Welcome to Italy! How about some Chinese, Korean, Japanese Food...?

That’s right! We had guests from Hungary recently. Stephen, Salome, and Lili. An American, South American/Canadian, and Hungarian respectively. And for their first meal together with us in Italy, together we cooked up some wholesome Italian Chinese/Korean/Japanese food! Actually, it was quite a hit. Especially with Stephen who grew up in Japan. His remark, “I never thought I’d be eating Japanese dumplings in Italy! This is great!”


Everyone acted as both chief chef and food sampler.






Over dinner we discovered that Stephen, during their time in Rome, was assigned to be the chauffeur since he was the only one of the group to own a valid driving license. We also discovered that he was going to be driving a BMW stick-shift… and he’s never driven a stick before! So, promptly after diner, while the girls finished up in the kitchen, Zeno and Stephen set out for a driving lesson around Piazza Giulio Cesare. And they both came back alive!

For Easter, the Hungary-Travelers (H-Ts) went to visit friends/family in Rome while Zeno and I spent the holiday celebrating with Papa, Mum, David and Rosie in Tuscany. Due to a mis-communication in which Zeno and I thought "spending the night in Florence" meant the H-Ts were being put up in lodging for the night in Florence when in reality they meant they were going to wander the streets all night… After Easter we met up in Florence to find the H-Ts very relieved to see us and even more grateful to be able to fall asleep in the back of Pegs (Pegs = our old and faithful Peugeot station wagon). This and other occasions have inspired Zeno and I to take up the noble task on notifying the world that it is not eternal summer in Italy. As the H-Ts can testify, having been told before hand that "Italy is going to be hot. Make sure to bring some good summer cloths!", after wandering the streets of Florence in March on a rainy day with sandals and wearing all the cloths they brought in attempt to keep warm... winter happens in Italy too!

God used our time together with our visitors to remind us of His great generosity toward us and to remind us that all the gifts He has given to us are not ultimately our own, but only an opportunity to be used to give on as a blessing from Him to others.

"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."Luke 6:38

Thank you Stephen, Salome and Lili for visiting us and giving us the blessing of growing along with you in faith and knowledge of God! We hope to see you again... next time hopefully we'll be able to take holiday time along with you. May you continue on your adventure wherever God leads you always becoming more like Christ!

An Enchanting Day

It's been cold and raining, raining, raining this week! It's been a good week to lay low and catch up on some much needed rest. And, the garden has been delighted by the long refreshing drink. The rain has washed the sidewalks clean and turned the otherwise normal walks near our house into enchanting fairy walks!!! Friday, even though I was exhausted, I had the chance in the afternoon to venture out with the princess-blue umbrella Zeno got for me and my camera. Walking home from Bible study I'd been so captured by the beauty and peace the rain brought that I couldn't miss the opportunity to capture it through my camera lens.

I also tip-toed through our garden to capture some of the colors residing there - yellow, purple, pink, deep rose... The rain brought out the colors so vibrantly! I'm so thankful God is such an imaginative creator. Imagine if He'd decided to create the world only in black and white... or sepia!?!!? What would we do without violet! Ah, let's not think on it.

The fallen cherry blossoms showered the cars too making them reminiscent of wedding-get-away vehicles. Hmmmm, now that's a good idea to keep in mind for the next time I get to help decorate the couples' honeymoon ride.

And then, here's the view walking back to our house. Completely blanketed by the magic of spring. And, if you look at the houses on the end, you'll notice the "bent" house... they always remind Zeno and I of when Mom and Dad came to visit. Mom remember the name of the piazza at the entrance of our neighborhood and didn't know how to describe it otherwise than to referred to it as the place where the "bent" houses are ( =

All in all, a perfectly enchanting day! Wouldn't you agree?

Buona Pasqua!

Happy Easter!!!

Easter in Tuscany with Mum and Papa. A beautiful place together with family to take the chance to remember the gift of our Savior's love. We drove down through the traffic to arrive around 2am... to find our bedroom cozy and warm with a fire going all ready for us!

Up the following morning, I snuck out carefully hoping to let Zeno catch a few extra Z's... I think I rustled him a little, but he tenaciously captured those Z's just the same. I found Mum up and about already and was just in time to go with her on an expedition down to Buonconvento. For two reasons - I wanted to ask the pharmacist if he had any pink-eye medicine (because I prefer my eyes to stay blue) and, a bit more fun, Mum and I were going to the little bakery to choose the Easter cake! In the end, we did a good job; we came away with two Easter cakes. Yummy! Rightly so, Jesus' resurrection is a time to celebrate thoroughly.

We spent a leisurely morning wandering Bounconvento on our errands, and returned back home just in time to catch Zeno having some breakfast. So we joined him - properly having our "second breakfast" like good little hobbits.

In the evening, it being Good Friday, we went down to the church to participate in the Via della Croce or, The Way of the Cross which is a walk through the scenes leading up to Jesus crucifixion. Mum was going to be one of the women who mourn at the foot of the cross and Zeno and I were simply going to walk through the procession as spectators, however, we soon found ourselves dressed as a Roman Soldier and a second mourning Hebrew woman! (of course, Zeno was the soldier and I was the mourner...). I wished I'd brought my camera!

The rainy and cold weather added the proper mood for the journey to the cross. It was truly beautiful to specifically take the time to read through the scripture passages and reflect upon our Savior's passionate love for us - love greater than any other in that He would give His life in order to bring Himself into a personal relationship with us. In the midst of our often hectic schedules, I found myself very moved and so grateful to be able to take the opportunity to set apart time specifically to remember and thank the Lord for His gift of life and love to us.

In the Tutino household, I am the "kid", and so, being a proper "kid", of course we had to color Easter eggs!!! And, of course, I didn't remember the correct proportions of vinegar and food coloring to use for the eggs. But, it was fun anyways, and in the end the eggs did change colors - thanks also to Zeno's idea to paint them directly with the dye ( =

Then, as we left the eggs to acquire their color, we took a walk together to the Bagno Vignone. A quaint little village town that has hot springs! A good choice for a chilly day. It was serene and simply a delight to be able to look around at the scenic Tuscan countryside surrounding us. And to think, it's beautiful even before all the spring blossoms spring forth! When it came time to leave, Zeno had to do some real convincing to get 'Manda to leave the cute little blue bench she'd discovered.

Finally! Easter Morning!!! Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen! He is risen indeed!

Earlier in the day we met together with David and Rosie and took a nice hike to the nearest mountain to find some snow! It was quite cold and we weren't exactly dressed for the occasion, but Zeno gave me his coat and together we hiked through untrodden snow - fresh, peaceful and beautiful! On the way to the peak, David, Zeno and I were inspired to throw a few well aimed snowballs at one another, and on the way back I managed to talk Zeno into rolling down the snow covered hill - yippee! For dinner, David and Rosie joined us and we celebrated together. Mum had the table all bright and joyful complete with candles and Easter eggs! We had one of the Easter cakes... I took some pics of it all, but somehow, I've lost them... It was good to be together and we stayed up late into the evening taking advantage of it.

Happy Easter!

John 20:31 - "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name!"

Ski Trip Spring 2008!

Our last chance for spring skiing! We were up at the break of dawn, loaded up our things in faithful Peggs, make sure Peggs has enough breakfast to see us up to the mountain, and we're off!!!
First stop, Agrate Brianza to pick up our friends Angie and Kate (pronounced "Ka-te" short for Katerina). Unfortunately, Giuliano and Bea couldn't come due to getting over a bit of the flu... but we plan to have another outing before long so that we'll all be able to go together. Maybe river rafting next?!
We arrived to find Angie and Kate waiting for us with ski bags packed and ready. After taking the scenic route, it was really on purpose to find a panino for Kate and add some extra pep that comes from Cappuccino foam, we landed in Barzio, near Bergamo. At the bottom of the cable car, we couldn't see much snow... but we saw a lot of people going around with skis and snowboards in hand, so we were encouraged to head for the top... where there was SNOW!
It was beautiful, and, with the soft spring weather, it was lovely to enjoy without freezing our toes off! Actually, after the sun showed up in all of its glory and warmed up the snow, we actually had some difficulty picking up speed, but that helped us all stay together ( =
We brought a picnic lunch along, very international an eclectic: Peanut Butter Sandwiches! Peanut butter from the U.S., bread from Milan, and home-made grape jelly from Holland! Yummy! They sure hit the spot after a nice day on the slopes. Not to mention the addition of a genuine Italian hot-chocolate! Now that's nothing less than gourmet, I assure you.
We returned home in the evening all skied out (or snowboarded out in my case) and excited to have found the chance to get out on the snow with some good friends before it disappears to give way to glorious Spring!
You can be sure there are more adventures to come! And we'll keep you posted ( =