More goodies!

Some friends that were out of town, and others that I had not seeing since my arrival because one of them was recuperating from a surgical intervention, came visiting the day after my birthday, and brought more sweets, flowers, and loads of fresh fruits.

It’s really hard for them to understand that it’s not easy for me cope with all these gifts. A simple wish and an enjoyable visit would be sufficient, but one must adapt somehow to local customs.

When you go visiting here and try to decline the food and drink offers, you get a deaf ear. Refusing what the host serves is considered an offense in this part of the world, thus, even if one feels full from a meal, or previous intake of food, one must comply by at least taking a small bite and a tiny sip of whatever is served. I should add that what they dish up is not usually an item alone. Last evening, for instance, I was served excellent fruit juice accompanied first by a deliciously fresh fruit salad ('macedonia di frutta'), which, later on, was followed by a huge portion of an extraordinarily light, soft ice cream made with mixed berries.

Last year, when dining at some friend’s apartment, I enjoyed a very refreshing dessert that my hostess claimed being very simple to prepare, without any cooking involved. She vowed to teach me one day how to make it, and, sure enough, this year she showed up at my apartment with all the ingredients (yogurt, condensed milk, lemons, a few hard biscuits and chopped nuts) and assembled this recipe right under my nose within 10 minutes! It’s really very cool and delicious!

From local bakeries that serve hot,fresh bread of all sorts until the wee hours of the night, one can buy a phyllo dough pocket for a mere 40 cents generously stuffed with apples, raisins, and cinnamon.

It is the equivalent of an american apple turnover; however, its content is twice the amount, is not very sweet, and it's very, very good.

Mini plums (the size of cherries) come free for me by just grabbing them off one of the trees outside my office's window.

Notwithstanding all these goodies, I am happy to report that I've lost a couple of pounds lately!