a fantastic day

saturday aubrey and i celebrated our anniversary. we dropped off luca at nonna's house in the morning for a full day and sleep-over. we hopped on the bus to manhattan and walked up to alfredo's restaurant. there is an alfredo's in rome, and the restaurant was started by alfredo. as in fettucine alfredo. this dude invented it almost 100 years ago. which is why we figured the restaurant would be up to our snob standards here on the east coast.

here's a run-down of our order:
we started with a 2000 montepulciano and frittura alla romana. fried calamari, shrimp in a nice tempura batter, and fried peppers, veggies, apples and pears. oh and they had great bread which came with crushed black olive paste, tomato paste and a white-bean paste which tasted a lot like hummus.

aubrey had the fettucine, which was fantastic. and i had the penne alla checca. it was nice... it wasn't like it was in rome, but close enough. black olives, fresh basil and mozzarella di bufala. at that point we should have stopped, but we had already ordered roman artichokes like they make in the jewish ghetto. they were a bit undercooked, but tasty nonetheless. and the pasta was perfectly al dente.

we succombed and had desert too, and i had a grappa. the caffe and capuccino were horrendous... really bad. but the food was incredible. it was definitely the best italian food we've had (eating out) since we've been back in america.

of course they prices were high, and it's not the kind of place we could afford to go to often, but still a great place to eat.

after a long relaxing lunch at alfredo's we walked down to the little deli that nicola and i found last week for good espresso. but they had just closed. we ended up at smith's bar for a few pints before heading back to jersey.

we just had a wonderful time - chatting, talking about luca (!), and having a saturday afternoon. later on in the evening we met up at jenny and paul's house, where they had a little christmas get-together for thier family. it was a nice do, jenny made way too much food, but it was all good.

this morning we slept in, which was a first in a long time for aubrey. laid in bed, having coffee, watching the newest episode of little britain. this afternoon was the cece christmas do, the major once-a-year dinner/open bar at the brownstone. we passed it like most of these parties, talking amongst ourselves asking if so-and-so is related to us, and trying to figure out who the people in our family are. the only difference this year was that i DIDN'T end up drunk off my ass, and passed out in the bathroom at the end of the night. which definitely was a good thing.

i'm working daytime this week which is nice, because i might be able to meet up with gerard in the city before christmas. stil have some gifts to get, and wrap some things, and then just celebrate christmas at the end of the week! i;m looking forward to the holidays!

half an inch of ice

today i went into the city early to meet a friend, nicola, that we met in rome thru micah and nikoma.
he's napoletano, and speaks with a pretty impressive napoletano accent. he's in new york for at least 3 years studying at a lab on the east side. it was the first time in a long time i got to speak italian. it felt really good. it was hard at first, i had a bad case of mouth constipation, but as the afternoon went on i felt better about it. we found a little italian deli on 46th street that really served the best espresso i've had in america. the owner is a short dude from calabria whose been here over 40 years, but unlike most of his fellow paesani he didn't forget how to make a good caffe.

nicola is heading back to italy next week for christmas, but i'm hoping we can start hanging out more often. aside from the fact that he's a lot of fun to hang with, it can also help my italian and his english.

i got to work early hoping to leave early and miss the impending transit strike. as it turns out i just caught the last bus back to jersey after rushing 10 blocks in the pouring rain. i had planned to take a car home, but seeing as the weather is shit, and people are nervous about the strike, and the ridiculous amounts of holiday parties happening (most at my building in the restaurant upstairs, providing me with tons of entertainment as i smoke outside) there was a two hour waiting time for a car. luckily the bus a tad late. the only problem once i got back to jersey was i had to walk 1/2 a mile through a complete sheet of ice. after about 2 blocks i realized it was better to walk in the left over snow, to save my ass from slipping a few times.

i suppose it could have been worse. after i have off tomorrow. and i'm really looking forward to the weekend. saturday especially. a whole day, just me and aubrey... a nice lunch, a few drinks, and conversation! and it's supposed to be sunny.

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i was reading nikoma's blog earlier and learned that thier 2 year old son nicolò has many italian words. he's going to day care a few days a week so he's learning from all the little roman kids. i was happy to hear that but it got me sad... i knew this would happen. had we stayed in rome a little longer luca would have become better in italian... he used to say acqua exclusively when he wanted a drink of water. now he just says water. he asked me for more water the other day and it freaked me out. i said "what happened to acqua?" and he shook his head, "no, daddy, water."

ah well. we'll just have to enroll him an italian school here, and pump his head full of battisti records.

tre mesi in america...

today marks three months that we've been back in the states. (and also two years that we've been married!)

to the three people who read this blog (or at least log on to find that nothing new has been posted) i apologize.... needless to say a lot has happened in these three months.

first and foremost, luca is a superstar.
he had his first official photoshoot, and will appear both on a toy box, and also in the catalog. he's just the cutest kid! i'm not sure if this will turn into a regular thing, but the kid has potential for sure. this way he can pay for his own college! (because by 2022 when he's ready for NYU, the place will cost $300,000 a semester.)

aubrey and i are dealing with our new life situation on a daily basis. everything from attempting to re-create the great caffe' from sant'eustachio in the morning, to complaining about the selection and quality of wine in this country. we're total snobs and we know it. trying to find a blend of being "interesting" and snobbish is not really that easy.

ok its time for the quick re-cap.

13 september
we wake up around 3:30 in the am, shower, and i start to move the 7 enormous bags downstairs. i scheduled a pickup for 4:30. im shaky and sweaty after all the luggage is ready to go, but not necessarily from the early morning workout. we manage to get luca changed without waking him up too much.

i head down to wait for giuseppe... 4:30. 4:36. 4:40. this is a roman who is usually very punctual (not very usual for a roman) i give him a call. he's in bed. i forgot that in italian, instead of saying 4:30 in the morning as you would in english, they say 4:30 at night, but meaning the morning after. (he thought it was supposed to be 4:30 am on 14 september. anyway he rushes over and we get to the airport on time. 1st mission accomplished.

at rome's fiumicino we get to the check-in desk, after have our last tour of the city for a while. i load all the bags on - and they are all under weight. 2nd mission accomplished. however, we can only check 6. we have 7. i offer to pay extra and get turned down... so now we have to truck around the airport with 4 bags and luca in the stroller. we get to the x-rays and since bag number 7 was supposed to be checked-in, it gets searched. and they find about 10 little scissors, 3 nailclippers and a large pair of scissors. questions.... answers.... the romans let us go on, but we need to throw out the biggest pair of scissors. I ask about the 10 little ones, and they, no problem. those are ok…

plane takes off to paris – no problems. aside from the 10 little scissors and 3 nailclippers. apparantly the french don't agree with the italians about boarding an international flight with sharp objects on your carry-on.

now comes the 4 hour layover. luca was awake for the flight to paris, but is sleeping once we land. it’s ok. the only good thing about CDG is the smoking areas! at least you can count on the french for something... we kill 4 hours by eating lame sandwitches (but on good bread) and taking turns walking around the terminal while the other one watches the boy.

the plane to newark is now delayed by one hour. when we finally board, the plane is near empty. it was like a dream. the three of us occupied an entire middle row. aubrey and i on either end, and luca with 2 seats to himself in the middle. he was so great on the plane, i even got to nap a little.

long story short (i know, too late) we're delayed again on landing, and by the time we finally get to bed, we've been up for well over 24 hours straight.

shortly after we took our first real vacation since 2002. the lovely brownish-grey sands of wildwood crest, nj. at the same resort i vacationed with my parents from ages 4-16. it was totally surreal to be back in that hotel. remembering things i had long forgotten. eating at that italian restaurant (bad idea) and just having a week to relax on the beach with my family. it was fantastic.

shortly after the vacation i scored a job. im back to editing in my dimly lit room, making tv again for major cable channels, and major network shows. its not the news, and i am happy about that. and im getting more comfortable with the people, and they seem to dig my work. so i am happy about that... and its in manhattan. i love being in the city everyday, although i am finding it a real pain in the arse getting out late at night. see, since there is high demand for editors these days, they don't have enough rooms for the amount of people they have. so i am on a 6pm-2am shift. problem is that the last bus back to jersey leaves at 1230. so i've been driving to hoboken (25 minutes) walking 6 blocks (4-7 minutes, depending on if i stop for coffee) to the path train (12 minutes) then to the BDF or V (5 minutes). its not a bad commute IN. the first couple of weeks when i didnt have the schedule down there were some nights when it took me 2 hours to get home. now i got it. i just hate driving, only to take a subway. parking is way too expensive. it's my only option at this point.

halloween.
i missed luca trick-or-treating since halloween fell on a weekday this year, and the fact that we don't live in rome anymore, and i can't just take a day off whenever i feel like it. but he was spongebob. that kid lives and breathes spongebob. and i must say, i am totally into it myself. he scored lots of candy, also thanks to the halloween party a few days before hand. it made his normal smile just a little bit bigger.

thanksgiving.
my first thanksgiving in america in 3 years. of course, i missed the annual bash at clark's house, but it was wonderful to just be at home, with all 19 of us at aubrey's parent's house. it was kind of like being at clark's come to think of it... we ate, and drank (some more than others) and i ended up in the hot tub at the end of the night. it was a great day.

the next day was aubrey's grandfather's 90th birthday. they were up from miami for the holiday. although i have known this man for 10 years now, it just finally dawned on me exactly how long of a time 90 years is. it's amazing. and aside from his speed, you would never know he's been walking this earth for the past almost-century. he's totally with it. i spent the next few days thinking about myself at 90. if i get that far. kids, grandkids, great-grandkids... a full life. all those experiences. imagine if he had a blog from when he was 28... that's a lot of cyberspace.

christmas plans.
we're almost done with our shopping. saturday we're having lunch together in the city at alfredo's. fettuccine alfredo was invented in rome by a dude named alfredo. (clever, huh?) he's got THE famous restaurant in rome, which we've never been to. and one in new york, which we are going to on saturday. i figure it might be a good bet for quality italian food. but i still have some reservations about it. i'll post a review after...

next sunday is the annual cece christmas party, which i'm sure will be fun. although my cheeks will hurt at the end of the day.

aubrey and i have been talking about our plans for the springtime. where to move to? buy or rent? stay longer here? brazil? australia? kenya? suburbs or city? we haven't come to much of a conclusion. but its a beginning to say the least.

there ain't nothing like startin over.