Japanese Dinner Night

There was actually too much and too good.

This is the next night's leftovers.   I made risotto with curry and shrimp so it was combination Italian Japanese night.

Erin and her friend Yuko made sushi and other good stuff.

Pasta

Julia making pasta.

The beach at Eraclea in March

It was great weather for this time of year, and it was so quiet.

Animal Tracks

Giovanni is into tracking the wild animals that go through the yard.
I think they are mostly cats.

Homemade Tagliatelle

Giovanni discovered the pasta machine and insisted on trying it. So
we actually made egg noodles by hand. It kind of spoils you to the
dry stuff -- but.

What we have been eating lately

Rissoto with Dolomiti cheese

White raddish with orange slices

Pasta with cream sauce and peas.

Thai  chicken soup, and broschetta

Swiss style potatoes, the kids didn't like the vinegar taste.

Pizzaiola Steak

Home made pizza, we made four individual pizzas and everybody made put their own toppings.  We use our bread maker to make the dough.

We've been having some fun cooking a variety of things lately. Here
is a sample from the last week.

My two scouts.

Where we live

Yesterday Giovanni and I cleaned the leaves from the path down to the
back gate and the patios in the woods so I thought to take a few
pictures of the property in winter. It has been dry and cold here now
for weeks, not a fun winter.

Bomb Shelter

The entrance to the bomb shelter is hidden in a forest below the street..  I was told about the shelter by Luisa's family but no one remembed where the entrance was so it took some searching to find it..  The entrance itself takes two turns before entering the main shelter.  There are no air shafts so I assume ventilation was enough flowing through two entrances, which are at each end of the shelter.  The shelter itself is really just a long tunnel with an arched ceiling.  Outside our property slopes down steeply to a flat area which seems about the length of the tunnel  which is maybe ten meters below..  It would be interesting to know how they actually built it.

It is forbidden to stay in the corridor or bring in bikes or animals.  The thing hanging down is a light fixture from the ceiling.

Obviously the first aide room.

No smoking.

Silence

Stay calm, good advice.

A change in height and typical area.

Toilet facilites, wash basin in the middle.  The famous hole in the floor toilets on each side.

According to Luisa's mom who was around here during the war and also played here later on, these racks were used by mushroom growers after the war.

That's or explorer Giovanni.  He came prepared for everything.

At the edge of our property and partially under it there is a World
War II bomb shelter. Some time ago I found the entrance and have been
wanting to go in and take some pictures. So finally today Giovanni
and I went in; it was a bit of an adventure.  It's totally dark inside so the pictures are all lit by the camera flash. 

Gnocchi Con La Ricotta Fresca

Gnocchi made with fresh ricotta, this is from the Cucina Bellunese cookbook.  It's so good and so easy to make I feel obligated to share it.  You need:

500 grams of fresh ricotta
150 g of flour
2 eggs
12 sage leaves
100 g butter
50 g grana padano, (parmigiana cheese)
salt

Combine/mix well the ricotta, flour, eggs and a bit of salt, then let it rest in the fridge for half an hour

Boil some water make large gnocchi using two table spoons and drop them into the water, when they rise up they are done.

Put the butter and sage leaves in a frying pan and cook tell the butter starts to turn brown.  Take out the leaves and pour the butter over the gnocchi.  Serve with lots of fresh grana grated over the top.  You can also put the sage leaves on the plates and season with more salt and some pepper if you like.  It's also good if you don't have the sage, just do the butter.

Next time I make it I'll take a picture.

Camper Parking

We park in places like this often as they are free. This is in
Bresannone which is near Bolzano. I like the sign at the entrance
which says campers only cars will be towed away. These parking areas
don't look so inviting, but they are not a destination, just a place
to park with a close walk into town. The thing is that sometimes the
camper is kind of like being in an apartment attached to others, you
have your own little environment mostly inside and especially in the
Winter. From here we had a short walk into the nice little town all
decorated with Christmas lights and the little temporay huts for the
Christmas market which was still going on.

Photovoltaic on the Camper

The panel 230 watts was too big put anywhere but up front.. 

The solar control unit that is compatible with the original electrical control box.  It all fits under the passenger seat. 

No exposed wires

The tempered glass on one of the panels on our photovoltaic plant got
shattered. So it had to be replaced but it still woks just fine. I
painted over the glass with two coats of liquid plastic which sort of
glued all the glass pieces togerther and put a protective layer over
it all. Then I installed it on the roof of our camper. It was a fun
project requiring some new skills and a lot of thinking to decide
where to put the wires, how to attach it to the roof and so on. It
will make us much more self sufficient on our next long trip.