The past couple of days have been hot, like stifling hot. It
is also the first two days that we’ve needed the air conditioner all summer.
Tonight, thankfully, the heat has broken. It was nice having the air on while
we nursed our sunburns. For some reason, my lips have given me the most
problems this year.
We went to Torremaggiore, my dad’s hometown, yesterday to
visit the cemetery. I wish we would’ve had more time to visit people in town,
but the cemetery was our only stop. Then we worked on stuff in the house and
called it a night.
Today, I went out on my morning walk with the goal to pick
up some meat for tomorrow. August 15 is Ferragosto, the big summer holiday
here. I ordered a chicken, but I wanted to make some brasciola and polpette (meatballs)
as well. I stopped at the fruit market first to get tomatoes to make the sauce,
then waited more than a half hour at the butcher. I was fourth in line and it
took what seemed like forever for the old world Italians to make their
selections. Many wanted a fresh chicken, and when they were shown three, they
had them weighed and chose the lightest one. The weight ranges were like 2.3,
2.4, and 2.5 kg, not huge differences. 
When I got back, I chopped the pomodorini (small tomatoes),
carote (carrots), cipolle (onions), and basilico (basil), then I cooked them
until I had a nice sauce to pass through the mouler. The sauce was delicious. Tomorrow I will heat
the sauce to a nice boil and add the meat for lots more flavor.
Tonight we headed out to Termoli for the last time in 2014.
It was a nice night to walk around and see the castle. The lidi (beach clubs),
were packed with people and it was after 6 p.m. we found a whole strip of
restaurants that we had never seen, as they were hidden in a piazza off of an
alley. Next year, we have a whole list of places to eat. At the end of the
night, as we strolled back to the car, we stopped to take in a tribute to the
invasion of the Turks that was thwarted by Federico II. It was a processional
that tonight included a concert and tomorrow will include fireworks.
