Antonella's Home In Bologna

I have been gone with a Youth

Conference, camping with the youth from

our church, but I am back for a few days

before I take the Young Women from church

to Lake Powell next week.  

I wanted to continue my

trip to Paris and Italy by showing you

Antonella's home.  Remember I promised

to show you her kitchen.  My husband had

commented on the huge pans she cooked with

and mentioned the usually little Italian kitchens

so she invited us over to see her home, and

especially her kitchen. 

As you enter the large doors to Antonella's

building, typical of old Bologna, you enter

this gorgeous colonade.  This is a very old

lovely building.

This fabulous courtyard is opposite the

colonade.  We had stopped at a flower

shop to bring Antonella some fresh flowers.

Amanda is standing by the fountain holding

the flowers.

She not only has the beautiful courtyard in the entry

colonade, but another one right off the living room

which you can see through this wonderful glass-filled

arched window.

This is the courtyard that her living room

faces.  What a fun enclosed place to enjoy

peace in the city or to have your children play.

This is Tonya's oldest.

Through the glass-filled arch you are greeted with

the most beautiful turquoise living room.  I adored

the gorgeous color of these huge couches.  There 

were touches of turquoise in the wool rug and in the

art on the walls.

The ceiling in the living room was magnificent

with fabulous detail.

Speaking of details, one of my favorite is

the circle of turquoise colored stones around

the brass circumference of this crystal chandelier.

The room was elegant yet inviting and warm.

She also had a family room or sitting room in a bright

yellow that was also absolutely stunning.  That is

Victoria sitting on the couch.  Antonella's manservant

served us chilled water.  It is very unusual to have

chilled water in Italy.  Mostly it is served room 

temperature.

Isn't the ceiling in this room wonderful too?

Although all of the other rooms are very spacious,

her kitchen was typically very small.  

But she proudly showed us where she kept her restaurant

size pans in an adjoining storage room,

and one additional storage room for her fine

china.  Antonella let us know that she often

cooks for 45 in that kitchen and that is why

she has such large pots and pans.

What a treat to visit this fabulous home.

Then we were off to the busy market area

of downtown Bologna.  Stores and shops are

closed on Sunday so on Saturday morning 

the narrow streets and shops are filled with

people shopping for their food for Saturday

and Sunday.

These are the stores where Victoria and Antonella

bought the food for our cooking classes.

The fruits and vegetables are just gorgeous.

There is fresh seafood of all kinds.

The butcher was having a little fun here with the

pig's head and a beret.

After a lunch break we headed back for our second 

cooking lesson at Tonya's house.  Notice Antonella's

huge pan in this photo.

We then went home to make

Chicken Cacciatora

(Hunter's wife's chicken - they were quick to point

out that this was feminine, not Cacciatore - masculine!)

Fresh beans with tomatoes

and a Flourless Chocolate Cake.

 (Here we are in front of the church building

on Sunday morning.)

We decided to go out to dinner and save this

meal for Sunday after church.  We invited four

missionaries from our church, The Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to eat the meal

with us.  In many areas of the world where 

missionaries from our church serve, they are fed

by the members every day or have someone who

cooks a main meal for them.  Here in Bologna

the guys cook for themselves so they

were very grateful.  

They got to sample some

of the pork roast and the semifreddo left from

the first cooking school day also.  They said

it was the best food they had eaten in Italy.

I have to make a note here that the missionaries

translated the church service for us too.  That 

was very nice of them.

The missionaries left to right are

Elder Rich, Elder Lehnardt, Elder Dunshee and

Elder Duersch.  Tonya's son is enjoying being

with the big guys.  Elder is an office held in the

priesthood and a title, not their first names.

We still have Florence and our return to

Paris for one night.  It is fun writing

about our wonderful trip.  Hope you

are enjoying it with me.

Just a quick note

we found

Amarena Fabbri online!

Just Google it for several different sizes and

sources.  It is pricey, around $21 for 21 oz.,

but it was $15 for 21 oz.

there in Italy.  It is made in Bologna and

imported.  It is well worth splurging and

is certainly cheaper than going there!