Memorable Authentic Italian Community lifestyle.Food for thought.

I still have so much to share throughout my journey of discovery in Venice,Rome and Geneva, Switzerland. The beautiful and meaningful part about "homestay" did not just stop at what i did in Marco's house. 

Sara, my master, preparing pasta for continuously since morning. 

Marco's wife, Sara, is a mother of 4 and a chef for thousand people whenever there is a Bazaar or charity fiesta. Cooking for her is not just a passion, but it also enable her to get together with her mate and be merry while preparing dishes for guest. All income,be it drinks or meals will go into donation through the church. 

I may have language difficulty with them however, each and everyone seems carrying their duty diligent and sincerely. So the food presented maybe simple, but it seems to me the best dish i ever had. 

   

Check out the amount of drumstick and chicken breast to be barbequed. Check out the other side of chicken was the tenderloin beef and pork ribs. Imagine you are preparing this, so imagine standing in front of the charcoal for more then 5 hours.
Lucky the weather was cold. So the charcoal served 2 purposes. To keep warm and to cook. 

So the preparation of charcoal is at the other end, no strong fire to the meat so there were no wastage of over cook chicken or burnt pork rib. 

Young and old, father and son , all are involved in making this fiesta a success.You bring the fine charcoal and i will do the best pork ribs. 

On the other hand, in the kitchen, the women are preparing wedges, chips, onion ring  and each and every duty is being done diligently. 

A wonderful side dish that went very well with my chicken BBQ. But i really cant remember what was the name. :(
I will ask Marco and re caption this photo. 

The kitchen tool.... 

And wallah, here i was.. dancing through the night with the Cowboy dancers.. we had so much fun with the instructor. 

Uno, due, tree, quattro ...girare... anchora anchora ..
So it practically means "1,2,3, turn, again and again", although language is the barrier but those steps doesn't seems hard and anyone can easily join in and have fun.  

This is Martha and her husband.. they both are volunteers in the fiesta. 

Martha daughter, with Deborah ( Marco's daughter) they are just naturally beautiful 

Kiss kiss.... beauty 

Thorn among the roses ?  Nah... make a change "Rose among the thorns"

Experiencing the livelihood, community services and being part of the volunteers, enriching myself with life of Venitien community  is one of most meaningful travelling experience i ever had.

"Anchora, grazie miller Chef Federico, Marco, Sara, Debora, and their beautiful family members of Micieletto"

HOMESTAY- A Holiday with Purpose

So, in Borneo ( where i was born and living la vida loca ) is a geographically well blended terrain where there is low land Dipterocarp Jungle, mountain high land and coastal of vertically unseen beach. With the compilation of 36 ethnic groups and more then 80 languages spoken here. Homestay is one of the most exciting and booming product in my country.

Nevertheless, a one month homestay in Manzan family, has given me a total change of my stereotyping mindset about the culture of Italy. Yes, they can be fashion up scale or food and wine critics, but their years civilization and enthusiasm in surviving skill has turn into world indulgence.

Woke up by dawn to feed the hungry animals, and plucking plants for the preparation of lunch and dinner; just like how the Kudat, Sabah ( our indegeneous folks are doing, same fundamental with the concept  of " Building community capacity by utilizing natural resources" , i know , it sounds boring and tough... but this is how i can describe in the shortest form...

Feeding more then 20 rabbits at one go. Preparing for winter to come. 

Goose, Chicken and duckling all lives in harmony

The little ones need to be protected or they will be the victim for the big ones. 

Sara, counting her canary, and new incoming chicks ..

Even cultivating bee hive ( just like Kudat Bee farm) is one of the homestay activities. 

Feeding Wendy, the only pampered cow in the farm. 

Beside lots of healthy grain and mice, Wendy and her folks , the donkeys also being served 'silage" as their  dessert. 

Plenty of guinea pigs running around. 

Turkeys ( Tukiny) finding a shade for themselves, avoiding the summer solar. 

Louis, the donkey that woke me up with his " heeee-hoooo" every morning. 

Even the piggy ( Roxy) get to eat quality cereals ( i mean mice, corn and micture of  dried nuts and seeds)


So these are just some domestic farm animals that turned into meals during the winter, of course exclude te guinea pig and dogs if you could see Gulio is hiding behind at the second picture.

Further to that, these are only the farm management for the daily morning routine, i will post more on Sara's vegetable and grapes yard, her workmanship of sun dried fruits and grains.Judging at the time they spend in a day on food preparation,no wonder Italia has the top chef in the world.

                                                                    

Meeting the Manzan family at Trivio, Italy.

With only 3 days here, I am already drained.. not because of the work but because of the over excitement, jet legged and of course, exhaustion of expression (during conversation) to my family here. My first two day was overwhelmed, with superb hospitality from this warmth family, and whole lots of plan (work, fiesta, scenery, historical, photos to take)

Marco & Sarah: A generation –y couple that perfectly represent the typical family of Italia. Owns 4 acre farms that consist of everything of a village have had. In Borneo, when we talk about farm, we are talking about specific poultry farm or plantation. At Manzen family, it is more than just agriculture; it is a typical Old Mc Donald farm that you could never imagine.

Besides taking care of the four children, running chores for the family. Both Marco and Sarah are also taking care of a Wendy (cow), 3 donkeys, 3 goats (Elvis, Diana, Haedi), one pig (Roxy), tortoise, turkeys, duck, goose, rabbit and even many poultry, birds, oh yeah further with a lovely terrier mix doggie, Gulio. (Even their dog has a sexy name J )

little nikola and rachale 

I have had a tiry day, I arrived with big smile, but smoky eyes… I was so tired, but I was so excited. And Sarah, Massimiliano, Nikola, and last but not least the two Bella that I could never resist their beauty and sweetness (Deborah & Rechale). .. 

PS : THIS POST IS DONE ON THE BED WITH BAD INTERNET LINE. WILL REFINE SOON .