Sono stata intervistata!!

A few days ago I saw a quite interesting post on Candace's blog 'Italian woman at the table': she was answering five questions specifically thought as an interview to her, and she was also asking if someone wanted to be interviewed by her now. So, it was too tempting and I was really curious to see which questions Candace would come up with, and I asked her to interview me.. So here is our interview!! If you're interested in it and you want to know how to get an interview yourself, keep reading!
(drawing taken by this website)

1. Italians think Americans are loud. Americans think Italians are loud. Now that you're lived both places, who do you think is loudest? Explain.
Italians. :) Italian families are really like in some of the movies you may have seen directed by great directors like De Sica, Antonioni.. People can scream really loud if they get nervous, or cry and mourn loudly if they lost a dear one, or laugh 'a squarciagola' (literally, breaking your throat: you see, there's not even a term for this in English) if there's something funny. Americans usually don't show their emotions as much. I had troubles understanding that someone was upset, at the beginning.. now I am used to it, and I think it'd be hard to be again in the middle of an Italian 'fight' :) - but I am still definitely louder than most people here. :)

2. Do you come from a big or small family? How do you think that's affected your life?
I come from a small family: I have one sister, and my parents both have only one sibling with two and three children each. I guess this means that I'm used to having some privacy, which would be hard to get in a large family. In my youth I was quite shy, which may be related to not being used to dealing with big groups of people. I think it also affected the idea of the family I want to have.. having many children is not in my plans (of course, now that I speak about plans, I know they're going to be flipped upside down and instead I'm going to have 6 kids...... :) ).

3. What's your favorite meal—breakfast, lunch or dinner? Tell us why and describe a typical meal you have that time of day.
Dinner. It's when we are all more relaxed. The day is finished, and we can eat altogether without any hurry, enjoying the food and the company. The typical dinner would be the one we have on a week day (there are more week nights than weekend nights. :) ). So usually we cook one main dish and then we'll have a salad or a light dessert. The main dish usually contains some vegetables, some form of protein (if I cook, tofu, cheese or beans, and if Lucas cooks it can also be meat), and usually some starch (rice, pasta). We cook something different every evening, and we'll make enough so that we can bring something for lunch at work the day after. Usually we don't plan what we cook, on week days. We buy whatever inspires us at the Berkeley Bowl on Saturday for the whole week, and then every evening we put together the ingredients that we feel more like eating. If we feel like it's a particularly nice evening and meal, we'll have some wine with it, otherwise we usually drink water on week days, if it's just the two of us (it's hard not to have the wine go bad if we drink only one glass each per night..).

4. Your boss fires you. You break down. You're in tears. Who's the first person you call? Why that person?
Well, for sure it would be Lucas (my 'significant other'...). Poor Lucas, he is always the one who has to deal with the worst of me. :) Usually he is very good at listening and calming me down when I need it, and he has very good suggestions on how to react to things. We behave differently when we deal with problems (probably some of it it's really related to the different cultures, Italian and American, we've been brought up in). Sometimes his way is better than mine. :) Also, it's good to hug him and have him comfort me - when I'm not upset because of him!!!! :) :)

5. You're thrown out of Italy and the U.S. and told never to return. What country would you choose to live in next? Explain.
Eheh, interesting question :) - I don't know any other country as well as Italy and the US. Probably the one I feel closest to is France. I know that lots of both Italians and Americans think French people are snobbish, but I've never ever felt that on any time I've been to France. It's close enough to Italy, I like their way of being politically active, they have some of the best food and wine in the world, the architecture is similar to what you can find in Italy, I have a few French friends.. and I speak French. So, yeah, I think I would live pretty well in France if I could find a job there. :)

So, this is it! My interview is over. :) It was a lot of fun!!! Thank you so much, Candace. It's a really great way to share something of oneself with the rest of the blog-friends :)
So.. who's up next?? It's now my turn to ask questions!

If you'd like to be interviewed by me, follow these simple rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.