Our family went to Italy for two weeks this summer. We lived in Italy for two years before Jay started kindergarten at McDonald Elementary School. So it was very nice to be back to meet Jay's old classmates and teacher in Trani, the town we lived in, in Southern Italy, Puglia province. If you look at a map of Italy, many people think it is shaped like a boot kicking a soccer ball. The heel of the boot is Puglia, where we lived.
This is a street in Trani. As you can see, the road is made of cobble stones. Italian small towns have very narrow streets because the towns were formed a long time ago before cars were made. So, many of the streets only allow one car to drive down them. The result of that is that most of the streets in the town are one way streets so it's like a maze because the buildings were made out of stone, and there are no clear landmarks!
We also visited an island, Sardinia, which is situated in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, closer to Africa than Italy. The color of the sea there is a blue that we had never seen before. Jay and his brother went to the beach for most of time during the day.
We took a boat to visit the Gulf di Orosei, on the east coat of the island.
These are houses in Cagliari, Sardinia's capital.
We could see wild flamingos resting in the city.
They are flying wild flamingos!
This is the Sardinian bread, "Pane Carasau". Sardinia has more sheep than it has people. The bread was conceived for shepherds, who used to stay far from home for months at a time. Pane carasau can last up to one year if it is kept dry. This bread is flat and very light. We couldn't stop eating!
Gelato!
These are basics of Italian cusine: tomatoes, olives, and mozzarella on the Italian bread!
Zoe: For your cuisine, how was the food?
ReplyDeleteMax: How do you speak in English to people in China?
Halle: What flavor was the gelato? How did it taste?
Carys: The panda bears were so cute I couldn't help but say AHHHH!
Felix: The food in Italy looks good.
Karthik: I like the red panda bears
Aspen: How do the Mozarella taste?
Zara: The red panda bear looked like a raccoon.
Dino: I like the panda when it had the bread.
Audrey: The water look so blue I wish I could be there.
Zoe: For your cuisine, how was the food?
ReplyDeleteChina is a very big country. Every region has a unique style of food preparation. For instance, the region where we live is famous for spicy food, which is called "Sichuan style". They cook lots of food with numbing peppers (which make your lips tingle) and chili peppers
(which are very spicy hot). It's simply too spicy for our kids to eat and even I can't eat it. But Jay is slowly liking it more and more. People enjoy eating this spicy food with plain steamed white rice.
> Max: How do you speak in English to people in China?
It depends on where you are in China. For example, in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, they can speak English very well. But in the area where we live, Chengdu, people can't speak or understand English. You basically need to know Mandarin to communicate
with people in China!
>
> Halle: What flavor was the gelato? How did it taste?
What Jay was eating in the photo is called "stracciatella" in Italian. This flavor is like chocolate chip with vanilla. Gelato is softer
than ice cream. It's simply delicious!
>
> Carys: The panda bears were so cute I couldn't help but say AHHHH
I know! Pandas are so cute! The baby pandas were born in the end of July. We are told that when the babies are 4 months old, we can see the baby pandas. I hope we can go there to see the baby ones!!
>
> Felix: The food in Italy looks good.
The food in Italy is so delicious with very fresh vegetables and seafood! The olive oil is the best in the world!
>
> Karthik: I like the red panda bears
>Red pandas are very cute, too. They are much smaller than pandas. Red pandas are the same size as raccoons.
> Aspen: How do the Mozzarella taste?
Good and fresh mozzarella tastes like creamy and sightly sweet milk. My favorite mozzarella is buffala di mozzarella, which is made from buffalo milk instead of cow milk. The mozzarella taste like incredibly
silky cream milk.
>
> Zara: The red panda bear looked like a raccoon.
>Exactly! They look like raccoons and are the same size!
> Dino: I like the panda when it had the bread.
>We go in the morning times when it is feeding time. Nine o'clock!
> Audrey: The water look so blue I wish I could be there.
The water color is amazing. It was more blue than water in the pool where we stayed! Like a mix of blue and emerald green