Dinners with Friends

I apologize for my lack of updates but really nothing too crazy is going on over here. Two Friday's ago I attempted to watch the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament with limited luck. A few coworkers and I found a "sports bar" that told us they had ESPN America but that we would have to wait for the owner's son to come with the "key" to change the channel. We waited and finally were treated to the UCLA-VCU basketball game. It was a very good game and after UCLA won I went to update my brackets (which I of course brought to the bar) and realized that the game had been played yesterday. We were not watching ESPN America but Sky Sports which was showing OLD games. Oh well at least it was something and a chance to show some friends "March Madness". I am pretty sure they just think I'm crazy.
Two Saturday's ago I went shopping to the outlet malls...but these have Gucci, Prada and Furla! Raffaella and her boyfriend Diego were kind enought to let the American tag along with them for a day of shopping.
The next day I went out for dinner with Veronica (who I share an office with), her boyfriend Marco, her sister Martina, Martina's boyfriend Mario, Massimo and his friend Matteo. We had great pizza and it was a lot of fun getting to know everyone! Martina and Mario invited me over for dinner on Wednesday and made a great meal for me. I really enjoyed the pastry with ham, artichokes and eggs. So delicious I hope that I will be able to get the recipe and try it out at home!
The weekend was very rainy so we were not able to go skiing as planned. Instead, my coworker Luigi invited me to spend the afternoon with his family at their house which is a short drive away in Rivoli. I had a great time. Luigi showed me around the town and we took a walk up to the castle which was built in the 1600s and was one of the castles used by the Savoia family. The Savoia family ruled Italy from the eleventh century until the kingdom was abolished at the end of World War II. Crazy to think that is not "old" here! It is now a museum of modern art. Luigi and his wife Daniella were scheduled to watch the children of Luigi's sister Margherita and her husband Mario in the afternoon so they could go shopping. You may ask why they didn't take the children shopping with them and the answer is because shopping with twenty-three month old triplets is just a bit too difficult! We spent the afternoon with Luigi's children Cristina (seven) and Francesca (five and a half) and the triplets Marco, Chiara, and Pietro. It was a lot of fun. We played Mario Cart and I of course kept my streak of loosing to a seven year old alive! I also learned a lot of words playing with the triplets as my vocabulary is just a little above theirs! Cristina taught me (and sometimes one of the triplets but mostly me) the names of many animals too. Such an educational day! Daniella made a wonderful dinner of rice with artichokes, breaded pork, potatoes and asparagus (which were the largest I have ever seen...Stacey they made the ones in Salzberg look small). Margherita, Mario and the triplets came back after dinner to hang out and have a wonderful apple torte. I had a lot of fun and hope to return soon!