Granita Festa Alla Casa del Bina

Yesterday afternoon, Bina had a granita party at her house. The gelato/granita man, Orazio, came to her house and served his homemade frozen goodness. Orazio's truck is a familiar sight in my town. He drives his delicious truck up and down the steep hills of Motta blowing his whistle and stopping for anyone who waves him down for a refreshing treat. It's hard to describe granita, but I guess it's comparable to Italian ice in the States, but of course it's different and so much tastier in its native land. Granita is only made in the summer months and it's what Italians typically eat for breakfast. Yup, ice cream for breakfast! You should visit my friend Nicole's blog Pinch My Salt to read the post she wrote about this wonderful Italian summer treat.

I got mezzo limone e fragola (1/2 lemon and 1/2 strawberry). Granita is commonly served along side a brioche (buttery roll). Although the granita and brioche are supposed to be savored together, I gobbled down my granita first and then I nibbled at my brioche.

These are the children that Bina babysits—not all at once (although she’s so good with children she probably could handle all of us at once). Some of the children have already moved back to the States and have come back to Sicily for a visit because they missed Bina so much! Some are leaving in a few weeks and some in a few months (Me). At any rate, we all got together to celebrate this wonderful woman who has been like a Nonna to us. And what better way to celebrate than with granita!

Disneyland Visits Sigonella

As part of the on-going 4th of July celebration, the Sigonella basketball court was filled with all sorts of inflatable fun. You would think it was Disneyland with all the excitement it brought to the military kids stationed here.

My favorite was the BIG slide. I wanted to go down it again and again and again and again...!

Happy 4th of July

Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets red glare, The bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there. Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave.Or the land of the free, and the home of the brave?...

To celebrate America's birthday, we went to my buddy Dawson's house in Motta for a BBQ. We lit sparklers and watched the Sigonella fireworks from his balcony. It was a good time until it was past our bedtime and Dawson and I started fighting over toys.

First Dental Check Up

This morning I went to my first dentist appointment. The dentist just took a quick peek at my teeth and swiped them with a fluoride treatment. She said my teeth looked healthy and she discovered my 1st primary molars are coming in, which explains why I've been a little cranky lately. I got a Eeyore sticker and a toy car for being such a good patient.

Camping In Portopalo

We went camping in Portopalo this weekend with our friends Meagan, Chuck, their dog Jack, and the dog they're babysitting Mocha. On the way to Portopalo, we stopped in Brucoli to get a picture of Bruco in the Sicilian port for which he is named. Our dog Paolo is also named after a Sicilian port and it's also where my parents found him as a skinny little puppy who had been hit by a car two years ago this August. We headed back to Paolo's old territory for the weekend and stayed at Camping Residence Capo Passero. The campsite is located right on the ocean, was impeccably clean and the owners were friendly and kind enough to let us stay there with four dogs! This was our first time camping and we really roughed it... Okay, really... we didn't rough it at all! The Italians that slept in this tent roughed it! We rented two bungalows on the campground. The bungalows had fully equipped kitchens and bathrooms and my Mom and Meagan packed every imaginable modern convenience such as fans, ipods and four coolers stocked with enough food and beer to feed an army of drunks. Meagan cooked breakfast burritos for breakfast, Mom served chicken and pasta salad for lunch and Dad grilled cheeseburgers for dinner.

By the end of the weekend, I'm sure we were known to all the campers as the loud Americans in the corner bungalows with four crazy dogs and a silly baby...

The campground had a pool and a playground but we spent most of our time at the beach playing in the sand and ocean. I was the happiest kid on the beach...

The dogs and I can't wait to go camping again!

Heat Wave Continued

It's a "wicked scorchaahh", as Mom would say with her Boston accent. I spend every waking moment submerged in acqua just trying to cool off.

Trying to Keep Cool

Over the weekend, the temperature got as high as 108°. If we weren't at the pool on base, I was cooling off in the tub or the sink.

Water Filled Weekend

I started swim lessons over the weekend. Class is held every Saturday and Sunday morning, so there is no sleeping in on the weekends for us. After class, we hung out at the pool playing, splashing, sliding and practicing what I learned at swim class.

The First Rule of Fight Club Is...

You Do Not Talk About Fight Club!

Il Mio Primo Taglio di Capelli

Today Bina gave me my first haircut. I’ve been sporting a mini mullet for months but my parents have put off getting my haircut until after my first birthday. Italians believe that cutting a child’s hair before his first birthday is bad luck. As a matter a fact, cutting the hair of an infant will cut his life short. Although my parents are not superstitious at all, they still weren't going to risk my life over a haircut?!

Father's Day

For Father's Day, we let Dad sleep in and then we went to the pool on base to cool off (temp is already soaring in the high 90's). In the evening, we went to Capomulini-Acireale to walk along the water and have dinner at Dad's favorite seafood restaurant. According to local legend, the three cone-shaped islands in the background are the very same stones thrown by the Cyclopes at Ulysses. The islands are called "isole dei ciclopi". My dad goes scuba diving there.

Il Porticciolo has the best seafood in Sicily, especially the fried calamaretti (baby calamari that melts in your mouth!), lobster linguine and mussel linguine.

It was a great day in honor of a great man, my Dad.

Play Time With Ella

There's a new play area at the gym on base. Ella and I play here after our stroll around the indoor track. We love it here!

A Taste Of Spring Cleaning

Mom and I were on our own all week while Dad attended a conference in Las Vegas. While Mom turned her back for a second to put dinner (Chicken Capers & Couscous Bake- my favorite!) in the oven, I found the bottle of Pine Sol she mistakenly left on the edge of the bathtub after she had washed the floors that afternoon. Mom found me in the hallway between the bathroom and kitchen with a soaked face and shirt and a surprised look on my face. As soon as she picked me up, my pine fresh smell gave it away and she instantly knew what I had done! PANIC TIME... Mom called Sigonella's emergency number and said, "MY SON DRANK PINE SOL!" The dispatcher asked if we wanted an ambulance to come to our house, but my Mom said she could drive to the hospital faster than explaining where we live out in town, so off we ran to the hospital. When we arrived at the emergency room, they were ready for us... "Ahhh, is this the little Pine Sol drinker?" The emergency team had already investigated Pine Sol ingestion while we were in route to the hospital and they were able to reassure my panicky-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown-mother that Pine Sol is one of the better household cleaners to consume, if you're in the business of consuming cleaning products that is! It's a lot better than let's say... bleach or ammonia! If my Mom had called Poison Control first (like she should have!) she would have been instructed to make me drink water and then see a physician. But Mom was scared and wasn't thinking clearly so we headed straight to the ER. As a matter of fact, we left the house in such a hurry that Mom forgot to bring the bottle of Pine Sol (the ER staff scolded her for that!... "If you had brought the bottle, we could better determine how much he actually consumed!") and a diaper bag (the hospital only had newborn diapers so I left the hospital in a diaper that looked like a G-string on me!). Thankfully, Mom did remember to turn off the oven before leaving the house so we had a home to come home to at the end of the eventful evening. After a urinalysis, a chest x-ray, a shower and three hours of observation, we were discharged from the ER. I was completely fine. My mom on the other hand, a guilt ridden wreck... "How could I have forgotten to put the Pine Sol away?... Why was the bathroom door even open to begin with?... I should have had him in the kitchen with me with the door closed!... I really screwed up!" It's been a week since the incident and Mom still doesn't think the jokes are funny... "Pine Sol removes tough grease and grime and leaves your baby smelling clean." "Currier's going to have super powers now- everything he touches will instantly become clean!" "Did you wash the floors today or did Currier burp?"... Okay, maybe a little funny!

Bina's Limoncello Cream

My babysitter, Bina, makes the most amazing Limoncello Cream. Limoncello is a lemon liqueur and is a typical Sicilian after dinner drink. Bina gave us her recipe and we made a giant batch of the stuff. If you happen to stop by our house, help yourself to a bottle in the freezer. If you can't make it for a visit, make your own Limoncello!

Ingredients:

1 liter (1 quart) of whole milk
½ liter (1/2 quart) of grain alcohol
18 lemons, preferably a little green
800 grams (1.75 pounds) of sugar
2-3 Vanilla beans

Recipe:
Using a peeler, trim the zest from the lemons, leaving the white part behind, and soak in the alcohol in a glass container for 8 days, shaking the jar daily. Bring the milk to a boil and add the sugar and vanilla. Bring to a boil 4-5 times, removing it from the burner each time it boils to prevent curdling. Once the milk has boiled for the last time, remove it from the heat and let it cool completely. Stir in the alcohol and filter through a mesh strainer to filter out lemon zest and any large curds. Bottle it, store it in the freezer and serve it with a smile. "Salute!"

The Almighty Dog

Lately, I’ve been desperately trying to say “DOG!”, but it keeps coming out as “GOD!" My parents are trying to nip that in the bud since Bruco and Paolo already have superiority complexes.

Tiny Tots Fitness Class

Every Thursday morning I go to Tiny Tots Fitness class to make friends and make my way through an obstacle course. This chic is crazy if she thinks she's getting past me!

I Love To Play In The Bidet

Mom tells me that this is a sink for really short people, but I think she's telling another one of her "stories".

Puddles of Joy

Mom couldn't wait for it to rain so she could dress me in my new raincoat and boots. I got totally soaked playing in the puddles out front of my house.

Facing Forward

Now that I’m a big boy, I get a whole new perspective facing forward in my car seat.

Egypt Day 1

On Monday May 21st, we flew to Cairo to celebrate my first birthday. As the plane was landing, we got a bird's eye view of the Great Pyramids. It was so incredible, breath-taking, awesome, glorious... Everyone must experience this before they die! We arrived at Hotel Movenpick at 6PM. Before entering our hotel, we got sniffed by bomb dogs and had to walk through a medal detector. Over the course of our Egyptian vacation this became common practice before entering any public place. We weren't sure whether this level of security made us feel safe or nervous. Once we checked into our hotel, we had a half hour to freshen up and be back down in the lobby to depart for a Nile River Dinner Cruise. Eating and drinking in Egypt can cause "gastrointestinal distress" (fancy way of saying "explosive diarrhea") to visitors because our bodies are not accustomed to Egypt's "different" water (that's putting it nicely!). Drinking water or anything with ice is a definite NO and eating anything washed with water (fruits and vegetables) may also pose a risk. In preparation for this trip, our doctor prescribed antibiotics for us and Mom packed a whole suitcase filled with canned fruits and vegetables and every snack you can imagine (we nicknamed this suitcase "snack city"). Mom and Dad also had to wash my bottles with bottled water. We still sampled the Egyptian cuisine but with caution. We ate lots of bread, cheese, chicken, and rice. The cruise down the Nile was a perfect kick off to our 8 day Egyptian adventure. As we ate dinner overlooking the Nile, a belly dancer and a weird spinning guy dancer entertained and fascinated us.

Egypt Day 2

First stop this morning was to the only remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the World... The Great Pyramids of Giza. Standing at the base of these enormous and powerful monuments made us feel so small.

We rode camels around the pyramids. It was a little scary and the camel that Dad and I rode had some disgusting infection on his neck. PETA needs to pay these camel handlers a visit and teach them something about animal compassion.

Second stop was the Sphinx, the guardian of the Giza Plateau. The Sphinx is known to the Arabs as Abu al-Hol, the "father of terror".

Next stop was Saqqara to visit the Step Pyramid of Djoser. We then walked to the Pyramid of Teti (it's not worth photographing because its just a pile of dirt) where we went down inside the pitch dark, claustrophobic tomb following some man who kept lighting matches and yelling "watch your head... watch your head" until we came to the end and saw the king's giant sarcophagus by match light. It was pretty spooky.

Before heading back to the hotel for dinner, we stopped at the Luxor Papyrus Institute to learn how papyrus is made. While Mom and Dad shopped for papyrus, the Egyptian women kept me entertained. We've found a culture that adores children even more than the Italians! Everywhere we went, people kept asking if they could take my picture or if they could hold me. Everyone kept calling me "Habepi" (Mom thought they were saying "Hey Baby") which our tour guide explained was a term of endearment meaning "My love" in Arabic.

Egypt Day 3

This morning started with a guided tour of the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo which conserves thousands of pieces of Egyptian history. All the artifacts were amazing but our favorites were the hieroglyphics, the treasures from King Tutankhamun's tomb and the mummified body of King Ramses II. Tutankhamun's 3,330 year old tomb was discovered in 1922 and the Tutankhamun Galleries display 1,700 items from the tomb of the boy king. It was amazing to see the painstaking preparation that the ancient Egyptians poured into the Pharoah's after life. Obviously the most impressive is the solid gold death mask, which my Mom has dreamed of seeing in person since she was a little girl. We paid an extra fee to go inside the Royal Mummy Room to see the mummified body of Ramses II. Ramses II is often regarded as Egypt's greatest and most powerful pharaoh. To come face to face with this legendary king was truly an experience of a lifetime. After lunch, we visited the Mosque of Mohamed Ali' and the Citadel. We sat on the floor of the Mosque to give our feet a rest and our tour guide explained the Five Pillars of Islam.

Before heading back to the hotel for dinner, we made a stop at the Bazar Khan El Khalili to shop for cartouches, lotus perfume, jewelry and silly souvenirs.

Egypt Day 4

Today we departed Cairo and boarded a plane for Sharm El Sheikh, the deep-sea diving resort on the Southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. This time of the year is off season due to the extreme heat so we pretty much had the Intercontinental Garden Reef Resort to ourselves where the staff knew us by name and treated us like royalty!