Buon Natale!

As in many european cities, christmas was one of the most important holidays celebrated in Italy. The towns are filled with decoration of colorful lights. Christmas markets, selling christmas related gifts and tidbits can be found on the city streets. In the evening, it was a lively atmosphere as many people go out in the streets.

In this season, most Italian would go back to their hometown and spend time with their families.


In churches, they usually have the nativity scene depicted inside. Some churches have evening mass or late night mass during the christmas eve.

It was not a white christmas, as I thought it would be. Well, perhaps chrstmas was not meant to be white in the first place.

Christmas in modern days would be a season of giving. Warm moments for family gathering. A point to ponder and give thanks. A festival of celebration. These are wonderful aspects for christmas as seen by people all over the world.

But first and foremost, Christmas was as depicted in the nativity scene:
The night was dark. So was human life.
But even within the darkness, a light appeared, in human form.
Not from a palace nor with glorious splendor.
Just a small baby in a humble manger.
Still, what was but a small light in the town of Betlehem has become the light of the world.
The light of us.

Happy birthday Jesus!

Caldonazzo Lake

Not very var from Trento, there is another lake called Caldonazzo lake. We reached the place within half an hour by train.

It was one morning, end of autumn. The wheather was pretty cold and no one else was there. The lake seems pristine so that you can almost see the reflection of the mountains on the water. As with other lakes, there are lots of ducks here as well.

I like this kind of stuff, just sitting by the lake and enjoying the scenery. The still waters. It makes your mind kinda relax.

Right before we left, we had some coffee in a nearby bar. A nice countryside atmosphere.
People were friendly though they don't speak much english. I left my bag in the bar and went to the station. Just as I realized it and was going to go back, an elderly man ran to me and returned my bag. Another act of kindness there :D.

Cooking Chronicles (4): Pasta

Pasta is a typical Italian dish. There is an exciting variety of shapes for pasta. From noodle, wheel, pipe, spiral and many other. And the raw pasta are typically less expensive than rice.

In this case the pasta used is the noodle shaped one, a bit thicker than typical spaghetti.

Cooking pasta is basically just boiling then adding tomato sauce or meat sauce. In this serving, I boiled the pasta with some vegetables ( those used for wantan noodle) and sausage. then mix the meat sauce, cream (derived from milk) and cheese. Fry for a while and serve hot.

Jessica's Kitchen

After some time of vacuum due to the blogger bug and midterm exam, now it's time to write again.
We were invited by our Pastor Joel to his house in Verona to have lunch together. He leads our student bible study group held near our apartments.
It's unfortunate that some of us could not make it for the lunch. His wife, Jessica, does great cooking. We had a good amount of rice and turkey dishes. Italian style.
What impressed me was more of the family itself. They have four wonderful, nice children. They're obedient but not shy to talk with guests. There was a lively atmosphere around as we spent the whole evening playing with the kids and getting to know the family.
We missed the train back and had to wait for some time. But I guess, the visit has been worthwhile.