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Come Smacchiare

Posted by Serena 4 Comments
Feb 8 2012

Whilst writing my blog Come si faceva il bucato una volta (How the washing was done once upon a time) I remembered a little handbook that I sometimes refer to, which explains come smacchiare (how to remove stains). I asked myself how many people still bother to try and save a piece of clothing when it has been stained and how many simply follow the mentality of the usa e getta (use and throw away) culture: simply throw it out and buy a new one? I realised that my useful little booklet will probably soon become another quaint relic of the past just like the vecchio lavatoio (old laundry) which I described in my previous blog.

Well for those of you who do still take the trouble to rescue stained clothing here are a few words of advise on the removal of different types of stains taken from my little book:

Caffè: se la macchia è fresca, usare acqua minerale; se è vecchia, usare succo di limone e poi mettere in bucato.

Coffee: if the stain is fresh, use mineral water; if it’s old, use lemon juice and then wash it normally.

Cera: raschiare delicatamente la cera fredda con un coltellino; sistemare sopra e sotto la macchia due fogli di carta assorbente, quindi stirare. Se la cera è colorata e rimane traccia di colore, strofinare delicatamente con cotone imbevuto di etere.

Wax: delicately scrape the cold wax with a small knife; place two sheets of absorbent paper above and below the stain, then iron it. If the wax is coloured and leaves traces of colour behind, delicately rub the stain with cotton soaked in ether.

Cioccolato: se la macchia è fresca, usare acqua calda; se è vecchia, usare acqua e borace.

Chocolate: if the stain is fresh, use hot water; if it’s old, use water and borax.

Erba: usare acetone.

Grass: use acetone.

Frutta: usare acqua fredda con gocce di ammoniaca e di acqua ossigenata. Se si tratta di macchie scure, usare acqua fredda e bicarbonato, poi mettere in bucato.

Fruit: use cold water with drops of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. If the stains are dark, use cold water and bicarbonate, then wash it normally.

Pomodoro: per le macchie di pomodoro crudo, lavare subito con acqua fredda e coprire con talco. Per le macchie di pomodoro cotto o di salsa, smacchiare con acqua e ammoniaca.

Tomato: for raw tomato stains, wash immediately with cold water and cover with talcum powder. For cooked tomato stains or tomato sauce, remove the stain with water and ammonia.

Sudore: usare acqua (se possibile piovana) e ammoniaca.

Sweat: use water (if possible rain water) and ammonia.

Tè: usare acqua tiepida e succo di limone, quindi sciacquare con acqua tiepida.

Tea: use tepid water and lemon juice, then rinse with tepid water.

Vino: coprire subito la macchia con sale fino, quindi sfregare con succo di limone caldo.

Wine: immediately cover the stain with fine salt, then rub it with hot lemon juice.

 

Do you have any tips for stain removal? Feel free to leave a comment.

Una Selezione di Blog del 2011

Posted by Serena 3 Comments
Jan 2 2012

Allora, here we are at the beginning of a new year. I thought it might be interesting to start this year with a mini review of my 2011 blogs. Let’s take a look back at some of the diverse topics that we covered last year. I’d be very interested to hear from you, our readers, about which type of blogs you find most useful or enjoyable. Any suggestions for future blogs are welcome, just leave a comment below.

Here are 12 of our favourite 2011 blogs month by month:

Gennaio: In January our cat Mimì wrote the third part of her autobiography (with a little help from Geoff). You’ll be glad to hear that Mimì is still alive and well, and has more or less adjusted to the three micini (kittens – not hers!) who adopted us this summer. Yes, our little house is getting a bit crowded! Here is part three of Mimì’s story: Mimì la Gatta 

Febbraio: In February I read an article about gli stambecchi (ibex) who, thanks to their amazing abilities, are able to scale the almost vertical walls of la diga del lago Cingino (the Cingino lake dam). A search on YouTube found a plethora of videos showing gli stambecchi in action. Read more here:  Lo stambecco che sale per il sale

Marzo: To celebrate the beginning of spring I wrote a blog about the poet Salvatore Quasimodo and shared with you his beautiful poem Specchio (Mirror), which I translated into English: Specchio di Primavera

Aprile: In April we had a look at the correct way to use the often confusing verb: Mancare

Maggio: Here’s a bit of classic Italian culture. What are i mammoni? This blog reveals all!: I Figli Mammoni

Giugno: Every culture has its popular myths which become so often repeated that are eventually accepted as facts. Here is a common Italian urban myth: Le Vipere che Arrivano dal Cielo

Luglio: In July I recounted an amusing little story from my childhood based on the bed time prayer dedicated to l’Angelo Custode (the Guardian Angel):  Angelino

Agosto: Real Italian cooking … it doesn’t get much more genuine than our neighbour Dina’s homemade tortelli. Here she is at work in her kitchen: I Tortelli di Dina

Settembre: The late summer is a great time for travelling around and visiting feste. We’d often heard about the festa at Ponticello not far from Pontremoli, and this year we actually managed to go there. In fact we liked it so much that we went twice!: I Mestieri nel Borgo

Ottobre: Feeling romantic? Well, here’s your chance to tell someone special that you love them … without embarrassing yourself. This blog will explain: How to say "I Love You"in Italian

Novembre: In November hundreds of thousands of Italians had a very special and long awaited reason to celebrate. They finally had the great pleasure of saying: Addio Silvio!

Dicembre: And to bring 2011 to a close we chose Italy’s most popular Christmas carol. Tu Scendi dalle Stelle

 

Tanti auguri per il nuovo anno  da Serena e Geoff

Angelino

Posted by Serena 8 Comments
Jul 24 2011

When we were children my mother taught us a little bed time prayer dedicated to l’Angelo Custode (the Guardian Angel), which went like this:

Angelino bellino bellino,

vieni e stammi sempre vicino,

fammi buono come sei tu,

e poi portami da Gesù.

Beautiful beautiful little angel,

come and stay always by my side,

make me as good as you,

and then take me to Jesus.

In my imagination, influenced by all the traditional pictures of guardian angels, il mio Angelino was a tiny blond child, dressed in a long white robe with a pair of beautiful wings, who used to sit on my right shoulder.

When I was about two years old, my parents bought a house in the hills near Roma, in a village called Montorio Romano. We used to go there for the summer holidays, and as we had quite a bit of land which included a frutteto (orchard), my parents paid a local man to cut the grass and look after the trees. He was the stereotypical old contadino (peasant): he had a fluff of white hair on his head, quite a few teeth were missing, the skin of  his hands and face was as hard and dark as leather, excavated by the weather and hard work. He had an old mule with him at all times.

The first day he came round to cut the grass, my parents introduced him to us children: “Questo è Angelino” (“This is Angelino”). We looked at him in horrified shock, and my older brother Andrea, who was about six years old, went to my mother with tears welling in his eyes: “Mamma, ma è lui Angelino, il mio Angelo Custode?” (“Mum, is he really Angelino, my guardian angel?”).

Facciamo un Picnic

Posted by Serena 4 Comments
Apr 9 2011

Saturday morning was the beginning of a beautiful warm spring day. Not a cloud in the sky, a chorus of birdsong, lucertole (lizards) scuttling about over the terrazza and  darting into shady cracks in the old stone walls.

"Stavo pensando" dice mio marito "perché non invitiamo Claudio e Annalisa a fare un picnic su da noi?

"I was thinking" said my husband "why don’t we invite Claudio and Annalisa up for a picnic?"

"Sì, oggi ci devono essere anche Giovanni e Gabriella" ho risposto

"Yes, Giovanni and Gabriella should be there today as well" I replied

"Vabbè, adesso gli do un colpo di telefono"

"O.K, I’ll give them a ring now"

Claudio, Annalisa, Gabriella and Giovanni were contentissimi (really pleased) to be invited.

"Ma cosa dobbiamo portare?" fa Claudio

"But what should we bring?" asked Claudio

"Non lo so, magari un po’ di focaccia, un po’ di formaggio, e dell’insalata. Poi per il resto ci pensiamo noi"

"I don’t know, perhaps a bit of focaccia, a bit of cheese and salad. Then we’ll sort out the rest"

Gabriella, who lives near La Spezia, went round to the fornaio and bought some tasty focaccia, then to the supermercato for il formaggio.

Annalisa and Claudio sorted out l’insalata and Giovanni le bibite (the drinks).

Geoff, in the meantime, realized that the aia (the old stone threshing area that we use as a patio), where we wanted to picnic, was a macello (mess), and spent a couple of hours moving building materials, tools, rocks, etc. to make it presentable. Then out with the table and chairs that had been stored in the ripostiglio (store room) for the winter.

Ecco tutto pronto! (That’s everything ready!)

Come è bello sedersi fuori sotto il sole di aprile con gli amici a mangiare. C’era persino Mimì la gatta a tenerci compagnia.

How lovely it is to sit out under the April sun eating with friends. There was even Mimì the cat keeping us company.

April 1

gli iris nel nostro giardino

Sulla tavola c’era: (on the table there was:)

focaccia

focaccia integrale (wholemeal focaccia)

pane cotto nel forno a legna  (bread cooked in a wood fired oven)

gorgonzola

pecorino stagionato (mature sheep’s cheese)

pecorino fresco (fresh sheep’s cheese)

insalata di lattuga, carote e mele (lettuce, carrot and apple salad)

olio di oliva (olive oil)

aceto balsamico (balsamic vinigar)

due bottiglie di vino rosso (two bottles of red wine)

acqua dalla fontana (water from the fountain)

arance (oranges)

banane (bananas)

mele (apples)

April 2

il paesaggio da noi in aprile

…ma l’ingrediente più importante? la compagnia di buoni amici!

…but the most important ingredient? the company of good friends!

Aprile

Posted by Serena Comments Off
Apr 6 2011

Principali Festività (Main Festivals)

According to the Roman historian Varro, Rome was founded on the 21st of April 753 B.C. (see my blog http://www.transparent.com/italian/buon-compleanno-roma/). Every year Rome celebrates her birthday with l’infiorata di Piazza di Spagna i.e. by covering the Spanish steps with blossoms.

The 25th of April, Festa della Liberazione (Liberation Day), is a national holiday commemorating the end of the Second World War and the liberation of Italy from the Fascist and Nazis troops. Unfortunately this years Festa della Liberazione coincides with Lunedì dell’Angelo (Easter Monday, lit. ‘Angel’s Monday’), and so we’ll loose one day of holiday!

This year Pasqua (Easter), the only Christian holiday linked to the lunar calendar rather than a fixed date, falls on the 24th of April. Here in Italy, Easter is a very important religious festival, and has not yet been as commercialized as it has for example in England and America. Schools close down for only five days from Venerdì Santo (Good Friday) to the following Tuesday, and shops and offices are only closed on Domenica di Pasqua (Easter Sunday) and Lunedì dell’Angelo (Easter Monday). You can read more about Easter in my blog: http://www.transparent.com/italian/pasqua-e-pasquetta/

Tradizioni (Traditions)

On the first of April facciamo il Pesce d’Aprile (we play ‘April fools’, in Italian known as ‘April fish’). The most common trick, especially if you are a child, is sticking a piece of paper with a fish drawn onto it onto somebody’s back without them noticing it. If you can manage to stick a paper fish on a teacher’s back, that’s the ultimate achievement! So if you happen to be near a school on the first of April at closing time you’ll see un mucchio di bambini inconsapevoli (lots of unknowing children) coming out of school with paper fishes stuck on their backs!

Detti (Sayings)

  • Aprile, dolce dormire (April, sweet sleep). The first warm days make you feel sleepy
  • Sono Aprile e porto il sonno al nipote, al babbo e al nonno (I’m April and I bring sleepiness to the grandson, the dad and the granddad)
  • D’aprile non ti svestire (In April don’t get undressed). It might get cold again!
  • Se aprile mette il muso, fuoco acceso e uscio chiuso (If April gets grumpy, light the fire and close the door)
  • Terzo aprilante, quaranta dì durante (Third of April, forty days lasting). Whatever the weather is like on the third of April it will last for forty days
  • Gemma d’aprile non riempe il barile (April’s bud doesn’t fill up the barrel). If the buds appear on the vine in April, you won’t produce much wine
  • Aprile, ogni goccia un barile (April, every drop is a barrel). April’s rain is good for the wine
  • Se si bagnano le palme, si bagnano anche le uova (If the palms get wet, the eggs also get wet). If it rains on Palm Sunday, it will also rain on Easter Sunday
  • Non dimenticate, per Pasqua uova benedette e colorate (Don’t forget, for Easter blessed colored eggs)
  • Per San Marco, il grano fa il nodo e la vigna fa l’arco (For Saint Mark, the corn makes the knot and the vine makes the arch). By the 25th of April the grains are formed on the corn and the new branches are on the vine
  • Aprile piovoso, maggio ventoso (Rainy April, windy May)
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