys, $9), shopping (diapers, groceries), a trip to the doc for the pregnant woman, a trip to the gym for me (I helped at the high school vb practice) and hm... was that it? The shopping was great - I stocked up on a few things that you can't find in the Italian grocery stores, because the grocery store there was just as any grocery store would be in the US of A - full of American products, and that includes the cereal, the milk, the juice, the cake mixes, the snacks, the chips, the frozen stuff, the Halloween candy, the salad dressing. Yes, these things are all very mundane and normal, but it was a bit of a novelty for me to see, say, Duncan Hines cake mix and cartons of milk and four-litre jugs of Tropicana on the shelves at the supermarket, since none of these things are the norm in a European grocer. What did I buy? Cereal, oatmeal (expensive in the Italian grocery-mart), chocolate chips, quinoa, vanilla, ketchup, salsa, graham cracker crumbs (nanaimo bars!!!), maple syrup, peanut butter, bacon... hm, was that it? Some of these things are easily found elsewhere, but are much more expensive (cereal, maple syrup, oatmeal), and other things are not so easy to find, like vanilla (they sell it in powdered form which is just weird to me) and graham cracker crumbs. So yeah! That part of the trip was great. The trip to the gym was not quite as successful, and let me tell you why. Gretchen had been in touch with the head coach, and he'd asked me to run practice - sure! Of course. I showed up with a rough practice plan but so did the assistant coach, and with the head coach sick at home, I didn't argue with her typed-out plan; clearly, she'd missed the memo that I was going to run practice which of course wasn't that big of a deal BUT... ouf. When I asked her what the plan was for the day, she pretty much said that they needed to work on everything AS she yelled at them to do um oh uh 20 sprints of the basketball court. After came physical conditioning which was not a total waste of time, but seeing as how the younger girls have never had any on-court volleyball practice time because the senior team has priority, it was not the best use of the gym time, especially for them. Anyways, I could ramble on about this but really, it's hard to see a practice run poorly - more talking (from the coach) than playing, poorly thought-out drills, low intensity... I hope that I can go back and help them out for a few days some time soon. I do miss being in the gym, and hope too, that I can get involved somewhere around here.

with Gretchen at Monte Berico - lovely!

the main piazza, a perfect spot for some gelato... right? YUM!

spritz, yes please!

On Wednesday we went for a drive, and Gretchen took us into Vicenza to show us her favourite spots. The view from Monte Berico was gorgeous, and the gelato we enjoyed in Piazza dei Signori divine. After a successful trip to Zara (for the both of us, yay!) we sat and sipped spritzers, and people-watched a few hours away - amazing, right? On our way back to the car I found a cheese grater (a kitchen essential, likely the 8th cheese grater we've bought in the last 10 years) and a little gift for Hendrik - a rainbow flower wind spinner (at this fabulous store) that I know he'll love... well, he did love it for the 10 minutes that it was dangled up above him in the stroller. So yes, Wednesday was amazing! We went out for dinner and Hendrik packed away a banana and a whole bunch of pasta before stuffing his mouth full of bread as we were about to leave the table - as if I wasn't going to feed him again for weeks and weeks and weeks - !! The little piglet. Hmph, I wonder where he gets that from.

And Thursday was simple - we went for a morning stroll to the playground, and doubled it up with a sidebar trip to the market where I bought a green orange, that well, tastes like a mandarin orange. Hendrik loved his time on the swings with me, and the slide was another favourite. And there you have it, a - what did I say? - quick recap of our time there... right, quick. So now, with the 10:00 bed time goal looming, I still need to clean up the kitchen and shower BUT I'll leave you with this piece of hot news just in: Steve's team just won the Club World Championships! WOOOOT! And he comes home tomorrow - yay! YAY! So exciting!

Hendrik in his makeshift feeding chair - it worked!

one of many delicious meals :)

blog by numbers

I have five bazillion ideas roaming around upstairs, and not so many zzzzzs under my sleep-belt, so this blog is going to be in bullets... voila.

1. Last night I made the easiest dinner ever, and I'm going to share - because don't we all (always) need fast meal ideas? And new ones? Sometimes my go-to dishes seem to disappear, which leaves me wondering... what do we eat? Okay, aaaanyways, I made this while Hendrik was in his high chair eating supper after I'd done the dishes and cleaned up - literally, from start to finish, this meal took about 7 minutes. SO - beef stir fry: chop up some beef, cook in olive oil and soy sauce, dump a bag of frozen veggies on there and when done (5 minutes) set atop a bed (!) of cooked rice noodles. Oh, and top with cashews or peanuts... yummy, healthy, easy, fast, etc.... a meal of choice for me.


2.A few days ago we moved upstairs, and we're already back on the main floor. Why? We didn't have good sleeps (new noises, it was hot, there were a few mosquitos, I thought mice were going to crawl in the window - irrational), we have to walk around all stoopy up there, Steve hit his head, ummm and hm. Maybe there were other reasons - oh, that Steve left for Qatar today and it's really just easier to have Hendrik with me on the main floor where - hopefully - good sleeps still remain.

3. An older couple that live just down the street - Fabio and Guiliana maybe? - gave us a huge bag of fresh fresh fresh greens, and the smells have been wafting around the kitchen all day and it makes me want to eat salad and make a roast, and I never want to make a roast. I mean, I don't reallllly want to roast a big chunk of meat, but the herbs smell soooooo good that I have to do something with them. Hm, maybe tomorrow.

4. Not far from our place and up atop a big hill is Doss Trento, a park dedicated (or so it seems) to Italy's Alpine Troops and to Cesare Battisti, an Italian hero who fought for equal rights for Italian minorities when the area was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. There is molto information on the Wiki site of Doss Trento - lots of food for thought, if you're interested. It's quite the climb, and has become a regular workout/walk - from our place it's oooh I'd say a good two hour trip if you visit the Museum of Alpine Troops and wander the grounds, and if it's just the walk you're interested in, it's more of a 60 minute deal.

"Per gli Alpini non esiste l'impossible" - capisci?

at the bottom...

climb climb up up up

even a tunnel!

beautiful views of the valley north

5. Last week Hendrik and I joined a few other wives and their little gaffers - and we all made for Caldonazzo, and spent the morning on the beach, in front of this lovely mountain lake:

October! I'll take it. All three of the boys (both are older than Hendrik) ended up in the water, and spent some time sunbathing in their birthday suits before the moms doused them with clothing. Hendrik shared his Cheerios and watched with wonder as the two older boys (14 months and just over 2 years) threw pebbles and played with rocks down at the water. He was a happy little guy, and even kept his hat on for me - amazing.

6. Hendrik updates: He is loving getting into the kitchen cupboards, and LOVED the fort I made him on the balcony yesterday. (I have to say that I loved it too - forts are the best!) Over the past few days he's been signing for milk on a regular basis which is soooo amazing and so wonderful to see him communicating BUT... he signed for milk alllll day today which was a little less amazing for me, but whatever. He is pointing at things ALL THE TIME, is saying broom ("boom"), clock, and mama and dada, and loves going out to see the birds and the chickens; he still makes his adorable scrunchy face when he sees or hears dogs barking, and he loves loves loves his books. Current favourites are Where's Spot and hm, Moo Ba La La La and The Hippos Go Berserk and the Hungry Caterpillar and oh eesh there are quite a few. I'm sure there are other noteworthy updates but I can't think of any more at present.



7. Steve is in Qatar at the Club World Championships for nine days - site here. Hendrik and I won't be all alone for the entire time, though I'm not sure what we'll do on Thanksgiving - leftovers for two? Perhaps. We'll head down to Vicenza to visit Gretchen on Monday, and I'm super excited... we'll have fun there for sure, yay. Aaaaand that's all folks! It's bed time for this maman.... :)

a house tour, finally!

So, for some reason I can't get my videos to load (argh - BUT since I wrote this yesterday and just tried to load vids in Safari, the video tour is on!), so it will have to be just pictures for now for the house tour (finally!). You've seen the gardens, and yes, they are still just as nice in October since it was oh about 27 degrees today. Apparently it hasn't been this hot here at this time of the year for 150 years - eek! I'm not complaining. Well, actually I was; Steve had to go to the Police Station this afternoon (to get his Permesso di Sogiorno) so I decided to tag along and walk down to the big big grocery store and get a few things, like vegetables (the ones that aren't growing it the garden) BUT not only was the store closed, there were smokers everywhere and, like I said, it was almost 30 degrees out. All of this added up to me - hot, sweaty, grumpy - complaining - so I lied... I did complain about the weather (and the smokers and the fact that the store doesn't open on Monday until 2:30) and I really shouldn't have. Anyways! Here's the house tour:

lots of room for visitors, as you can see... reservations accepted starting now!

And I made banana + chocolate zucchini bread in my first attempt at baking in our lovely kitchen, with nary a measuring cup or spoon, and it all turned out... yum yum. And since this blog has been in the works for two weeks, I'll just get on with it and get it posted, and let Manu Chao get me a few steps closer to dinner....

Riva del Garda

After two successful league games (more info here) Team Trentino had a day off! And so the Brinkman family headed for Riva del Garda, a small-ish town at the north end of Lake Garda. We took the scenic route there, a different scenic route back, and have a list of at least three towns with perched castles to return to (Drena, Arco and maybe Balbido?). We're still amazed by the beauty of this place, with small mountain towns, villages, and lakes abounding.


View Trento to Riva Del Garda in a larger map









Aaaaaand it was about two or three or four hairpin curves after this amazing mountain view that Hendrik lost his lunch - p-uke. He had been a bit fussy, and we weren't sure if he was tired or hungry or thirsty, but then he settled down a bit and wore a blank look for a few minutes and then up it came; thankfully, we were at the bottom of the hill and just entering a town. Within minutes I'd pulled in to a parking spot and had him out of his seat and out of his clothes. Poor little muffin! And ouf, am I ever glad that I had an extra change of clothes in my bag, otherwise, it would have been naked time in wet car seat for Hendrik... yuck. And that reminds me - in the most concrete and sure way there is - to always always always have an extra change of clothes. Always. Anyways, it's not like it got all over the car or all over either of us, and he wasn't fussy after - it was a puke and let's get on with it kind of thing, SO all in all, it wasn't that bad for any of us (perhaps I speak for myself here). We took a driving break and hit the grocery store for some for-dinner goods, and then were back on the road with a sleeping babe thirty minutes later. Bath time when we got home was fun and splashy (and necessary), and even more fun was washing out the smelly clothes and the smelly car seat. This is life as a parent, no? The barfs will get a whole lot more barfy I'm sure. This reminds me of the famous three-seater chuck by Karin was it? Or no, I think it was Sarah (when we were little) WHO had been eating cheesies in the back back seat of the Suburban. There was snow outside and we were on the Coquihalla and Dad had to pull over in the cold and ewww yuck there was puke everywhere ("waaaaa eww gross it's in my hair!" etc etc). Anyways, yes, we'll have to deal with puke (and more) again.

Onwards! Steve left this afternoon for another away game, and then they're home for four days before the team leaves for the Club World Championships in Doha, Qatar next Thursday. Ouf.... they'll be gone for 10 days, and Hendrik and I will likely go down to visit Steve's second cousin (or first cousin once removed or yadda yadda) next Monday; she lives in Vicenza with her husband, who works on the military base there. So! That should be fun. And hmmm... I ripped through The Book of Negroes, wondering the entire time (or, er, the entire second half) if Aminata would ever be reunited with May. Next up is.. hm, I'm don't even remember what other books I brought with BUT I do have my Kindle, so can hit up Amazon for whatever I please. Unfortunately I can't borrow books with my e-reader - boo. What I can do, is go outside and sit in the summer sun since it's October and at least 25 degrees. Take that Gatineau!