Christmas, carbonara and chilli.

Day 59.

I woke up at 10 this morning and leisurely got ready and played some accordion. At 11:45 I went with Simone to Ivana's parents' house for lunch via the car wash! At their house in the hills we ate well, again! The first douse was bean & pea stew with cooked salami and pasta al forno. The second course was various meats with chips and salad. The meal finished with strawberries, cake and chocolate. Because it was my last Sunday in Stradella I agreed to play the accordion for the grandparents so they could hear me play before I go back. I played for about fifteen minutes or so, before we FINALLY persuaded Erica to play for the first time on five years! She had no music and couldn't remember much but we're hoping she'll agree to play with music again on Saturday! Once the musical interlude was over Erica and I went down to the garage to play with Matteo, who's trying to learn how to ride a bike. I tried to help him by holding the bike upright but he wasn't keen on that. We all played a bit of football before endless games of Indovina chi? (Guess Who?) in a mixture of English and Italian.
At 16:30 Claudio, Erica and I went home, where Erica slept and relaxed (she's lost her voice, which we're all celebrating!). Kevin and Liam soon turned up and us four guys sat around chatting before heading to Stefano's house to see the work he's been doing on the diatonic accordion project. Being a trained lute-maker, he's a specialist in woodwork and has been building a prototype body for the diatonic accordion out walnut wood. Kevin and Liam were very excited; they were like two little boys at Christmas!
Stefano then came with us to Piacenza where we met Simone and went to a beer house with thirty beers on tap. We sat outside in the warm evening sun and ordered some food. I had spaghetti carbonara, which, quite frankly, was disgusting! Not a patch on Dad's! Claudio also tipped beer all over the table! He then appeared with a basket of nachos and a pot of chilli sauce from inside the bar. The chilli brought the others to tears it was so hot! Liam and I sensibly decided against trying it! We then drove home, said goodbye to Kevin & Liam (they leave early in the morning) and I was in bed by 23:45.

Buondì x