Tasi e Tira!

In September of last year I wrote about a wonderful fundraising event that was put on by veteran Alpini of Ronco Briantino. The Alpini, in case you don't know, are the alpine brigade of the Italian Army and while it shouldn't be any surprise that we attended their function to aide Abruzzo's earthquake victims (good food, good wine, great people and I am there!), it did come as a small shock to learn that they had stumbled across my post. Viva the internet! In that post I made it very clear how much I wanted one of their cool Tasi e Tira tshirts. [The phrase basically means to quit talking and pull, a verbal reinforcement to keep going when the going gets tough.] Well imagine my surprise when a recent email invited me to pick one up for myself.

MotH and I met with the Alpini a few nights ago and I cannot say enough on how nice those guys are. We were taken on a tour of their "baita" (home) where they meet, took a peek into their kitchen and dining hall, and both of us received Tasi e Tira tshirts. Today I was going to wear my new tshirt when my twin sister came over to help with making plum preserves, but changed my mind. The last thing I wanted was her asking for the tshirt off of my back.

Okay I was kidding about the twin sister; the image above was 'shopped. I'm just happy, over the tshirt, over the fact that summer vacation has officially begun and MotH can have some down time. Food festivals here we come - Mr B is giving a hint on what's in store next.