Ugali ? No, Polenta.

Well, there I was, in Uganda, East Africa, fall of 2006. It was semi-work related trip, a fact-finding trip for a non-profit that organizes medical missions all over the world.
We were in Jinja, Uganda, guests of a friend, Adam. I was told over and over about "Ugali" and how it was a local staple, very good and they invited us for a meal at a local "cafe'" for a lunch with some Ugali ... While waiting, we went in the back of the cafe' to see the kitchen, and how this famous ugali was prepared... You can imagine my surpries when I saw the ugali.. look below:





























Yes, ugali, in Eas Africa is noting else than polenta.
Our friends in Jinja were so excited that the mzungu knew ugali and liked it ... That was an amazing trip, that will be another post, maybe.

Snack

The difference between an Italian snack and an American snack ?

Painfully evident.

You decide.

Magic

Early Summer, it's dusk, three little girls dance in the light of fireflies, and all of a sudden everything is ... magic.

Oh, to be able to have that spirit again ...

Almost Wordless Monday

Ci troviamo e ci contiamo e manchi sempre tu...

Summer is officialy over.

Some friends from Italy came to stay with us for a while. Actually, they moved back from Italy to the US, after living in Italy for a decade.

My kids and their kids have known each other since they can remember, and they always have fun when spending time together.

This year, they had one last swim day at the pool, just before end of summer. One final swim, one final day of careless fun and pure kids craziness, one last splash before school starts.

Aren't they fantastic ? ...

Saturday

It's Saturday, time to make lunch, and the kids want to help with the cooking. Well, some do, others would rather run and hide ... Angelina is our youngest child, she is three, and loves to help in the kitchen, and often does it with an effort and intensity that surprises us...

This time, she chose to grate parmigiano reggiano ( off course) while we were preparing the sauce and pasta...

She is the sweetest helper... :-)

Ah, the beauty of a photo ...

My daughter, Francesca is 16, and she just came back from a two weeks trip to China.
Off course, being the shutterbug she is, she went with a camera, and came back with oh, let's say about 1000 pictures. I haven't seen them, yet ( she is jealous of her shots ) but some "leaked out" and I was able to grab this one:

My guess is that we will never know what they were looking at and why the adorable little girl was covering her face ... maybe something she saw many times, and she was like : "Oh, no, grandmother, not here again...!" The sure thing is, her expression and body language are priceless.

The lady with the girl ( grandma, mom .. ? ) seems quite amused at the sight of .. whatever it is ..
I need to ask Francesca what they were looking at...

Frankie took a compact camera with her, it almost fit in her hands, and so she was able to take many "street candid" shots, some of them are quite interesting.

More soon.

Be well.