Let the Games Begin

Ryan's hockey season officially begins tomorrow (Saturday), which is great for one thing: lunch.

Pre-game meals are an event to look forward to in the Dingle household - last year I wrote about Ryan's famous red sauce, but it doesn't stop there. No pre-game meal is complete without what we like to call "The Sophie Salad". This salad was invented as a way to distract myself from the delicious scent of Ryan's sauce being prepared in the kitchen, because unlike Ryan, I don't exercise enough to eat pre-game meal twice a week (although it usually happens anyway). Recipe below!

This season, as always, you can follow Cortina on Pointstreak (here) and through their website (here). Games are every Thursday and Saturday at 8:30 pm Italian time. To watch the live ticker on Pointstreak, click on the link above - all the games will be listed on game days - and click on Cortina's game.

Forza Cortina!


The Sophie Salad
Serves 2

Combine in a large bowl: enough lettuce for two people, one small tomato chopped, half a chopped cucumber, a bit of chopped red onion if you like it, four chopped artichoke hearts (from a jar),1 small can of tuna, about half a can of white cannellini beans, two hard boiled eggs and some crumbled feta. For dressing we use olive oil and red wine vinegar or balsamic.

Homeward Bound

Now that we've arrived and gotten settled in I'm packing up and leaving again, to head back to the US tomorrow for a wedding and a visit with my parents. But I'll be back on the 28th and I have a few posts lined up in the meantime.

Here are a few pictures from our first two weeks, if you'd like to see...Ryan had three pre-season games last week and we've been working on getting hooked up to the internet (still), but in between all that....

Last Monday we went up to Monte Piana where there was a slackline competition that was CRAZY to watch! The lines were tied on the mountains between cliffs and the people were SO high up.

In this picture, you can see all the different lines:

 And in this picture, you can see a tiny person in the middle of the line!

Everyone was camping out on top of the mountain...

 

And they were paragliding too! You can see the little shapes in the clouds:

 

The whole thing was pretty wild. Then, this past weekend we did our annual Cinque Torri hike...

We stopped halfway up for lunch with a view and then continued on to the top. This is a hike that we do every September before the trail and rifugios close at the end of the month.

Check back later in the week for info on how to follow Ryan's team this year - his first game is on Saturday!

Here We ARE Again

Here we are again! 

We arrived successfully on the morning of August 31, having completed all items on our “leaving check-list” which was three pages long, front and back. You know, you can’t just LEAVE the country for eight months like Diane Lane does in Under the Tuscan Sun – you have to pack, for one. And cancel your health insurance and stock up on soba noodles and canned pumpkin. And call Wells Fargo to alert them that you will be out of the country for eight months.

Apparently,Wells Fargo now does this through an automated woman who is very friendly, but hard of hearing. 

“What is the first country you will be traveling to?” she asked me.

“Italy,” I said.

“Did you say Italy?” she replied.

“Yes.”

“What is the next country you will be visiting? If Italy is your only destination, say done.”

“Austria,” I said (for groceries).

“Did you say Austria?”

“Yes.”

“What is the next country you will be visiting? If Austria is your last destination, say done.”

“Germany.”

“Did you say Germany?”

“YES.”

“What is the next country you will be visiting? If Germany is your last destination, say done.”

“Switzerland.”

“Did you say North Korea?”

Why no, I did not say North Korea.

Anyway, we got everything straightened out and we’re here! I took our first week off blogging (not by choice) because we don't have internet yet (this is Italy!)   and instead focused on unpacking and eating cheese. But! I’m ready to get back into the swing of things and I’m excited for what’s to come this year: we’re going to take lots of trips (none to North Korea though), make lots of homemade pasta, and hopefully have lots of visitors. Thanks for reading!