Snow and French Toasts (Pain Perdu)

Outside the house at 9am

When I mentioned to the landlord's gardener that I was thinking of buying a Lemon tree, he told me that it wouldn't be a good idea as Modena's not warm enough for that. That set the first warning bells ringing but I didn't want to believe it as I have come to the country for the supposedly warm weather and the contrary wouldn't do at all.

Then I also learnt that balsamic vinegar does really well in these parts partly because of its micro-climate e.g. very hot during summer and very cold during winter...Oooh.

Outside the house at 7am

This morning, we woke up to a snowy field and it's still snowing as we speak. White white white outside. I do not have a snow mobile nor even a shovel come to think of it. I hope we won't get stuck. I managed to get the kids to school, and I hope I'd be able to pick them up later on.

7am

Ran through the house looking for snow boots, gloves etc and then when we left the house, we couldn't drive out of our compound as the main road was jammed. This is Modena for you. When it snows, nothing moves any more. The road was just covered with a few cm of snow then and there was already a jam and accidents everywhere. Someone told me that that's because when it snows, half the Italians drive like they've never seen snow. And the other half do not see it.

French Toasts

I called E up and cancelled our date. Went back home and made myself some French Toasts. I wanted a good dose of sweetened condensed milk to comfort me. Did it the way I've learnt it at the age of 13 during Home Economics at Secondary school (still remember our beautiful teaching kitchens), with egg, condensed milk, salt, pepper, a little milk and some ground cinnamon. Fried the egg-coated pieces of bread in butter.

Yesterday I went to see a diet doctor. She (very beautiful woman but I wonder how much of her is real) wanted to put me on a diet consisting of protein-rich pre-cooked dishes. You can supposedly lose 2 Kgs each week and then never put on weight again because of your changed metabolic rate etc. Someone lost 20Kgs like that so it must work. I took a look at the catalogue of pastas, omelettes, soups, desserts etc and decided that I'd rather be fat than eat all that. I mean life is short, you can't ill-treat your taste buds for beauty. Well, the consultation was costly though. Could buy a few Guitar Hero bundles for that.

It's still snowing. Can't see anything but white outside now. I think I need something really hot to warm me up. How about a can of sardines al piri-piri?

3:30pm Kids playing in the snow

Update (5pm) : Nearly couldn't get out of the house this afternoon. When they cleared the main road of the snow, a mountain of it was deposited right in front of my gate. I had to get out of the car and spend 15 minutes trying to kick away the snow so that my car could pass. Then I had a near accident on my way to pick the children up. The car wouldn't stop at a stop sign, it was skidding straight towards the wall opposite and another car's coming from the right...I managed to turn left before I hit the wall and the other car stopped in time. Thank God...