Casa Di Bina

I've been going to Bina's house since I was three months old and Bina has become like a nonna (grandmother) to me. She is a nurturer, a kind person and a silly lady all rolled into one beautiful package with a smile that lights up a room. I adore her.

This morning Mom worked up the courage and told Bina that we're definitely leaving the first week of January. Bina said the news brought her heart much pain and both Mom and Bina broke down and cried. We will never find another babysitter like Bina. She will be missed dearly.

Mia Nonna Italiana

Every Friday I spend the day at Bina’s house so my Mom can get a break. Bina and her husband, Antonio, live in the country and care for a hand full of children. Bina and Antonio do not speak any English so I’m learning Italian. The first couple of times my mom dropped me off at their house she cried as she pulled out of the drive way, but now she high tails it out of there with a big smile on her face and spends her “day off” scrap booking, reading, or napping. Mom knows I’m in good hands because my face lights up when I see Bina’s beautiful face.
This is the road to Bina's house. I told you she lives in the country!

This is the view from Bina's house. È molto bello!

Bina & Antonio

Last night we had a farewell dinner at Bina and Nino's house. Bina made homemade sciaciatta, pizza and cipolinas. It was delicious comfort food and just what we needed as the countdown to our departure from Sicily is just two days away now.

Today I spent the whole day at Bina and Antonio's house. As predicted, it was very emotional saying good bye to them. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that it was excruciating to bid farewell to the people who helped raise me. I'm crying as I type this so I think I should stop here as I am at the community center and people are starting to stare!

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!

A Whole Lotta Ricotta

This morning, Bina took me and several other children she babysits to a farm near her house to see the sheep and watch how ricotta cheese is made. We spent too much time looking at the sheep (baa baa) and missed the ricotta making process that was going on inside the barn. Bina still explained the process to us.

The fresh sheep’s milk is added to the “caglio”, a substance produced from the lining of a sheep's stomach (Those are sheep stomachs hanging behind Bina and I), which causes the milk to thicken. The cheese maker continuously stirs the pot until the top layer begins to clot. After skimming a little off the top, the steaming, chunky ricotta is ready to eat.

We all sat down outside and ate the ricotta the Sicilian way- by the spoonful with bread. It was thick, salty, and strong in a sweet sort of way. It was tasty and the experience was fun!

Antonio & Bina

Antonio and Bina are helping me master this walking thing. I love spending time at their house. They take me for walks, they feed me fresh pasta, they let me watch Italian cartoons, and they play with me in their garden. Antonio and Bina can't pronounce my name "Currier" so they just call me "Curioso", which means curious in Italian.

Sicilian Oil Spill Disaster of 2007

All of Bina and Antonio's olive oil is GONE—Poof! There has been a terrible accident. The olive oil was stored in a 50 liter barrel in their backyard. Antonio tied a plastic baggie around the nozzle to prevent any dripping. Not a drop to be wasted... The stuff is like liquid gold! Well, their upstairs tenant's dog, Gedda, detected something delicious inside the baggie and bit at the bag forcing the nozzle to open and drain a whole year's worth of olive oil onto the ground! Bina called it "brutto giorno" (an ugly day) and Antonio looked like he wanted to cry. All that back-breaking work of picking olives and hauling them to the press was wasted. Poor Bina and Antonio!

Olive Oil You Too

Antonio and Bina have several olive trees in their backyard and have spent the past couple of days picking all the ripe olives. This afternoon they invited us to come along to watch their olives be pressed into olive oil.

The giant yellow bin pictured below holds Bina and Antonio's olives. It cost them €30 (about $43) to process the whole batch and that should produce enough fresh olive oil to last their family one year. Italians are very serious about their olive oil. They use it in everything!

The process seemed simple: First the olives go through a machine that shakes off the leaves and stems. Second, the olives get washed. Then the olives get smashed and finally the smashed olives go through a press turning it into delicious olive oil. I'm sure it's a little more complicated than that, but that's all of Bina's Italian that we could understand.

Did you know that if you mouth the words "olive juice" it looks the same as mouthing the words "I love you"? Many years ago when my parents first starting dating, they both worked as bartenders at a bar called Hubb’s in Orlando. One night at work, Mom thought it would be clever to mouth "olive juice" to my Dad to see his reaction. If he didn’t say "I love you" back then she could be all like, "I was just saying olive juice!" Anyway, Mom screwed it up and actually mouthed "olive oil". Dad had known about this foolish "olive juice" ploy but hadn't had anyone try it on him since the 6th grade. He knew what she was up to and responded, "You are such a dork! Olive oil you too!" And the rest is history...

A Really Good Weekend

On Friday evening, we went to the winter festival on base. The gym was filled with inflatable slides, obstacle courses and bouncy houses. My face had a permanent smile the whole time...

On Saturday I hung out with Bina so my parents could go out on a date. While my parents enjoyed a quiet meal at an Indian restuarant, I ate pasta with Bina and Antonio. After dinner, Bina made me a little bed on her couch and I fell asleep in front of the televisione...

Sunday morning we went to Catania for coffee and people watching...

While we waited for the restaurants to open for lunch, I played in the Catania park...

We went to Sicilia in Bocca for lunch. We like the rustic atmosphere of this place and we love the swordfish involtini, which is uniquely prepared with raisins and pine nuts...

After lunch we took a three hour nap (the longest and most wonderful nap ever!) and then we headed into base to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Last week my dad stood in line for 45 minutes for tickets (he's the best dad ever!) and 10 minutes into the show I refused to sit still so we left...

I'm more of a hands on kind of guy, so I was happier shooting hoops in the lobby arcade instead...

It was a really good weekend.

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 Wrath of Dawson

Every Friday, I spend the day at Bina's house. Bina is a molto gentile Italian lady who cares for a few children in her home. This past Friday I pulled my buddy Dawson's pacifier out of his mouth and he whacked me in the forehead with his toy tractor. Lesson learned- Don't mess with Dawson's binky!

I Like Mine With Lots Of Butter

Although Halloween is not a custom in Italy, my Italian babysitter insisted that I stop by her house first on the way to the "Americani Festa" at Sigonella. Bina and Antonio gave me lots of sweets and trapped me in their giant lobster net. After basking in Bina and Antonio's abbracci (hugs) and baci (kisses), I headed to the Navy base for Autumn Fest. The evening started out with Trunk-or-Treat. The cars lined up with trunks full of candy and the ghouls and goblins (and lobsters) went trunk to trunk for goodies. Last year, I was too little to participate in Trunk-or-Treat but this year I was big enough to get a whole plastic pumpkin full of candy.

Come on, did you really think Paolo and Bruco were going to get away without Mom tormenting them this holiday season?...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sicilian Easter Egg Cookie

My babysitter, Bina, made me this cookie for Easter. She said that this is a traditional Sicilian Easter cookie. Bina taught me that "Buona Pasqua" means "Happy Easter" in Italian. BUONA PASQUA!

Epiphany

Today is Epiphany, the Italian holiday that marks the end of the holiday season. On this day, Befana, the good witch brings candy to all the good boys and girls. This morning I woke up at Bina's house and had candy for breakfast and then my parents took me to see Befana and she gave me more candy. I wasn't afraid of Befana and didn't freak out when I sat on her lap. She is much prettier than Santa! It's been rainy and cold in Sicily for the past couple of weeks. Mom says that she's glad that the weather is crappy right now because it makes it easier to say good-bye to Sicily, but today the weather was gorgeous and we felt compelled to take one last trip up Mt Etna. It was the perfect day for such a trip.

When we reached the top of the volcano, we collected some lava rocks to take a little piece of Sicily back to America with us. Of course we asked the volcano God for permission first. We don't want any bad luck for taking without her approval.

Following Sicilian tradition, we made a little snowman and placed it on the hood of our car to watch it melt on the drive back down the mountain. We named the snowman Gufo which means owl in Italian. As we descended into warmer temperatures, Gufo lost his head and then slowly melted into a puddle.

Christmas Day

It's orange season in Sicily so for Christmas breakfast, I made fresh squeezed orange juice and used up every orange in the house. Dad cooked ham & cheese omelets, bacon and toast and Mom sat on her butt and fueled up on Dunkin Donuts coffee (she has it shipped here!). Since we move into a hotel tomorrow morning, my parents decided it was just too much to decorate and put up a tree when the movers are coming tomorrow to take all of our stuff away. Imagine my surprise this morning when I found that Santa brought us a little wooden tree and surrounded it with gifts.

I'm crazy about anything with wheels so I was super psyched to get a lot of cool cars, trucks and motorcycles from Bina, my Mimi and Papi and my cousins from Florida.

Santa gave me a portable DVD player along with this funny t-shirt for the LONG airplane ride to Charleston, South Carolina...

It was a nice Christmas. Now we have to get packing. It's finally time for the big move—YIKES!

Happy Birthday Dada!

Yesterday was Dad's 36th birthday so we celebrated the best we could for a family living out of suitcases in a hotel room. After we ate our "fancy" cakes, my parents went downtown Catania to celebrate Dad's special day with Meagan and Chuck and I got to spend the night at Bina's casa.

My Birthday Party

Today I turned one year old so we had a little BBQ at my house to celebrate. Everyone sang Happy Birthday to me in Italian and English and then I ate a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting.

I opened lots of great gifts and played with my friends... Dawson, Maureen, Ella, Aja, Jadeyn, Jen, John, Bina & Antonio.

It was a FUN day and all the excitement wore me out!

My First Sleepover

Yesterday was my parents 10 year anniversary so I spent the whole day and night at Bina's house so my parents could relax and celebrate. Since moving back to America and buying a house are on their list of things to do this year, they opted to celebrate with an inexpensive picnic on the beach and a night alone at home. The plan was to sleep in the next morning but of course Mom was wide awake at 6AM and Dad shortly after—go figure!

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?!

Eleven Months Old Today... April 19th 2007

This month was monumental! I learned how to walk and then I learned how to crawl in the traditional way rather than on my belly. I know! I did things a little backwards. Now that I’m fully mobile, my parents are on 24 hour alert. I move lickety split and I am attracted to all things that are dangerous or fragile. Our guest room is quickly filling up with all those “things”, so if you plan to visit we hope you can find the bed! My babysitter, Bina, says that I am molto l'independent and my parents can’t argue with that. I do not like to be spoon fed baby food, so Mom and Dad chop big people food into tiny bite size pieces and I am happy feeding myself (and the dogs!). I tap my feet or bounce up and down when I hear music. I clap when I’m excited. I squeal in delight when I see kids. I smile at strangers. I flirt with pretty women. I crack up laughing over the most random things… sneezes, the word “zoom”, and dogs howling. I’m growing up so fast that my mom keeps asking, “Where did my little baby go?!”