Thanksgiving in Italy

This past weekend I celebrated Thanksgiving. I have been living here in Italy for a while now and have always celebrated it. All except for one year. The first time I celebrated Thanksgiving in Italy I was not living here permenantly. I was working for the University and we had a fall course with about ten students. The professor and I decided that it would be fun to have a celebration, not only for the students but also to show the locals what Thanksgiving was all about. That particular year my mom had come to visit Italy for the first time. She came with her sister and they brought suitcases full of goodies (goodies you can't readily find in Italy that are crucial for Thanksgiving). They brought evaporated milk for the pumpkin pies, vegetable shortening for the crusts, pecans for the pecan pies and cranberries, yams and marshmallows just to name a few. That year we cooked our three turkeys in one of the old wood burning ovens in Civita di Bagnoregio.

But this year was a lot like the years that followed my first Thanksgiving experience in Italy. I made my dishes, many with home grown ingredients, the Italian stuffing, mashed potatoes and fennel gratin, but the rest of the more traditional dishes came from ingredients bought well in advance from America.

 

I cooked my turkey in my tiny gas oven and managed to make a lovely dinner yet again this year in my tiny little kitchen. I love continuing this tradition because it is a part of who I am. I want my daughter to see a bit of what it means to be American too. I love getting out the fancy dishes and making yummy foods that remind me of home, and I am so fortunate to have wonderful people to share it with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am proud to say that this year we managed to have six nationalities at my Thanksgiving dinner. Italian, American, French, Dutch, German and New Zealand. I am so lucky to be able to celebrate this holiday, even if it isn't with my family, it is with my family of friends!

 

My Thanksgiving Menu

 

Turkey with an herb rub

 

 

Green bean casseroul

 

 

Fennel au Gratin

 

 

Traditional bread stuffing

 

 

Traditional Italian stuffing

 

 

Candied Yams

 

 

Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

 

 

 

Gravy and of course Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie for dessert (no pics...sorry)

Vietnamese saying

"government and people should be judged separately"

I was watching a program yesterday on tv that showed the repercussions on the people from the use of agent orange in Vietnam during the war to kill the vegetation hiding the Viet Kong.  It was heart breaking to see but while showing the birth defects that it caused in three generations of Vietnamese they mentioned that the Vietnamese don't have any hard feelings about it because they believe in this saying.  Its means that governments do things that don't necessarily reflect the feelings of the people and the people shouldn't be judged for it, especially when that government is no longer around.  I really do agree with this saying and thought I would share it.

Public Health Issues

Luckily my husband and I have been really lucky with our little girl.  Although she was born with a life threatening malformation which required major surgery ten hours after she was born, we have pretty much avoided ever needing the help of a doctor.  In fact I still have to figure out a lot of things when it comes to the Italian health system.
This year is my daughter's first year of preschool.  Of course before she started I was warned by numerous people to just expect that she would get sick pretty often in her first year, being exposed to 27 other kiddos at school.  So after 3 weeks of school I wasn't surprised that she had a bit of a cold.  The weather at the time was very changeable too so it was pretty much a given.  So two days at home with a nasty cough and it was back to school.  I was starting to feel pretty lucky when the beginning of November rolled around.  She had been in school for over six weeks and only a bit of a cough!  So of course I was talking to another mom and marveled about this and she said "zitta! non dirlo troppo forte!"  (shhh don't say that too loud), and what do you know I jinxed myself!  Two days later she had a terrible cough and a fever!  Grrr
The following week when her cough wasn't getting any better I took her to the local "free/government" pediatrician that told me she had an ear infection.  I was given some antibiotics to give her (first time ever in her first three years apart from treatment in the hospital after her initial surgery).  After a week I went back to check that the medicine had worked, and when I went back there was the substitute doctor to whom I had to retell the whole story.  She checked her out and said that the infection wasn't gone and that I should continue the antibiotics for another 4 days! I thought it was a bit odd, but what do I know, I'm no doctor.  So four days later went back to see how she was... Another doctor!  I had to then tell the whole story again from the beginning!  This time the infection was nearly gone in her ear, but had since moved to the other ear.  I was given ear drops this time.  Luckily when we went for this check up she had been fever free for four days...that is until we got back from the doctor's office.  She came home with a fever of 38C (101F) after having sat in the waiting room with five other sick kids.  So this fever lasted three days accompanied by a cough.  Took her back, and what do you know the other doctor was there! After updating her on the past two weeks she told me to stop the ear drops and put her on aerosol treatment for the cough.  That seemed to work.  It got rid of her cough and her fever (probably because it was a bronchitis treatment!) Finally after a two and a half weeks I went back to get her doctor's note to be allowed back to school and the doctor told me that she needed to wait two days and that she looked good, ears were nearly back to normal and her lungs sounded clear and throat was perfect.  
That lasted a whole of four days when she got her first high fever ever.  She had a fever of 39.8C (103.5F) and it wouldn't go down for two days, then it came back a day later.  At this point I finally gave in.  I was getting fed up with having to reexplain her past treatment and symptoms a million times and wasn't getting anywhere with her treatment!  We went to a private doctor "a pagamento" (we paid...60euros...but it was worth it) The doctor was fantastic with my daughter (he has been at it a while, he was my husbands doctor when he was a kid) but he was really great!  He came to our house for her visit and within ten minutes had determined that she had tonsillitis and not one but TWO ear infections!  He gave us a different, stronger antibiotic and a immune system builder (basically really meaty vitamins) which should help her fend off any future illnesses.  I have yet to see her totally healed but he only came three days ago.... So hopefully I have found the answer to my question...why was my daughter sick for nearly a month!
I don't know if it has to do with the difference between emergency care and everyday care, but there is a definite difference in the quality!  When we were at the hospital for our daughter's surgery they did an incredible job, she was taken very good care of.  Thank the lord we were in Italy and not the USA because we would have to have paid nearly 15,000 dollars a day for her treatment which lasted 30days if we had been in the states!  The treatment was excellent and the staff were wonderful, although I can't say so much for the facilities.  But the gap is huge with the everyday care.