minimunchkin: Time with the Arostis

We finally made it to Calabria! We've been talking about coming to see these guys for so many years, every Summer we say we'll try but something comes up and plans change. The year after the little girls were born, we'd even bought tickets to fly over for Zoe's christening but Mia became pretty sick with a swollen fontanel which the doctors thought might have been meningitis. Anyway, now after 8 years we're actually here.

These four kids have grown up together. Ryan and Samuel were kindy mates from the age of three, Mia and Zoe have been friends from the time they were in Tiziana's and my tummies. This trip was a bitter sweet time for all of us. Kids were really looking forward to our time with them and loved every minute, of course with a few fights here and there, of their time playing together. Yet it was also extremely sad when the time came to say goodbye knowing that they'll no longer be playmates again now that we've left Hong Kong.

No time to waste, let's play!

Hippie girlies

Every summer the Arosti kids come back to Hong Kong beautifully tanned. And now I know why. The live right next to a beautiful beach.

These kids could not keep away from the pool at the house. They were in there the moment they woke up, after breakfast, after lunch, before dinner, every single moment they were allowed to.

Of course there was also a lot of eating involved. Titi made us some super yummy meals at home, using many homegrown vegetables from her mum and also the incredible tomato salsa that her parents make every year from the tomatoes they grow in their garden.

What do we do when we're together? Cook and eat of course!

These guys took us for some lovely food too. We went into town one night for dinner. The town folks were all out celebrating the tiny fish festival (sorry forgot the Italian name). The little fish was very good, deep fried. One of the roadside stall owners very generously gave us one to try, tasted kind of like one of those Japanese pregnant fishes, except without the eggs.

Very interesting dishes. Spaghetti pescatori in bread, the bread soaked up all the juices from the seafood and was good. Spaghetti made with licorice. Both dishes a first for me and both were delicious!

Aunty Titi buying Sicilian cannoli for the little girls.

Night market shopping... so hard finding clip-on ear rings.

While the girls shop, the boys discuss boy-stuff!

Another day we went to a tiny restaurant up in the hills in Guardia. The restaurant is owned by Titi's brother's friend and they specialise in local regional food, all the produce come from their garden including their wine. The antipasti was fantastic, so many different dishes to try.