Tuscany

The highlight of the trip for Oliver was BY FAR the train trip from Rome to Florence. He is obsessed with trains, buses and pigeons, so, needless to say, the train station was little boy nirvana. The fact that we actually got to ride on the train, and then that the train went through tunnels... well, it just doesn't get much better than that. Everybody on the train was laughing because he was so excited.

Dad met us at the train station in Florence and we stashed our luggage in the car and took off on foot to explore the city. It was very cold and sort of sputtering rain, so it wasn't that terrific a sight-seeing expedition. We visited the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio but then took shelter at a coffee house and had panforte and hot chocolate that was so rich it was like warm pudding.

We had dinner in Florence and then drove out to the villa in the Florentine Hills, near a tiny town called Magnavilla. The drive was pretty exciting in the dark since the roads are very narrow and winding. The villa was an old farmhouse or hunting lodge from the 15th century. It was surrounded by olive groves and had the most gorgeous views of the countryside and the city in the distance. It was quite cold, though, so Oliver slept with us each night under our down comforter. Oliver is midnight party animal. Ryan and I would be exhausted and Oliver just wanted to play. The sleeping arrangements made for some pretty fitful nights for me and Ryan.

Day 5 After breakfast we drove to San Gimignano, a totally picturesque city with many of its medieval towers remaining. We had a terrific lunch at a Italian charcuterie (I forget what the word is in Italian). They didn't have pasta or pizza, which was actually a nice change. I had ribolitta, a tuscan soup with bread, white beans and kale, it was delicious. Oliver enjoyed chasing the pigeons in the square. In the afternoon we drove on to Sienna, where we walked through the old city streets and saw the Campo where they have mad, anything-goes horse races in the summer. We decided after our huge lunch that we would just make a simple dinner at home.

But...along the way home, Dad brings up this Michelin 2-star restaurant that he knows is in the vicinity of our villa...or at least he thinks it is...the thing is, he doesn't remember the name of the restaurant, or the town that it is in, but hey, it's a 2-star restaurant, we can find it, right!? (The Michelin guide rating system only goes to 3, and it is extremely difficult to get even one star. In the entire USA there are only five 3-star restaurants.) Anyway, we end up driving all over creation looking for this restaurant. We finally find La Tenda Rossa at about 10:00 pm. The plan was that we would try to make reservations for the next night but we all decided that since we were there, we might as well eat tonight than come back again the next day. I was mortified because we were all in jeans and fleece, not exactly fancy-restaurant attire. But the staff was so gracious and totally made us feel welcome and at ease even though we looked like rif-raf. They brought out a throne (no joke) for Oliver and when he had had quite enough of sitting still at dinner they took him back to the kitchen where he was ohhed and ahhed over by the women in the kitchen. Apparently blonde haired, blue-eyed babies make Italian grandmas swoon. Anyway, we had a absolutely exquisite meal. And, in a Halverson family first, Ryan ate something that I wouldn't touch. He thinks I'll eat anything but when they brought out an "amuse bouche" appetizer of tripe (intestine??) I balked.

Day 6 - It was raining and cold but after a hearty breakfast we headed out to see Lucca and Pisa. We made it to Lucca just in time for the whole city to close up for lunch/siesta. It was pouring, so it was pretty much a bust. We huddled under our umbrellas and did some sightseeing but the collective mood was pretty dreary. We decided to punt Pisa and headed home for a nice dinner prepared by Abby. We had tuscan bean soup, fresh peas, pasta with pesto and cherry tomatoes and blueberry tarts for dessert.

Day 7 We flew down to Puglia in the afternoon to meet up with the greater Ford/Knapp clan who had gathered from the far reaches of the globe (New Haven, CT; Port Washington, NY; San Francisco, CA; London; Paris; Stockholm; Bangkok).

Puglia

We arrived by plane in Brindisi which is directly across the Adriatic from Albania. It is, we heard, a jumping off point for ferries and cruises for Greece and the Balkans. The Ford/Knapp clan was reuniting at a "masseria" or fortified farmhouse at the very tip of the heel of the boot of Italy, so we had to drive about 100km South from Brindisi. Apparently, through history that area was constantly being invaded by pillaging Saracens, Normans, and Greeks so they enclosed their farmhouses and courtyards with meter-thick limestone walls.

Day 7- Many of the Ford/Knapp relatives decided to drive up to Lecce for the day. We had stopped off in Lecce for dinner on our drive down to the masseria the night before so we decided to explore the tip of the heel. We drove over to the Adriatic coast where the waves crashed against the white limestone cliffs and had lunch at a little seaside restaurant. We followed the coast road down to the very tip, to Capo Santa Maria di Leuca where there is a lighthouse and the church of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae ("St Mary of the Ends of the Earth"). From that spot you can see the sun rise over the Ionian Sea and set over the Adriatic. We continued along the coast road on the western side (Ionian) of the heel to Gallipoli (Italy, not Greece).

The highlight of the drive was when Dad decided that he wanted to take a dip. No suit? No towel? No problem! He swam in his boxers and "drip dried" in the front seat of the car. No one else was brave/crazy enough to go swimming, but to put this in context, we passed surfers and every single one of them was in a full wetsuit...it was not warm water!

We returned to the masseria for a special dinner planned by the owner of the masseria, Luciana. Her parents came, too. We were amazed by their flawless accents until we discovered that her mom is from Kansas City! Luciana invited some friends who play traditional Pugliese music. The dinner started at 8:00 and was still doing strong when we took Oliver to bed at midnight. The food was delicious, much of it grown right there at the masseria. My favorite was this sausage and cabbage dish, which is surprising because I'm not a huge fan of cabbage normally, but this was something else.

The dinner was definitely the highlight of our trip to Puglia. It was so much fun to reconnect with cousins and aunts and uncles. I know my dad had a really great time talking and joking with his brother Trow, especially. Trow lives in Sweden, so they don't see each other that often, but it was so nice to see them laughing and telling old stories.

Day 8- We spent more time with the family, including another very long, very filling Pugliese meal (whew! I thought I would never be hungry again!) and then that evening we said our good-byes and flew back to Rome. The following morning we flew back to the States. Oliver did very well on all legs of the trip, but we were all very happy to be home. Ollie is such a trooper. I know we are really blessed to have such an easy, mellow, adaptable baby.

Halloween

Yesterday we had a Halloween extravaganza. First was Ryan's company's party. Genworth is really family-friendly down here in NC, and they do all kinds of fun kids parties. At this event hey had Goodberry's (local ice cream) and each department entered a pumpkin into a contest that the kids voted on (Ryan tried to swing Oliver's vote but he cast his ballot for Inside Sales, not HR!), and then there was trick-or-treating. Oliver was pretty overwhelmed by all the people and was quite shy. He was much more interested in pushing his Thomas train than meeting Ryan's colleagues and their kiddos!

Then we headed back to our neighborhood for a party hosted by my friend Autumn. They had lots of yummy treats and a cool "haunted fort" for the kids to play in (basically a huge cardboard box with doors and windows cut out of it and decorated for Halloween). Then we had to rush back to our house for trick-or-treating.

Oliver was a little skeptical about this whole trick or treating thing at first. His buddy Ian (Tigger in these pictures) came over to trick or treat with us. Ian is a year older than Ollie so can actually say (when prompted) "trick or treat," Oliver on the other hand can only say "tee tee" which is his word for "thank you." But what Oliver CAN do, and did with relish, is knock on doors (so cute, he basically hits the door with the back of his hand), grab handfuls of candy from a bowl and drop them one by one into the plastic pumpkin, and then run to the next house.

The boys got waylaid at one point because we passed a construction zone and there was a bobcat moving gravel from one pile to another. It was getting dark so the bobcat had it's lights on (and was zooming around alarmingly fast!!) Both Oliver and Ian were transfixed...that was probably the highlight of the night for them! They also were somewhat distracted by the ever-delightful game of dropping small rocks through the holes in man-hole covers.

Ryan and I carved pumpkins on Tuesday night. Mine is the somewhat generic lopsided smile, Ryan's is...San Gimignano, Italy! Notice the medieval towers! (We just got back from Italy on Sunday so we both still have Italy on the brain...I'll post pictures, etc, soon.) Oliver also decorated a baby pumpkin with markers, but I'm not sure you can see his masterpiece in this picture.

What CAN'T Be Fried?

Today Ryan, Oliver and I went down to the State Fair. It's pretty clear that the reason most people go to State Fair is for the food, "fried whatever" is definitely the main attraction. The rides, the 4-H competitions, even the demolition derbies and tractor pulls play second fiddle to fried dough, fried Twinkies, fried Oreos, fried cheeseburgers, even fried Coca-Cola (now, I thought I had seen everything!)

We loved this picture of the American flag waving above the fried food concession stand. In case you think I'm being a snob, when it comes down to it, we love fair food too.

Here's what we ate:

• lemonade shake-ups
• 1 corn dog
• BBQ chicken (me)
• BBQ ribs (Ryan)
• onion rings
• roasted corn on the cob
• more lemonade
• soy milk (Oliver apparently doesn't yet have a taste for fair food)

Here's what we didn't eat (but sort of wish we did)

• kettle corn (strangely in short supply here)
• NC State University Creamery ice cream (line way too long)
• italian or polish sausage (smells SO good...but sort of scary, too)
• funnel cakes (because we'll have to wait a whole year for our next opportunity)

So, we also checked out all the livestock (love those little lambs and piglets) and the vegetable and baked goods competitions. Next year I am TOTALLY entering something!! I know I could get at least an "Honorable Mention" in the muffins or refigerator cookie categories, but I'm not going for "Honorable Mention", it's the blue ribbon or bust, baby!

In other news... as I was writing this Oliver used the potty for the first time. Ryan had just given him a bath and he walked up to his little potty and sat down and peed...we are thrilled, he is clearly a genius.

Here we are in front of some seriously huge pumpkins. The winning pumpkin was more than 1100 pounds.



Although we had fun at State Fair, it just wasn't as much fun as last year in Virginia. We had such an awesome time with some of our good Richmond Branch friends, so I wanted to post some of those old pictures here too. We went to the lawnmower races, which were awesome and we DID try deep fried Oreos (somehow not as good as plain old Oreos).

Lawn mower racing is truly a sport for the 21st Century
Mike and Sally Russell, Rachel and Dave Cordon, Megan and Tyler Williams
They had strange consessions too...how do they get spaghetti on a stick??

San Francisco Days, San Francisco Nights

We three packed up our bags and headed west last week for a week-long sojourn in California. The impetus for the trip was my dear friend Desi's wedding in Healdsburg, but we decided to extend our trip so we could see friends/family/San Francisco. Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

• meeting our newest cousin/nephew, Taylor and Lisa's adorable two-week-old son, David


• eating clam chowder out of a sourdough bread bowl with Doug and Katrina Spencer at Fisherman's Wharf, introducing Ollie to the resident sea lions


• climbing to the top of Russian Hill with Emily Williams, and getting the insider's tour of SF


• falling in love with the "gourmet ghetto" in Berkeley; we are so jealous that Katrina and Doug live in foodie heaven--a block from The Cheese Board, Chez Panisse (ground zero of the "Delicious Revolution",) and the all organic North Berkeley Farmer's Market.


• walking among the largest* trees in the world in Sequoia National Park (*to be completely accurate, the Giant Sequoias are not the tallest, nor the broadest, but apparently, they take the cake in total biomass...so there you have it.)


• reconnecting with great friends from college (Ryan's and mine)


• dancing until midnight at Desi's wedding (Ollie was back at the hotel with a babysitter)

Ryan and Geoff looking tough in Sequoia
The steps above Emily's cottage on Russian Hill. Ollie loved SF for the infinite stair climbing opportunities, he was inexhaustible!
Emily and me in front of the foggy Golden Gate Bridge
Haidee, Kara and Karina at Desi's rehearsal dinner

Auburn, Desi, me and Kirstin
Ryan and me in my (cute, I think) bridesmaid's dress
Desi looked BEEEEAUTIFUL, here with bridesmaids Auburn and Kirstin

OBX beach trip

We just got back from a long Labor Day weekend in the Outer Banks with Jeff and Maja McMinn. Ryan took some GREAT photos, so I wanted to post a few here. I'll write more about our trip when I have a bit more time.

Cradle of Impeachment

Ollie gives Aunt Abby a whirl in the Radio Flyer
A representative of G.R.I.M- "Grass Roots Impeachment Movement" Abby estimated that this woman was at least 120 years old...but still out there tilting at windmills. Gotta love it.
Locally grown indeed...

Abby came to visit for a few days last week. It was so much fun to have a friend to share my days with. On Wednesday we went out to Carrboro, NC, which is a funky little slice of Ithaca-style hippy counterculture right here in Cacalacky. Carrboro is right next to Chapel Hill...in fact, you can pretty much walk there from downtown Chapel Hill. We went to the Farmer's Market and bought some Concord and Muscadine grapes, some pasture raised pork sausage and some peppers and tomatoes. Abby made an amazing feast out of it all the next night. That night we ate in Carrboro at Weaver Street Market which is a GreenStar-type co-op/natural foods grocery store. We ate outside under some big water oaks and took in the local color...it was a visual feast. There was a Buddhist monk in his burgundy and saffron robes, a gaggle of La Leche moms proudly nursing their toddlers, hipster grad students, and young professionals who rode their bikes to and from work all eating their locally grown, non-GMO organic dinners. Good times.


Abby is so busy so it is a real treat when she is able to get free from work to come down here (only to be put to work by me...I'm sure she's so eager to come back!!) She really was such a help, though...she cooked, she did the laundry, she fed Oliver. More than the extra set of hands, though, I just appreciated her good company. She is so funny and makes my every-day routine seem so much more fun.