Thanksgiving, etc.

My parents came for a visit this week, so J and I got a chance to do some of the sightseeing things we don't usually get to do (namely, things that don't involve crusty old books). 

We visited my favorite church in Florence, San Miniato al Monte:

It's way up above the city (hence "al monte") and has great views; also, the tour groups don't bother with the climb, so it's pretty tranquil.

We also visited Rome, where I discovered one type of parking that is more user-friendly in Italy than in America:

The barking lot.

For Thanksgiving, J and I made dinner for the Pazzis. The pumpkin pie was a surprise hit, although the stuffing and cranberry sauce met with a bit of skepticism. And of course they made pasta for the first course, because how could you have a meal without a pasta course? You could not. It was lots of fun, and although cooking non-Italian food in Italy definitely feels like swimming upstream, it was an interesting adventure. There was one amazing moment at the grocery store when we were looking for cream of tartar for some baking project and the store employee looked at us like we were crazy and said "What could that possibly be? Tartar is what you get on your teeth!" (We never did find it, but in retrospect I bet a pharmacy here would have it, since they seem to sell all kinds of chemicals-- you know, just in case you need some alum along with your shampoo. But that's a story for another day.) Plus, now I know how to say "allspice" in Italian (literally, "pepper of Jamaica"), which is totally going to come in handy some day.

In other food news, I want to report that pear and pecorino tortellini are stupendous.

Yes, that is a potato in our fruit basket.