It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Piazza tree update: they brought in a crane to decorate!


And now there's ice on the rink.


It was definitely time for us to go in search of our own tree. We figured our best bet was to return to the Fashion Market. You know we stopped at the same cafe as before but this time Ira had the Italian burger, with buffalo mozzarella and I ordered the grilled white fish. Oh my goodness, look what I got!


I wouldn't normally choose to tackle this in public. It's kind of a in-the-privacy-of-your-own-home kind of dish, if you know what I mean? I managed it though and felt pretty proud of myself for doing so. It was worth the effort, it was perfectly grilled and delicious.


With our bellies full, we were happy to find lots of tree options. If you're at all familiar with our previous tree, it wouldn't be difficult to guess which one we bought.


The white one in the back minus the purple lights and the stuffed animals. Boo-yah, we gotta tree!
It's a good thing too, since our ornaments have been in Italy since February LOL.

The decorating would have to wait though, because tonight Andrea picked us up after piano practice to take us to his favorite cheese farm. Melissa stayed behind with V.S. since according to her it was Andrea who was the cheesemaker charmer. Angela, the cheesemaker, is very serious about her cheese and controls every aspect from the sheep to the shop. If you're interested in her story, check out this link Saba Cheese. 

After our cheese run, we went to Andrea and Melissa's for apericena which, Melissa explained, is the meal between happy hour (aperitivo) and dinner (cena). It was like a buffet of appys, super fun!


For reference, I include a picture of the cookies we had that night. They are a soft cookie, which I wouldn't normally choose, but are essentially made of almonds, a little flour and butter? I've always been partial to almonds, they were delish.

In case we weren't already motivated to decorate, check out Massa in all its Christmas glory. This was on one side of the Torre de Candeliere.


And this was projected on the opposite side.


This was down by the Tree of Fertility.


And here's the piazza!


A dopo!












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