Our Italian Easter with friends

Wanted to share our Easter Sunday with everyone......

Our friends were kind enough to include us in their family Easter Dinner.

Grace had some friends from Austria visiting...so we had some very interesting conversation around the dinner table...

The weather was beautiful....it was probably in the 70's....you can see the magnificent view of the Umbrian countryside in the first picture.....

It was a very unique dinner with many nationalities represented around the dinner table....let me explain...in the first picture at the top....going clockwise from bottom left....we have Leyla's brother and his girlfriend...of course Leyla's brother is Italian and his girlfriend is Croatian. Then you recognize Grace from earlier pictures....and next to her is her dear friend Elena from Austria. Then that is me....Piddle is taking the picture of course....then you see Paolo and Leyla....our Roman of course....then next to Leyla is Elena's son and daughter-in-law. She is of Mexican decent...however, I am not sure how much time she has spent there. I think her family comes from there and maybe she was raised somewhere else.....He is working in Rome for the year. This is why they were in Italy during this period.

Many languages were flying around the table all day...Italian, German, English of course....everything...and many times...a few different languages in one sentence...people would forget who they were talking to and so would forget in which language they should be speaking....it was great fun and so thankful to have such good friends to include us in their holiday.

Picture #2

This is Leyla cutting the traditional Italian Easter Cake. I think it is shaped in the form of a dove. Not sure what the flavor...some almonds were present and some fruit...then Leyla melted chocolate and poured over the top....this we had with limoncello. We had a full-course meal..and seemed like we were eating all day long....Leyla is a terrific cook and cooked wonderful pasta dish with fresh wild asparagus. We hunted for wild asparagus today. Sort of like hunting for mushrooms. You get all excited when you spot one. She also made roasted lamb, which is an Easter tradition with a side of roasted artichoke hearts. I made mom's Oriental Chicken Salad. Which is our family's tradition. Well, mom and my tradition anyway.....So I felt like I had a piece of home here today...........The food was fabulous....and the wine poured freely....We love Italy!

Picture #3

This is the Italian Easter Egg. They don't hunt easter eggs, or color them...or have all the Easter stuff that we do at home....but they have aisles and aisles of these huge eggs in the stores......they come in dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Yes, Piddle and I received one from the Easter Bunny. So the tradition is to just whack it open...and there is always a prize inside......our prize was a keychain. Great Fun! This was a picture of Leyla's brother Gian cracking his open.

Great day!

Stay tuned for pictures tomorrow.....The Italians know how to do it right...they not only have Easter but they also take off on Monday....it is the Italian tradition to have a picnic outside the Monday after Easter....I think to celebrate the beginning of Spring....

So Leyla has invited us up tomorrow for a picnic.....Can't wait!