24 December
On the Fifth Day of Christmas
We are here in Italy
Five courses eaten
Four stockings readied
Three lots of shopping
Two people cleaning
And the house was only one degree
Christmas Eve arrives, and we breakfast well but not necessarily wisely! We have some bits and pieces to get organised and agree we will go to the local village of Cartoceto to see the Christmas Tree and take advantage of the mulled wine, panettone and chestnuts as a pre Christmas warm-up.
Cartoceto has suffered somewhat in recent years with its walls collapsing, but with a new mayor, a mini-regeneration is taking place and the majority of the walls are fixed and the old piazza cafe now restored to its full glory. Rather bizarrely it has been done up a bit like a Hoxton Hipster coffee joint, with mis-matching furniture and exposed brickwork, plumbing and wiring. However it still seems to sell exactly what it did before. The new bar manager is younger and playing rather loud techno music – I am not sure quite how this will work out for her, as the average age in the village must be about seventy five. Maybe they like techno?
No running today either, but I did get my confirmation of pre-registration for Running Down Dementia from park run. So that is one step in the right direction.
Christmas Eve dinner is curry night – here in Italy it is traditional to have cappelletti in brodo, followed by Baccala. As I can’t make cappelletti and I can’t stand Baccala, we are having that most traditional of dishes Butter Chicken, with naan, chapatis, cucumber raita and tomato, onion and coriander salsa.
It was yummy, though I say so myself.
