I have a lot of emotions to process right now.

I like this land.  A lot.  I haven’t felt such a “vibration” (for lack of a better word) since setting foot in Argentina.  The city of Lecce is adorable and very navigable for a girl without a car.  I’ve been giving tango lessons here and am enjoying developing a relationship with the milonguero school here.  My visit here has been full of all kinds of synchronicities that I just cannot ignore. I’ve made a wonderful friend here and it’s made me miss my girlfriends in Perugia.  I wish I could bring them all together.  I don’t know what I’ll do yet but the wheels are turning.

While I’ve been here I’ve received the very sad news that my wonderful grandmother, Teresa Ferrari, passed away.  She was 89 years old.  She was the matriarch of the family and everybody’s grandmother – everybody’s.  All the kids in her neighborhood called her “Grandma”.  I still remember 8 years ago sitting with my cousin in Perugia, talking about our grandfather’s death, which had happened a few years prior, and saying, “What are we going to do when it’s grandma’s turn?”  We couldn’t bear to think of it anymore.  Her presence has been that powerful in our lives.

She lived until the very last minute.  She was an artist.  She lived her last years in a beautiful condo in West Seattle, and you could see Vashon island from her balcony, which almost symbolized her being able to watch over her children who live there.   She walked everywhere.  She took her fitness class at the senior center.  She was hard to get a hold of because she had quite an impressive social calendar!   Wherever I’ve lived in the world, she has always sent me handmade cards for my birthday, Christmas, and just because.  I still have them all.

This video below was put together by my friend Alessandra Bray, and the song is by a group from this area called Bambini Latini.  The song is called “Rimani Come Sei” (stay the way you are, loosely translated), which is what my grandmother might say to me.  Most of the photographs are of the beautiful Salento and were taken by Silvestro Silvestori, who runs a cooking school in Lecce (more on that later).

I stopped in Rome for a night before I came down here, and it was such a dream.  I went to a milonga organized by some people I met in Buenos Aires, and was pleasantly surprised to find all of those people, plus an Argentine I knew from my regular milonga in Buenos Aires.  Needless to say, I had some heavenly dances and made some wonderful connections.  I took the metro to get to the milonga and walked around the neighborhood where it is located.  It brought me to life.  I realized how much of a city girl I am.  You just can’t take Buenos Aires out of the girl!

Lecce has lifted my spirits.  I have met so many angels here who have gone out of their way to welcome me and make me feel good.  I have made a wonderful tango connection and gave a two-hour lesson to an amazing, sweet couple who lavished me with pastries, coffee, sweet wine and tangos sung by the beautiful voice of Tito Schipa, a tenor from Lecce.  Thanks to them, I have had requests from other dancers here asking for lessons.  It’s turning out to be an eventful week!

Everything seems to be made of the local Leccese stone.  The streets and architecture glow at night with the help of streetlights, and during the day when Lecce is bathed in sunlight it’s like standing in a city of gold.  It’s a really beautiful city.

A new friend brought me to Gallipoli today and it made my heart sing.  That beautiful ancient town on the Ionian Sea tickled my soul just right and made me feel light and refreshed.  It was so cloudy on the way there, but exactly over Gallipoli there was only clear blue sky.  It was a treat to walk along the water without a jacket, smelling the salty air.  We delightfully scooped out the “eggs” from the insides of ricci (sea urchins) with bread while looking at the horizon.  This burst of sun made me feel pretty good.

I’m positively in love with Gallipoli, but another new contact has offered to take me to Otranto.  I can hardly wait.

This has been a great experience for me because I’ve been able to get away and do something I’m good at: traveling.  It’s been a nice reminder that I’m independent.  I have gotten to know new people, I have tasted all kinds of interesting new foods, and I did it myself.

My heart is bursting with love for this area that is new to me, and I hope to keep it in my life.

These past few weeks have been full of serious reflection.  Not just connected to the fact that I’m settling in here in Italy, but also out of a desire to take care of my heart and make sure I’m happy from the inside.

I may not be responsible for how other people act or think or feel, but I AM responsible for my own actions/thoughts/feelings, and for the situations I choose to be in.  In fact, on the train from Florence the other week, it hit me that if I’m the one who is responsible for my happiness (and nobody else is), I can just decide to be happy!  Not that I wasn’t before, because I am a generally happy person.  But it’s a powerful realization.  And so I decided, on that train, to just be happy – consciously.  This has led to further reflection and further examination of my patterns in life.  Approaching these things from a positive viewpoint (as opposed to the common idea that we have to do all these things BEFORE being happy) has been very interesting and productive!  I feel refreshed and excited to move forward in life.  It’s kind of cool how the mind works.

So, I’m topping all of this off with a visit to a city that fascinates me.  I wish I had a better camera, but I’ll do my best with what I’ve got!

As you know, Cherrye and I, along with AffordableCallingCards.net, have been hosting the Blogging from the Boot contest, where the best blog entries of 2009 (written in Italy) are to be selected.

The contest is closed for entries and we now have our finalists!  This is where you come in.  We want you to take a look at their submissions and vote!

Please go to this link to see the finalists, read their entries and vote.

There three finalists for each category, along with links to their respective blogs and posts.

Take your time, read through the posts and click the “VOTE” link below each section to cast your vote for that category.

Thank you!

I bought purple gloves, stood in front of the Duomo eating ice cream, had a great aperitivo with Georgette and friends, and stayed with the lovely Katie.  Saturday I had the first half of the day to myself to walk around the city and I later met up with Katie and Laura, who I’ve been wanting to meet for years, for lunch.  Spending all that time with other girls who are making their dreams come true was really a spirit lifter for me.  It reminded me of what I have accomplished, and it reminded me how nice friendship is.

Florence is beautiful and it was a lovely reunion (I giggled and said to her “You’re so beautiful” more than once during this visit), but I fear that she has some competition from Rome in my heart for #1 major Italian city.  I enjoy knowing that I live a train ride from either city.  And that reminds me: as the train from Florence got into Umbria and closer to Perugia, I felt so at home.  As I embraced my dear tango friends, it became even more apparent to me.  I’m glad and grateful.

I’ve been here over three months now.  Almost four.

My first months here consisted of just getting comfortable, getting reacquainted with the tango here, figuring out where to live, and just being excited in general.

Now that it’s worn off, and in winter no less, I find myself sitting here, half-bored, half-reflecting.

I’m just now able to start processing all of my time spent in Buenos Aires.  I just now feel like I really live here in Italy.  I just now am reaching a point where it’s time to do some serious self-reflecting and understand not only my heart’s desires but also some of my own patterns.  It’s an interesting time right now.  It sounds so sad, doesn’t it?  It’s really not.  It’s just time for me to make some inside adjustments, ponerme las pilas and build my life, now that I’ve settled in here.  Not easy, but very worthwhile.

I’ve been rather nostalgic for Buenos Aires lately.  But, I’m also settling into the groove of Perugia and enjoying my neighborhood.  Once the winter passes I’ll be able to get out more.  Most of the time I’m working inside, huddled by the heater.

I can finally listen to Fresedo again without sobbing, thanks to a wonderful book I read in Italian recently, called ARGENTINA (by Renata Mambelli) about Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires in the 1930s-40s, particularly one woman who goes in search of two sons who left her behind in Italy ten years prior.

It’s situated mostly in the barrios of San Telmo and La Boca (and later, way down south in Ushuaia), and imagining the streets I know so well being walked upon by new immigrants who would make Buenos Aires what it is today, made me appreciate my beloved city in a new way.  I found that I enjoyed listening to Fresedo while reading the book – perfect mood music.

I don’t know if there is an English translation available of the book, but if there is, I recommend that you read it.  It was refreshing not to have to read yet another “my boyfriend dumped me so I suddenly decided to learn tango and run away to Buenos Aires and never leave Palermo Hollywood” novel.  This book doesn’t even mention tango – but it sure made me feel differently about tango and the stories behind the songs.

When the sun is out my hair is curlier and nicer, so I’m in a good mood.

I’m sitting here with an afternoon glass of wine, looking at the castle that sits just across the way, which I can see from my window.  I have this song playing.  It’s all good.

Here’s the castle…

Here are some hills as seen from another window…

That said, I’m craving some city life.  And I miss Florence.  So I think I’ll be heading up there before the month ends.  Maybe next Friday.  Should be fun!

Except in Italy, of course.  And in my family.  ;)

It’s not as simple as just throwing  noodles into boiling water and “tada!”…. no, no, no.  There’s an art to it.

Follow these three steps that are often overlooked, and you’ll have dinner guests swooning over your pasta dishes in no time.

Salt your water. This is very important.  Before you put the pasta into the water, add salt.  Preferably sea salt if you can get your hands on it.  Otherwise use regular salt.  No matter how interesting your sauce or your presentation is, the pasta dish will be pretty bland if you didn’t salt the water first.  Believe me.  It makes a world of difference!

Don’t over-drain.  I’ve seen many people pour the cooked pasta into a colander to drain it, only to shake the colander as much as they can to get every tiny bit of water out.  Really, this is not necessary.  It’s best not to shake at all.  If the pasta remains moist, sauce spreads more easily and the overall effect is delicious.  If you over-drain, the pasta will clump together.  And for heaven’s sake, don’t rinse! The bit of starch that stays on the pasta helps sauces stick.

The whole “al dente” thing. This is actually pretty important.  There is nothing worse than pasta that is too soft.  Overcooking ruins the pasta’s gluten structure and releases too much starch into the water.  Not even the best sauce can make up for this.  On the other hand, pasta cooked perfectly “al dente” holds on to sauce in a really nice way.  My first piece of advice in this regard is to ignore the “cooking time” in the instructions listed on the package of pasta.  Instead, be attentive to your pasta, tasting it every few minutes.  You’ll know when it’s time to drain your pasta when it’s slightly firm (but you can still chew it).  You’ll want to drain the pasta at this point, keeping in mind that pasta keeps cooking for a minute after it has been drained (and also for this reason, you don’t want to over-drain).

Do you have any tips for cooking pasta successfully? If you live in Italy, what seems to be the norm in your region?

This post was written on behalf of AffordableCallingCards.net.

**And by the way…**

Are you an expat with a blog in Italy?  Did you blog while living in Italy in 2009?  If so, check out our Italy expat blog contest, Blogging from the Boot: the Best of 2009!

If you look back at 2009, you’ll see that it was a year in which many expats in Italy – new and veteran – had a lot to say about this beautiful, inspiring and sometimes frustrating, yet always magical and always fascinating country.

With that in mind, Cherrye from My Bella Vita and I, along with AffordableCallingCards.net, have an exciting announcement for you!  I’d like to present…

Blogging from the Boot: The Best of 2009

We are inviting expats with blogs in Italy to submit what they feel is their best writing from 2009.  Here are the details:

The Blogging from the Boot awards were created as a Blog Carnival to highlight the best expat in Italy writing from 2009.

The following categories are open for submissions:

- Mangia! Food and Recipe Posts
In this category, expats in Italy will share their experiences with Italy’s other national pass time-eating!

- That’s Amore: Romance and Love
The Bel Paese is all about love and romance and any post that discusses an expat’s love affair with Italy-or her inhabitants-should be submitted to this category.

- Italianissimo: “Only in Italy” Tales from the Bel Paese
All expats have at least one “Only in Italy” story … whether funny, poignant or educational-submit those posts here.

- Mamma Mia: Parenting Stories
Rearing children in Italy is a topic near and dear to the heart of every expat parent. Posts that focus on this theme should be submitted here.

- Buon Viaggio: Living and Traveling Around the Boot
Many Italy-based expats enjoy sharing stories of their adopted hometowns, destination highlights or tips and tricks from their favorite Italian vacation spots. Any and all travel-based posts should be submitted to this category.

- Paparazzi! Expat Photography
Given the unmatched beauty of the boot, it is no surprise expats in Italy fill the Blogosphere with photos of the Bel Paese. Photo entries should be submitted here.

- Eccomi: Arrivals in 2009
New expats often have a different perspective from those who are settled into their adopted lives. This category is dedicated to expats who moved to Italy in 2009.

Rules and Deadlines:

1. To be eligible, the author must have lived in Italy at some point during 2009.

2. Submitted entries must have been published in 2009.

3. Entries must be received by 5:00 PM-Italy time on Friday, January 29, 2010.

4. There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit.

Click here to submit material.

Judging will take place on January 30-31 and finalists will be announced onAffordableCallingCards.net on February 1.

Winners will receive local Perugian chocolate – straight from the source – and a special banner for their blog.

For more information, email bloggingfromtheboot@gmail.com.