Tuscan Bread Salad (a.k.a. Panzanella)

It's summer, and mighty hot, so there's not much motivation to turn on the stove. On the other hand, the produce these days is quite good, so here's a nice no-cook meal for these hot days.

• 150g (stale) Italian bread
• 400g tomatoes
• 1 small red, 1 small green bell pepper
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 bunch each Italian parsley and basil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• salt, pepper
• 5 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. capers

Cut the dry bread into cubes, combine with diced tomatoes and bell peppers, as well as thinly sliced green onions. Wash and chop the herbs and add to the bread along with the garlic, minced. Add salt and pepper to vinegar, then stir in the olive oil. Add to bread along with the capers. Let stand for about an hour, it doesn't hurt for it to stand longer. A light red wine goes well with this dish.

Scotland

To escape the constant, unrelenting heat in Florence in August, we went to Scotland for nearly two weeks around Assumption Day, which is when half Italy packs up and leaves for the beach or for colder climates. In all our travels, we had never met that many Italians, so I thought that they just didn't travel much. However, it seems that they do travel, just all during August: in Scotland, we saw almost as many Italians as Germans, and that's saying something!
In any case, we started out in Glasgow, where we visited Alecia and her husband, and then rented a car to drive around the countryside, camping in our tent as we went. Via Stirling Castle and Doune Castle, which was thankfully free of taunting Frenchmen, we headed for Loch Lomond, Inveraray Castle and Oban, before reaching Glencoe. Nearby, we went to the Glenfinnan Highland Games, before heading up to the Isle of Skye, where we spent a very stormy night. At this point of the trip, the weather was quite rainy and stormy, so some of the attractions, such as the Old Man of Storr, were shrouded in fog. Coming back from Skye, we crossed Scotland's highest road to get to Applecross, and drove along the coast some from there before crossing over to the east. Here, we were in castle country, so we took in Dunrobin, Urquhart, Cawdor, Fyvie, Craigievar, Fraser, Dunnottar, and Glamis. In this area, Kristen had found the locations of several Pictish stones online, so we also hunted those out. Going back south, we stopped by St. Andrews, where we had a classy lunch in the clubhouse with Andreas, a friend of mine from college, and then drove to Dunfermline, where we stayed the night with Maureen and Martin. Finally, we spent a day in Edinburgh, where we naturally visited the castle and the excellent Museum of Scotland.
While we cooked most of the time when camping, we did try the local food, such as haggis, fish and chips, or chicken tikka masala, most of which we liked, but some of which (the deep-fried pizza) was a bit too much. We also made it to two whisky distilleries, of which we have conflicting opinions (Ben: mmmmhhhh, Kristen: ugh). Some pictures of our trip can be seen below, or by clicking on the slideshow for the larger versions.

Screens

Almost no one in Italy has screens on their windows. There are plenty of mosquitoes, and air conditioning is not nearly as common as in the US, so you have to open your windows. I can't explain it.

You won't believe it

... but my permesso di soggiorno, the one I received today, expires today. That's right, it's not a mistake. I asked. They said I have to apply for a new one now.

I was assured that the new system, which apparently was put in place since I applied for mine last year, is much faster. (haha)

(This is a continuation of the post about my first visit to the questura.)

Not much

There haven't been many posts recently, because there hasn't been that much going on. It is the hot, sunny season here (the summer, like winter, has very stable weather).

I said before that Italians like to talk. I have also noticed that this seems to be the cause of and solution to some of their problems. Things are generally inefficient, but people often don't seem bothered by it, because they're distracted by talking to each other. I don't think there's any way to make anything happen more quickly, so talking seems to be the key to not getting angry at having to wait forever for something that shouldn't take very long.

Two more foods to add to my list:
- percoca, a type of peach
- scarola. I think it's called escarole in English, but it has a disc shape.

Visa, Round 2

After mailing my visa application and a bunch of other required documents to the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia, waiting for 23 days (last year they had it to me in a week), and leaving messages and emailing the consulate and receiving no response, I drove to Philadelphia the night before my flight to try to get the visa from them in person. When I signed in, the employee behind the window said she recognized me and that my application was still being processed. I explained that my flight was scheduled for later that day, and I was hoping to get my visa now. After waiting about 1.5 hours, the woman called me over and said that I didn't need a visa, because I'll be getting a permesso di soggiorno. You'd think it would have been pretty easy to tell me that three weeks earlier. I also think it would be helpful if something to that effect appeared in a logical place, like on their website, or in their directions for applying for a visa, or in the directions for applying for a permesso di soggiorno, or in the book we have about living and studying in Italy, or on the Italian embassy website (perhaps on the "do I need a visa?" page), or on the Italian immigration website.

We'll see what the questura says.

On an unrelated note, I swear the sun is hotter here.

Parma and Modena

Yesterday, Kristen returned after spending some time in the U.S. and trying without success to get her visa renewed. Since she flew into Bologna, I decided to meet her there in the evening, and spend the day in the nearby city of Parma.
After walking downtown from the train station, I first had to get something for lunch -- my choice was a sandwich with Parma ham, of course. Parma isn't a huge city, so it was easy to see everything in a few hours. There aren't too many tourists there either -- I guess they're all trampling themselves in Florence. The highlights were the Romanesque Duomo and Baptistry. The latter was impressive due to its height and the frescoes covering the entire interior. The interior of the Duomo was largely Baroque (very much overdone, in my opinion), with famous cupola by Correggio though also with a nice relief by the sculptor Benedetto Antelami. I also briefly visited the Museo Diocesano, which had a few nice sculptures and a 5th century floor mosaic.

Detail of the Parma baptistry ceiling. Note the depiction of the evangelists as half-animal, half-human figures.

Since there was still enough time before Kristen arrived, I took the train to Modena, which is located halfway in between Parma and Bologna, and which is probably most famous for its Balsamic vinegar. It also boasts one of the most important and impressive Romanesque cathedrals of Europe, though, which has made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage list. Unfortunately, parts of the facade and the bell tower were being renovated, and were therefore covered up. Nevertheless, many of the stone carvings by Wiligelmus could be seen, and the (rather dark) interior was impressive.
Then it was time to take the train to Bologna, where I met Kristen and helped her lug all of her luggage back to Florence.