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| The view from the Grill |
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When I think of Italy, I immediately think of beautiful scenery, pasta, pizza, and cheese. My mind goes straight for the food. I never think of Italians having barbeques. Barbecuing is for Australians and Americans. At least that's what I thought till I went to my first Italian barbeque today.
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| The Food |
This barbeque was definitely NOT for vegetarians. We drove up to Prato after stopping at the grocery store and picking another fellow local Prato Nevosoer
up in Villanova. Once we got there
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| Mattia and Giovanni |
Mattia and I went over to the wood grill and saw what they were preparing. This one thing of meat looked like it came from a dinosaur. It was HUGE! There were only going to be 25 people at the cook out but it looked as if we were going to be feeding a whole army.
At the grocery store Simona bought about 5 Kilos of bread which is equal to 11 pounds. That's a lot of bread! I knew
absolutely no one, and after
awhile of standing around and looking awkward I pulled out my Kindle and started reading. Mattia had a found a friend named Giovanni and they were playing together. Simona was off talking to some of the other locals and that left me with my Kindle.
I will also note that we got there at 11:30 in the
morning. We didn't leave till about 5:00
pm. It was a LONG barbeque. Everybody sat down and chose their seat at
about 1:00. That's when I made a huge
mistake. I sat next to the two most
obnoxious Italians I have met since I've been in Italy. The one guy was wearing a typical Italian
Guido outfit of an Adidas track suit.
The other guy sitting next to him was his Guido friend who had a ton of
hair gel. Seriously...I couldn't have
sat in a worse spot. I asked Simona if
she knew them, and she said no. She had
never seen them in Prato in her life.
Then why were they here at a barbeque for Prato locals? Neither of us had a clue, other than they were
seriously getting on my nerves. The one
guys laugh was like nails on a chalkboard.
They were either tipsy or completely drunk which only made matters
worse. They looked like they were only 17
or 18. They kept whispering to each
other as well and that also made me uneasy.
They might have been saying something about me, the little English girl
who didn't know Italian. I seriously had
to get a picture of these guys for my blog, so halfway during lunch I slipped
away to the car and grabbed my camera. I
wish I had my little pocket Canon to be less conspicuous but alas, it was
broken, so I had to get my Canon T1I, which is anything but small. I snapped about 3 photos without their
knowledge just so I could document. I could
go into business as being the paparazzi. I was that good. :)
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| My Entertainment for the Afternoon |
|
Even though the company was far from pleasant, the food was
outstanding. Tray after tray of chicken,
beef, pork, shish kabobs, sausage, and
pretty much every meat you could think of were continuously being passed around. The only sides we had were bread and
salad. The salad was so wonderful
too. Simona attended to Mattia while I
sat watching my favorite two Italians entertain themselves. They thought the sausage was absolutely
hilarious because of what it looked like.
I just kinda sat there and rolled my eyes whenever the chance presented
itself. I was sporting the shades so
they couldn’t see my lack of amusement.
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| Mattia & I Barbequing it up |
After lunch I made two new friends. Beatrice who was 15 and her sister whose name
I never did get who was 12. Beatrice was
pretty good at English so we were able to have a decent conversation between my
broken Italian and her beginner’s English.
When lunch was over, we watched Mattia and Giovanni play soccer in the
road. Probably not the best to play, but
Prato is pretty dead without snow and skiers/snowboarders. By the time we left I was ready to go as I
hadn’t had my afternoon coffee and chocolate.
It’s just my routine every day and it keeps me awake. I fell asleep on the way home. Goes to show how much I really do need my
coffee! It was a good barbeque, but I do enjoy a good American outdoor cookout complete with burgers, potato salad, and baked beans. :)
I will also note that we got there at 11:30 in the
morning. We didn't leave till about 5:00
pm. It was a LONG barbeque. Everybody sat down and chose their seat at
about 1:00. That's when I made a huge
mistake. I sat next to the two most
obnoxious Italians I have met since I've been in Italy. The one guy was wearing a typical Italian
Guido outfit of an Adidas track suit.
The other guy sitting next to him was his Guido friend who had a ton of
hair gel. Seriously...I couldn't have
sat in a worse spot. I asked Simona if
she knew them, and she said no. She had
never seen them in Prato in her life.
Then why were they here at a barbeque for Prato locals? Neither of us had a clue, other than they were
seriously getting on my nerves. The one
guys laugh was like nails on a chalkboard.
They were either tipsy or completely drunk which only made matters
worse. They looked like they were only 17
or 18. They kept whispering to each
other as well and that also made me uneasy.
They might have been saying something about me, the little English girl
who didn't know Italian. I seriously had
to get a picture of these guys for my blog, so halfway during lunch I slipped
away to the car and grabbed my camera. I
wish I had my little pocket Canon to be less conspicuous but alas, it was
broken, so I had to get my Canon T1I, which is anything but small. I snapped about 3 photos without their
knowledge just so I could document. I could
go into business as being the paparazzi. I was that good. :)
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