Act2: Gone Mushing!

There is so much that could be said about mushing, but I will try to keep the difference between a blog and an encyclopedia entry. First of all, what is mushing? Mushing consist in being pulled on a sled by, in my case, 11 dogs that do it for a living. In Alaska, were horses can’t go to far and are difficult to be fed, dogs are the best way to reach isolated communities. Well, now you can fly, but by land, they are the most secure way. The dogs are not pet dogs, but working dog, and they are raised and breed for generations to pull sleds. They love pulling, it makes them happy. You would imagine that, being dogs, it would be easy to control them, but in reality all you can ask for from them is turn right (say “Gee”) or left (say “Haw”)… there is no word for start pulling, as they will try to pull all the time (as you walk them to the sled, as soon as they are attached to the sled…) and, some way, they do not understand the word “stop”. To stop you use an anchor (or two), hoping it would go deep enough to the ground.

Karin, a woman that took the chemistry class with me, took me mushing after class. The is a professional musher, her dogs have been running in the Iditarod (one of the most important mushing competition (check http://www.iditarod.com)), and she is training for another big race next week. She introduced me to the dogs, they are all very friendly or very shine, but the most important thing for them is not to be aggressive. I helped her to clean the poop from the kennel and to feed them. Next day we loaded them on a special truck and we went to a mushing trail. We first anchored the sled to a pole, then we start attaching the dogs to the line. We had some problems starting, as we could not release the anchor and with the dog pulling all the time trying to start it was very hard. The long wait upset the lead dog, that decided to turn around, with the rest of the pack behind her. At that point I was already inside the front basket, and as Karin ran to stop and re-direct the lead dog, my task was to flip the sled and hold to it to slow the dogs down. I felt so goofy, but finally we stopped the dogs (Karin did a belly flop on the sled too that was remarkable). So, we tried again, and this time the dogs were just running like crazy along the trail. From the basket you see very interesting things. The scenery was just astonishing. The dogs were unstoppable, they would sometimes bite snow as they were running (they get hot apparently) and they would also poop, holding their back legs up as they are still running with the front legs. I saw tress half bitten by beavers, and we also met a moose. It was very exciting for me, but for Karin it was very stressful, as they are famous for attaching sled dogs and killing them repeatedly stepping on them.

And finally my turn came, and with Karin in the basket, I got to led my own dog team across the wood! And i was also able to stop them!!! A great experience! Thanks Karin!!!

Act2: An ice place to be

(my great hosts J.D. and Dana, in Eagle River)

I wasn’t really sure where to put the space here… A nice place to be or an ice place to be… they both sound correct…
Alaska is cold! Especially coming from Samoa, even if, surprisingly, there is a big ’s Samoan community here. I arrived at J.D.’s and Dana house, James Bond’s friend, late at night and I could not really see anything on the drive, a part the sign “Moose crossing”, but the morning, enjoying an orange sunrise driving to work, everything looked wonderful. The road were frozen, so as my hands frozen at the steering wheel, but the white of the snow, the Burch trees and the pristine mountains took the attention off the coldness.
I was following a chemistry training for 4 days (Tuesday through Friday), from 8:00 to 5:00, so I did not really had a lot of time for touring a lot, but I definitely had a lot of fun with the solid waste people.

(Doug and I during some pH experiments, wearing professional safety goggle. I do not really know how to comment on the pH-pregancy test, but it is worth menctioning...:))

During the class I sometimes felt like a Neanderthal goofy woman in from of a homo sapients (or Cro-Magnons to be precise), but with those guys, I felt less lonely in my desperation, my very own “clan of the cave bear”. The clan really took a good care of me, taking me to parties, shopping, giving me a free parking permit (this place IS expensive!!), and most importantly, taking me mushing! The mushing entry needs an explanation all by her own (it consists of being pulled in a slide by 11 professional nearly uncontrolled dogs)! I am really going to miss those guys now!

(The Clan during lunch break. I ordered salmon pate and i got a ridiculus amount of bread, and then some extra when i commented with the waiter!)

(the clan at a party in Golden view, a bit south of Anchorage, thanks for the invitation!)

(Zacky (Doug's son) in front of a wonderful sunset!)

Some of the things I learned about Alaska in these days (I imagine you are not interested to know what I learned about chemistry…) are:
It is so dry here that in the restroom, next to the soap, there is moisturizing cream. In few days, my nose start peeling, my hair and my lips broke… I had to put cream on constantly!
Apparently they teach you that when you see a bear you should not run, but in reality, RUN!!! As long as you know that you can outrun somebody else (this is what really happened to Doug).
Alaska is very much like an island in many aspects… out there, difficult to reach, the people live in their own world, and there are many villages impossible to reach by cars.
This is from the chemistry class, but worth noting: before 1850, whale oil was used to light the lamps at night. In 1854 the kerosene lamp was introduced and resulted in a better source of energy. Therefore, the oil industry saved the whales!
There is a lot to say about Alaska and Oil extraction, but I still need more investigation.

so now... I am with SnowDave and Suka (my old friend from Oregon and his dog), and soon we will leave for the Denali, then Fairbanks... current temperature 6'F = -14 celcius!!! notice the minus sign!! And this is not even winter!

Act1: Houston, we have a problem

Flying to Alaska off season (not during the summer) it can be nearly has hard as flying to Samoa. They do have daily flight from different US cities, but they were all over-booked.
I was supposed to fly from san Francisco to Las Vegas, and then direct to anchorage, but I ended up in Denver, Colorado instead. I found it ironic, because just outside the gate, there was a real-size statue of Jack Swigert, the guy that said “Houston, we have a problem”, when the Apollo 13 had complications returning to Earth. I found it ironic not only because, yes, I was having a problem going to Alaska, but because, not many know, the Apollo 13 not only was returning to Earth, but was also returning to American Samoa. In fact, on these first moon expeditions, NASA was worried that the astronauts would come back with unknown “spatial illnesses”, and they decided that the safest place to land was right on our beautiful island, thousand of miles away from the rest of the world. All Apollo missions landed just off-shore Tutuila (my island), but Apollo 13 had also the honor to land on nothing less than Flag Day, that is a kind of “Dependence Day:, when American Samoa became a territory of the U.S. On this day, there are lots of roasted pigs, dances, and canoes races… it will be in few weeks, so, stay tuned!
Going back to my trip, I ended up arriving in Alaska at 10:00 at night (much later than my backpack, that go there at 4:00 pm!), but I meet lots of interesting people on the way, and I got a first introduction to Alaska.
This is what impressed me the most: people do wear wolves here. Apparently their fur does not freeze when you breath on it, and so it makes a perfect warm and dry cover for your face area. Here a picture of Steve, a lawyer way up in the north (there are some village that you can reach only by small planes or by dog-sledding), with his 5 wolves parka!

Act1, San Francisco scenes

Scene 3 (22-23 march 2008): Mission II

“wake up, they are here”. 007’s friends come early in the morning, ready for a full day kayaking in Tamales Bay, an inlet of sea that run just right the San Andrea fault, the one responsible for the big earthquake in San Francisco. Waking up was hard, but the excitement for some outdoor activity great! And 007 (whose real mission name is actually “The Princess”) made sure that there were yogurt for me in the fridge (we did not have any for a while in the island…).

The drive for Tamales was scenic and… fast, or least it seems that way after you have been driving not faster than 25 miles per hours for many many months.

I am a natural to kayaking! We paddled across the bay and we had a picnic on the other side, and did a short hike looking for elks. We saw a lot!

And when you stay at a bachelor’s house, you can be sure you will have to go out for dinner! So we had Eritrean food, my favorite!

The next day was total relax! We had brunch at a nice place on the sea, and we went biking in Golden Gate Park and along the beach, just like you see in the California’s movies (only that it was colder and windier). And for dinner, Bruenan food!

I wish I could have weekends like this more ofter! I loved it!

Act 1: on the way to the last frontier...

Note by the author

Personages of this story did really exist and facts did really happened, but considering that the play occurred in Samoa, they can be considered totally fictional.

Prologue

About a month ago, a secret agent came on island for a mission. He needed “local” support to successfully complete his assignment, and I was chosen for that task. Thanks to my help, the secret mission was accomplished very productively. The first part of this trip was carefully planned to follow up on that mission.

Scene 1 (20 march 2008): The governor’s party

In my mind, this trip started as soon as I stop working, at 4 o’clock. I changed into my dancing puletasi (traditional dress), and soon I headed up to the governor’s residence for a party in honor of the NOAA research ship. This is the first time I have ever been invited to a governor’s party (and by governor I mean the Samoan equivalent of Bush, or Prodi), but when you know important people… or better, when you cook for the lead scientists and half of the research staff, this is was you get. The unofficial Italian bistro is becoming famous.

(the governor of American Samoa and me)

The dinner consisted of traditional food and the desserts were great, but the stories of the governor was without doubt that most interesting things. He joined the NOAA ship for few days to visit the far away well lost Rose Atoll, territory of American Samoa, population zero. My favorite is the description of the recovery of a “monument” left by the previous governor. Incise on the front, you can read the words:

Rose Atoll

Property of American Samoa

NO TRESPASSING

You will understand the irony of this sign if you can find Rose Atoll on the map…

Around 9:00, somebody drove me and other scientists that were abandoning the ship and returning home earlier to the airport, to catch our overnight flight to Honolulu.

(dancing with the first lady. Notice the $$$ on the floor. This is the only place on the earth in which you can through a dollar again the dancing first lady without offending anybody! Throuwing money to a person dancing is a sign of support/respect)

Scene 2 (21 march 2008): So far, and thanks for all the fishes
The Pago Pago- Honolulu plane is without doubt the first training for survival in Alaska. Meanwhile for most passengers, thanks to their extra layers of fat, low temperature is not an issue, for me getting to Hawaii without frost bites is hard work. The cold keeps you awake most of the trip, and I always end up wearing a minimum at 4 blankets.

Once landed (around 6.00 in the morning), two of the main scientists of the NOAA ship kindly took my out for breakfast, and they filled the governor’s stories with more interesting details, praising the governor’s determination and strength. After all this stories, I really have to say now that we do have a COOL governor (I do not know personally the lieutenant governor, but he was arrested a while ago by the FBI, and, as he is waiting for the court case, he is still fully working. Hard worker too).

The plan after breakfast was to go to the VIP lounge for Hawaiian Airline and take a nap there until my next flight to San Francisco, but as soon as I closed my eyes “Barbara!!!” there you go. John is the Capitan of one of the tuna fishing boat that leave their catch at the canneries here. Every time is comes back from a trip, he takes me a tune, a mohi mohi and a wahoo. In exchange, I cook for him and he gets to be out from the harbor area for a while and meet persons that are not fishermen. It all started a random evening when he and other people passed by my place at dinner time and I invited them for some food.

That Friday, he was also flying back home. I met the Captains of the other fishing boats, of which most have Italian origin. Naturally, they all offered food and fishes. Interesting, breakfast with the scientists, lunch with the fishermen, what a various life I am living! There is this “italianiship” that connects us in a way, and I feel like, being the only pure breed Italian on the island, they need to pay their respect with some catch. J, well, “so far, and thanks for all the fish”!!!

Finally it is time to go to San Francisco; James Bond is waiting for me. I arrive there around 9.00 in the evening.

To be continued….

San Fracisco with James Bond..

Following those migrating butterflies on Thursday's night plane, turnes out, it is not a bad idea after all!

I met James Bond in San Francisco and we had a great time kayaking, biking, and of course, eating! Tomorrow I will leaving for Alaska! So I better go and get ready now! I hope you all had happy Easter!!! I got my chocolate!!! ;)

Getting ready to go! PureLife!

Time has come, finally, tonight the plane to leave the island!

Preparation for this trip has been quite time consuming. Finding warm clothes on an island with constant temperature between 24-28 degree Celsius all year is quite challenging. I collected pieces of warm clothing from about 5 different persons, ranging from size small to extra large! But considering that I will be doing a lot of outdoors, warm cloths are a must! The other day my friend Dave found me on the chat and asked me if I would get sick if I were on a plane turning around in small circles… I did told him I would follow him to the end of the world (and Alaska is quite close to the boundary apparently), but that was a bit over my imagination. Apparently he rented a plane to do some survey work… cool!!!

Yesterday was a busy day. At work I had to have everything ready for my 3 weeks absence, and as I went to collect my monthly stream water samples, I also had a little funny accident… You need to know that not all villages have access to government water. These villages usually built a little dam somewhere upstream, and from there they canalize some water either into solid pipes or in big hoses. Yesterday the pressure in the pipes was quite high, as it just rained a lot. Well, yesterday the pressure in the pipes was quite high, since it just rained a lot… by mistake, I stepped on one of those hose and… it got off the connection! I was invested with a large amount of water that scared the hell out of me. Then I took the hose and tried to stick it back in. The pressure was so strong that it took me a while, and when I finally succeeded, I was soaking wet from head to toe! I felt like that little kid in Belgium that put his finger in a little hole of a leaking dam and stayed there forever to save the town…. Anyway, I still love my job!

What else? I finally got my paper tickets! I bought them with Kayak, but they do not ship in American Samoa because they need a physical address (not P.O. Box) but in this island physical address do not exist. So I had the tickets sent to some friends in Oregon (thank you Biniam and Liz!!!) and they sent it to me with regular mail. Once I realized that the ticket did not arrive on Thursday’s night flight, I start worrying. Monday morning they still weren’t on my P.O. Box. I prayed the post office officer to look for them for me, and he dove head first into a full basket and found them. The power of a “fa’molemole” (that can be translated as “please”) and a smile are behind description in this place.

So, got tickets, got the backpack set, I am ready to roll!

My trip will officially start today at 4:00, that is as soon as I am out of the office (but there are voices around that we may be getting an half day…)

After work I was invited to a reception held by the governor into his residence in honor of the NOAA research cruise ship. They are doing a lot of research in American Samoan water, and the governor just went with them in Rose Atoll, our most remote island. I have never been in the governor’s house, so I am quite curios to see how it looks like. Plus the NOAA people are very nice and I am planning to spend my 7 hours lay over in Hawaii with one of them hiking. FEW MORE HOURS TO PURE LIFE!!!!!!!

My brother's wedding

Well, VIVA GLI SPOSI!!! I wish I was there. I just finish talking to the phone with him. It is 10:50 of Saturday morning in Italy. It is 10:50 of Friday night here. He is all well dressed, waiting for the judge and for Barbara, this is her soon-to-be wife’s name, to come.

(My brother Stefano, alias Zaza', and Barbara, drinking pina coladas at Tisa's)

They are in a hotel in the Alps, there are 3 friends from Rome, 3 more could not make it because the car broke half way, my grandma and my uncle Pietro. I do not know the guest from Barbara’s side. She is going to take my brother last name. She is going to be called exactly like me, considering that I am a Barbara too and my brother and I share, naturally, the same last name. She is also going to be resident at the same address I am resident. She is stealing my identity! ;)
Stefano’s wedding is exciting and sad at the same time. Barbara is a great woman, the perfect combination between girlfriend and mom that my brother needs. She is very sweet and she eats very well, and I know my brother is in good hands. My dad chose very well when he found her for him. I wonder now if I should have had listen to him too. But I was born under a different star I guess. I got those traveling genes that Lidia, my dad’s aunt, had. I have itchy feet. The idea of settling down in a place scares me. When I am getting ready to travel somewhere, for weeks I am like a puppy getting excited waiting for the food to be served. I just cannot help it, it is like a drug I need. Maybe this is why I like improvising, it is just less worries.

But today, imagining my brother standing tall and elegant, exchanging rings with his loved one, I wish I could just be there. I wish he could have waited for me, or told me a bit earlier. I am happy for him, but it is a bit sad for me. My mam, Gigia, passed away 5 years ago. From her I got the love for the mountains and the nature. My dad, Mario (yes, just like the superMario Bros!), passed away 6 months ago. From him I learned to be strong and firm on my decisions. Now, I feel like I am loosing a bit of my brother too.

And all I am left with are my trusted teddy bears, Mock, Shake and Amore (for the ones who knew him, Iari was lost in action on my way back from Japan about 3 years ago) and this picture of my family, as I like to remember it, the 4 of us hiking in the Alps, hanging from the wall in my bedroom…

Uma Lava Chocolate!!

Chocolate is finished!!! Help!!!

Living in heaven it is nice. The colors, the smells, the noises (not, maybe that not), swearing flip flop everyday…. But suddenly you get to a turning point when this island fells like a small rock, and you just need to get out of here. To me, that point arrived when I finished my last reserve of good chocolate. All adds up to the fact that my grandma oregano from Sicily is also existent, the parmigiano is nearly there, the spek will last for one more serving, there is only a shot of limoncello left, I am dangerously low in polenta and the yogurt has not been shipped in for a while. And then you talk on the phone with your friend Mara and she tells you how Antonio went to Napoli and how he came back with a huge fresh buffalo mozzarella…

If you are Italian, you have been away from home for more many many many years you know exactly what I mean. Also, if you are Italian and you want to send me a present… this may be a hint…

a picture of some of my family in the Alps, for my grandma birthday... she makes the best polenta and the best rabbit... all is good at her house, cooked on her wood stove!!! Love you all!!!

Well, luckily I will be leaving next Thursday for… California!! Oh yes! I haven’t said that yet! I am going to spend the weekend for a friend before continuing my trip north to Alaska. I bet I will be able to find chocolate and yogurt there!

The idea is to keep busy for the next month, between California, Alaska and Oregon. I will be leaving a small rock, but I know that after freezing my butt off at latitude 65 north (Fairbanks is up there!!!!) I will find a glorious tropical blossoming island on my return, my Neverland. And the next flight will bring my cousin Mia with all is needed to refurnish secret room with food to last for the 2008… And next day from my cousin arrival, Pietro, an mysterious Italian guy now working in New Zealand as a chef, will be moving with us for a while and repay for the hospitality by cooking…. This year life has been good to me so far, it was about time!!!!

Happy Woman's Day!!

There has been quite a talk lately here on island about the international woman day, which falls on the 8^th of March. It all started with Alyssa’s idea of hosting a woman night’s potluck at our house that night. After the invitations were sent to the women, guys started to talk about it. There is not a men’s day on island, even if Liz correctly said that for that, there is already the super bowl (the super bowl is something very American in which there is a rugby –I think- game, and ALL the men sit in front of the TV watching it, eating using special TV trays and drinking for hours). So they organized poker night, and very kindly they sort of waited for us to be over with our meeting. It was a nice though i guess, but women at the party really wondered why.

The main difference between a woman get together and a men get together is definitely the presence of vegetables. So many dishes actually did not have any meat in it. Also, lack of beers and cigarettes, and burps.

The night went well, but I cannot repeat what was said and done in our house (with the exception of Amity’s cherry, because it was just too funny!). Mainly, if you are a woman, you know, if you are men, you do not want to know! The message for you though, if you are a men, is "you are probably not coming back home with flowers enough time". I believe you do not want to argue against this... I tried but the women totally have a good point here!

Amity’s cherry on top of the cake came when she casually drove her truck off a little wall in the parking lot. The truck’s bed was sitting on the edge of the wall meanwhile the back tires were suspended in the air. NO PANIC, woman at work. The situation looked very funny, “this is what woman due when guys are not around, you know… drive cars off cliffs…”, but fixing the problem has never been so easy. In fact, my cheap bookshelves are made from bricks and wood tables… and they offered us all was needed to fix the problem. We carried the brick just like the 7 dwarf of Snow-white and set them behind the suspended tire and made a ramp to get more traction. Once we could get the bed of the truck off the edge of the wall, we were able to built another ramp to get back up on the road. EASY!

In fact, my cheap bookshelves are made from bricks and wood tables… and they offered us all was needed to fix the problem. We carried the brick just like the 7 dwarf of Snow-white and set them behind the suspended tire and made a ramp to get more traction.
(the pics: Amity at the end of the line of brick, me with the new ramp, and then driving off).

So, in American Samoa apparently we celebrated by eating good food, chatting, having fun with trucks and bricks, and catching up with our man at home!
Somebody asked me how we celebrate woman’s night in Italy. ) I have sweet memories of skipping school and going to Spanish steps in Rome and getting Mimosa flowers (see picture underneath) from tons of guys… One of my very favorite days of the year! I found this in Internet, and I thought it was very very very interesting! I hope you enjoy it too!

Festa della Donna (International Women's Day) -- March 8: In Ancient Roman times, the year ended with February, and, in fact the Latin name of that month, Ferbruarius Mensis, meant something like "month of cleansing or finishing up" in preparation for the new year. February was followed by several intercalary days to get the calendar back on track, and then the new year began on March 1, which was also the first day of spring (primo vere). March 8 was one of the first of the springtime festae, a day sacred to Ariadne, whom Thesius had abandoned on the Island of Naxos after promising to marry her if she helped him slay her father's pet Minotaur. Seduced and abandoned, she was a prototype for ancient Mediterranean womanhood. She later married Bacchus, but that was a whole new adventure.

Before the Second World War, Women's Day had been celebrated on different days in early March in several Italian cities. In 1945, the Union of Italian Women decided to hold all celebrations and commemorations on March 8. However appropriate it would have been, they didn't have Ariadne in mind. In fact they were memorializing two events outside of Italy: a March 8, 1857, strike by women garment workers in New York, which led to the formation two years later of the first women's union in the United States, and a strike by Russian women calling for "bread and peace" on March 8, 1917 (February 23 on the old Russian calendar but March 8 in the rest of the world.)

Authorities don't agree how or why, but the custom started in Italy -- some sources say in Rome in 1946 -- of men giving their wives, mothers, daughters, and other women friends sprigs of bright yellow Mimosa flowers on March 8. Women have since also started to give Mimosa to each other. The flowers are intended as a sign of respect for the women and also an expression of solidarity with the women in their support for oppressed women worldwide.

I am going to Alaska!!!

The last frontier is waiting for me and soon I am getting off this rock! From latitude 14 degree south to 61 degrees North! From a constant temperature of 27 degrees Celsius (74 Fahrenheit) to a “hope does not get colder” of 2 degree Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit). From “small island” (Tutuila has an area of 137 km² (53 mile²)) to “great land”, that is apparently the word “Alaska” means (from the Aleut word meaning “great land” or “that which the sea breaks against”). Shortly, quite a change! I love those!

That could be a problem in the very immediate future because my flip-flop and my flowered lava-lava (surround wrap) won’t keep me warm enough up there, and I do not really have winter clothing here… but, oh well, I still have about 13 days to drive around the island looking for warm staff. My best bet so far is that I will be able to find something at K-S mart, because that store is ridiculously cold and I often see the owner wearing a duvet jacket in there. Anyway, I will keep you updated with that…

Alaska!!! I always dreamt to go there any day, and about two weeks ago, what a coincidence, I found a training I should really attend for work and I got authorized to go. I love my job. So far, this is the plan: as soon as I land I will go to the first second hand store I can find and I will buy some warm cloths to wear, at least during the training. I will be staying with some friends of a friend (I really hate being all alone in a place I do not know!) in Eagle River, a bit outside Anchorage. These friends of a friend also have friends: one of them does rock-climbing and the other is a tango dancing teacher. Amazingly, a friend here also recommended the same guy in Samoa! How many people can possibly tango in Alaska!?!?!?!

Then on the last day of my training… SNOW DAVE is coming back to Alaska from somewhere is the U.S. And Suka will be with him! My other love! (SnowDave and Suka last week in Alaska)

The three of us will spend the weekend around Dave’s hut, on they way between Anchorage and Fairbanks, close to the Denali National Park, and then we will go to Fairbanks where SnowDave has to work for 3 days and I have to have fun! More hiking/exploring for the rest of the week and then we will be back to Anchorage, where I am planning to go paragliding for the remaining 3 days (and maybe more tango and rock climbing!). I cannot believe I do not have my wing with me, but I may be able to get one from a local paraglide school!(SnowDave and I backpacking somewhere in British Columbia, Canada...)

…. But the surprise does not finish here, because, after Alaska, I am going to….

29th of the month: GNOCCHI NIGHT

Once upon a time (when I was living in Oregon), a woman asked me how do we celebrate San Patrick day in Italy. When I told her that we do not celebrate this festivity, she was surprised “oh, sorry, why not?”. “Well” I answered, “that is an Irish holiday and we are Italian”. I think she did not get that, because she continued to look disappointed about that (and she gave me the look "you Italians are so culturally insensitive!!!).

The moral of the story is: in this small rock in the middle of the ocean where we celebrate all Samoan, all American and all Christian holidays, why shouldn’t we also celebrate an Argentinean tradition?

Oscar told me that in Argentina it is tradition to eat gnocchi on the 29^th of each month. Probably because around that date the money from the stipend is running out and gnocchi is one of the cheapest foods to cook. So, why not, let’s celebrate gnocchi night here in American Samoa too! And some good italian cooking once in a while does not hurt anybody!

This Friday I exchanged the latin-dancing class with the gnocchi making class. Destiny that this year February actually has 29 days?!? I told people to come at 6:30 with their own peeler to start peeling the potatoes, but by the time must people came, the potatoes were already boiling in the water. This is the easy part. The hard part actually comes when you have to shape the mass (that is smashed potatoes and flour) into small dumplings. A real teamwork effort is you want to eat before midnight. Last time we had gnocchi we even had two different teams competing…

Luckily, Team America showed up at this critical moment to supervise the work. They comfortably sat around the working sipping their beers, making sure that everybody (else) was working.

Brian created the biggest gnocco ever seen in the entire history has American Samoa.

Jeremy volunteered at the stove, to cook the gnocchi in boiling water. Gnocchi naturally float when they are ready to be taken out from the pan. Sauces: Ragu’ sauce and butter, sage and walnuts sauce… HUMMMM!!

And there you go! At 9:00 we definitely had enough gnocchi to fed 17 people and some left over! (for the record, I counted 2 ½ medium-sized potato for each person).
Everybody loved gnocchi! But beware! They have the special power to expand in your belly, and soon you are much fuller than when you stopped eating!

And for all those people that stop smoking, this is the perfect moment to relax in the sofa’ on the porch and smoke a cigarette! You can’t stop smoking on a gnocchi day!
As everybody was cooling off on the porch, Team America was listening the Kazakhstan hymn over and over again…. What a good evening!

So, guys, thanks for coming, cooking, eating, cleaning and smoking!!!
GOOD TEAM-WORK!
and especially, let's be more culturally sensitive toward those Argentinians.... see you in a month for the same story!