Visits, trips, scandal, and 2 different eruptions

When we last left you in the waning weeks of 2010, Christmas was rapidly approaching, bringing with it the promise of the Perry family (and a hidden Buchanan). Since then, we have endured a surprise engagement, a marathon New Year's party covering 8 time zones, a roadtrip to the garden of Eden, the eruption of Mt. Etna, a coup d'etat in Tunisia, and the dastardly Silvio Berlusconi being investigated for relations with underage prostitutes (comparisons to Bill Clinton have ceased). Its been a hectic year, and we're only 2 weeks in.  

The Perry family swooped in for a magical trip that got off to a great start on the Spanish Steps in Rome. Meredith's sister Amanda accepted Travis' proposal for a lifetime of marital bliss! She spent the remainder of the trip floating in mid-air. Travis, welcome to Circus! (see below)

Jean is apparently thrilled to see me.

We had a splendid Christmas Eve feast, but even a steady supply of homemade egg nog couldn't muster the will for midnight mass. We marked the birth of baby Jesus with a four course meal at the neighborhood trattoria. Although the full menu escapes me, our first encounter with salt-cured venison was much tastier than expected.

The Perrys got the grand tour of Palermo, capped off by an incredible day with the Ienna twins and their suitors taking us to the sanctuary of Saint Rosalia, the beautiful beach of Mondello, the quaint coastal city of Cefalu, and hosting a memorable lunch that made the consumption of food unnecessary for 36 hours.

Jean filled 6 memory cards with pictures.    

Our wolfpack

Perry Kohl Buchanan, LLC

New Year's at our favorite bar/cafe/restaurant/bookstore, Kursal Kalesa, included dinner, an open bar, bottles of champagne, and fireworks (indoors). Ordinarily this would have been a wicked combination that ended with me soaking my burned hand in an champagne's bucket of ice, but we managed to stay awake and injury free. We rang the New Year in for every time zone between Dubai and New York.

Taking advantage of Meredith's week off school, we ventured to Siracusa and Taormina on the eastern coast of Sicily. Braving a car for the first time, we had some tricky moments getting out of the city (a roundabout that serves as a major intersection, freeway on-ramp and off-ramp is terrible civil engineering), but the open road was incredible.

Aside from a few cities that have populations approaching 1 million, the island is remarkably rural.  Siracusa is a very historic city (2700 years old) with a more relaxing atmosphere than Palermo. The streets and traffic were much more muted, but the people had the same generous hospitality. Our only dinner in the city was in a place without a menu.

The view

Taormina was one of the most beautiful places that we have ever been. Sitting in the hills above the ocean in the shadow of Mt. Etna, Taormina has been described as Monte Carlo without the casinos.

Billowing smoke turned into hot lava the following week

 Had we been in Taormina one week later, we would have witnessed Mt. Etna's splendid eruption.  

On our way back home, we ventured to the tiny city of Monreale, whichs overlooks Palermo. The cathedral is almost entirely composed of mosaics, which the pictures don't quite capture.

The trip left us with a renewed appreciation of Sicily's natural and man-made beauty, as well as an appetite for more exploration.

Meanwhile, one of our anticipated journey to Tunisia has been put on the back burner indefinitely.  

The convergence of economic recession, demographics, authoritarian rule, Wiki-Leaks, and the internet led to a relatively peaceful coup d'etat last week. The compromise that citizens made between a repressive police state and economic progress ground to a halt.

One of the most surprising aspects of the uprising is how much the country's strong system of education had to do with it. Tunisia did a great job of educating the populace, but rumblings of revolution began when there were no jobs for college graduates. Instead of radical Islam, the efforts to topple the government were led by secular intellectuals, lawyers, and trade unionists. While the military maintains order, the region is pretty much holding its breath until elections can be held in 6 months.

On the bright side, I am assuming that we can find a free flight.

And finally... Italy's embattled Prime Minister is being investigated for sexual relations with Ruby the Heart Stealer, who happened to be 17 at the time of the purported bunga bunga session. His only response thus far has been to accuse the judge prosecuting the case of being jealous that she was never invited to such a party.

That pretty much speaks for itself, so I won't say anything more.

Riots, Weapons, and Romance

That's a gun.

The student protests continue as tweens make a concerted effort to use Facebook as a means of organizing ditch days under the guise of revolution. Trains stations and major roadways have been blocked all over the country by students clamoring for the government to... we're still not exactly sure what they want. With no major train stations or roadways to speak of, Palermo's students sat on to the runway of the airport. It is already notorious for its terrain-induced bumpy landings without a group of smoking teens burning the minister of education in effigy.  

In other political news, Slick Silvio Berlusconi survived a vote of confidence last week by 3 votes (314-311), ensuring that he can continue to cavort and gallivant with underage women without losing power. Bill Clinton is expected to apply for Italian citizenship in the near future.

WikiLeaks revealed a bromance between Berlusconi and Vladimir Putin (they often exchange lavish gifts and energy contracts), which left Bush II feeling slighted after "getting a sense of Putin's soul" when he gazed into his eyes over vodka and caviar.  

Palermo celebrated the Feast of San Lucia last Monday, in which the entire city only eats arancini (deep fried risotto, butter, cheese, and proscuitto) for an entire day. I am trying to think of an American equivalent for this holiday, but I think we would have to celebrate President Taft's birthday (September 15) by only eating award winning fair food, which would leave us with a menu of fried butter, fried Oreos, fried cookie dough, fried, bacon, and sausage stuffed zucchini corn dogs.  We should avoid bathtubs on this day.  

While trolling the apartment's various nooks and crannies, we discovered a slightly depleted box of 12-gauge shot gun shells in the back of a closet. We are uncertain of how to square this archaeological find with the purported grandmother that occupied the premises for the 75 years prior to our arrival, so we're sticking with the image of her eradicating the neighborhood pigeon population from her perch on the balcony. With a cigarette and a moo moo, of course.  

The holidays are alive and well in our apartment after Blake and I dragged an 8-foot Douglas Fur across 3 lanes of traffic and 6 blocks before stuffing it into an elevator for the last stretch. 

  

We're looking forward to imminent landing of the Perry family in Rome(!), as well as scattered showers Christmas morning with temperatures in the mid-60s.

In describing to one of the Jesuit priests how excited she was for her family to arrive, Meredith invoked a version of excitement traditionally reserved for the bedroom rather than the type of excitement associated with one's enthusiasm.  Merry Christmas Padre Alesandro!

Holiday pictures and stories to follow before the New Year. Have an incredible holiday season, we love and miss everyone that reads this!

Cefalu

A fortunate break in the weather and the incredible generosity of our friend Davide allowed for a day trip to the seaside village of Cefalu last weekend. We expected a cool ocean breeze but were pleasantly surprised to find that we had overdressed by about 3 layers. Other than the triathlon's 7 participants, the streets were quite stoic.

Cefalu's Cathedral, established in 1131

Nuns entering a bar closed for the Sabbath. 

Claims have been made that I am wearing a shade of purple.  Please refudiate. 

Yes, we should absolutely keep going.

Following our expedition, we were treated to a feast with the most incredible view that we are likely to enjoy in the course of a meal. Davide's family has a quaint home in the country overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Davide also took us on a tour of some of Palermo's most beautiful churches. The images certainly don't do justice to the ornate intricacy of the structures, but they offer an impression of the art and architecture's magnificence.

Digressions

Currency Manipulation: There have been many efforts to eliminate the penny in the US, but the people of Illinois, seeking the preserve our familiarity with the likeness of Abe Lincoln, somehow prevail whenever the retirement of the penny is considered.  I cannot think of anything more useless than a 1 cent piece. Luckily, the European Union thought of both the 1 cent piece AND the 2 cent piece, so the penny doesn't look so bad, relatively.  

The coins were initially introduced into circulation to prevent retailers from using the transition to the Euro to dramatically round-up prices. One side of the coins shares a common design depicting an image of EU states and 12 stars, representing the 12 states that initially adopted the Euro. The other side of the coins varies between nations, each choosing its own design. Italy put its design options to an American Idol style vote that had callers vote during a television broadcast. Finland and the Netherlands, perpetuating their brilliance, round to the nearest 5 cents and put the money saved from not printing 1 and 2 cent pieces into a PR campaign advertising their perfection in all things.  

Riding Dirty: We have been too slow with our shutter speed to capture some impressive feats accomplished on scooters (women riding side saddle, families of 4 scooter-pooling to school, and grandma straddling the seat adorned in her Sunday bests and orthopedic shoes), but by far the most impressive act came from a gentleman transporting a Christmas tree on the rear of his Vespa.

Revolution: There have been several days of protests that have prevented Meredith from teaching because the students occupy the school, choose not to come to class, or barricade the entrance. Although the expressed reason for their dissent is a cut in education funding, I imagine their outrage being greatly influenced by the prospect of a day off school.  

New guy: Meet Ivy's boyfriend Blake. He is a writer that fancies bourbon, disagreement, and David Mamet, especially in conjunction with one another.

Blake is a new face that usually looks more pleasant.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our first club experience since the hazy nights of Las Vegas was memorable for what didn't happen: I was not the guy dancing on the table, we didn't end up at In-N-Out, and Lil' Jon was nowhere to be heard on the DJ's playlist (WHAT? OK! LET'S GO NOW! Whooo). On the plus side, I realized that my previous desire to button the top three buttons of a shirt was unwarranted, Melissa Ethridge has a surprising second life in European house music, and bottle service universally equates to a good time.  

We've been quite busy handing over our civil liberties to the local authorities. Legally getting settled has required birth certificates, financial records, fingerprints, and stem cell contributions. Eat, Pray, Love made no mention of such sacrifices. However, in the course of our roommate surrendering her privacy she was served homemade sweets by the Italian postal service, so I guess it all evens out. The USPS should double the price of postage as a means of stimulating post office morale via baked goods for customers with the added benefit of eradicating junk mail.

Elsewhere on the food racketeering front, Tuesday was Free Cannoli Day at the gym. Seriously. Despite our confusion (Seriously?), protests (No!), and pleas (We come to the gym to cope with the bodily impact of your pastries), it was impossible for us to leave without two cannolis rivaling the size of the Subway sandwiches that made Jared so skinny. It was like an AA meeting serving Manhattans (up) instead of coffee. Rush Limbaugh, an ardent supporter of the Twinkie-diet, would have been impressed.

Though I was without my camera, the scene was oddly similar to this image:

“Thanks for working out with us this afternoon! Now eat this, feel guilty, and come back in an hour.”

After sampling liberally seasoned cow intestines (stigghioli), we are one step closer to the fried spleen sandwich (panne con la milza). The texture was on par chewing gum with the flavor profile of blackened steak. Though we won't be attempting to reproduce the dish at home, our Sicilian street cred got a boost.  In the course of doing so, we witnessed the smartest street performance that we have seen thus far: a mobile DJ.  He had a bike with a rickshaw-like attachment that housed his laptop and speakers.  On a street crowded with outdoor restaurants, all he had to do was blow his whistle to announce that the party was about to begin.  Then he'd wander through the tables dancing with his hat in hand for donations.  

Cow intestines consumed to the right

Speaking of food, there has been some speculation as to our Thanksgiving plans. Oddly enough, the Italians are not celebrating this most American of holidays, so our celebration will be delayed until Friday. After pondering the potential of a Thanksgiving pizza (inspired by the “Bobby” from Capriotti's in Las Vegas: Ciabatta crust topped with cranberry sauce, stuffing, and roasted turkey) we settled on the following cross-cultural feast:

Butternut squash lasagna

Ciabatta stuffing with Italian sausage, chestnuts, and pancetta

Chestnut gnocchi

Roasted, potentially mashed, potatoes

Lemon turkey tenderloins

Poached pears in honey, ginger, cinnamon syrup, and brandy (thanks, Martin!)

Cranberry sauce with a hint of Campari

Have a wonderful time shaking your head at the tragedy of the Detroit Lions, stimulating the dollar on Black Friday, and taking a tryptophan induced nap. We are especially missing home today, but we are incredibly thankful for the love of our family and friends.

Teatro Massimo