A Homey Lunch, an ESL Class and Some More Skorpions American Football

Thursday, 28 March, 2019

As for my penchant for countdowns, in only . . .

 . . . more days our son Michael arrives

in the greater Varese megalopolis

One of Laurie's favorite spots to eat in the area is the Trattoria di Torba run by sisters Paola and Daniela Zanotto. 

Their trattoria is located in the tiny, bucolic village of Torba di Gornate Olona about a 20 minute drive south of the Villa Skorpions II.

The Trattoria is nondescript

from its exterior

Inside the dining areas are both

quaint and homey

The back dining room

My Primo Piatto was a

wonderful ravioli dish

While my Secondo Piatto

was a meat dish in an amazing,

sweet mustard sauce

Tom and Brian FitzGerald would have loved this dish!

Throw in a glass of red wine, a bottle of still water, dessert and an espresso, charge only 18 Euros and add in the the ambience that the two sisters provide and you have yourself a fine dining experience.

After lunch, while driving back to the Villa Skorpion II, a road sign caught my eye so I turned off my usually beaten path to explore another of Varese's hidden treasures.

Varese's Nine Hole

Panorama Golf Course

The Driving Range at the hilltop

site of this well groomed course 

 The Par 3 Fourth Hole,

the 13th too if you play two rounds

 That water hazard to the left

of the Fourth Hole's tee box

has my name ALL over it!

Some lumber-jacking going on

near the Panorama Golf Course

At 4:00 p.m., I had an appointment to speak with teacher Maria Egyed's English as a Second Language afternoon class today.

The topic was again American football in Italy and life in America.

If you recall, I spoke to her morning class last week on the same topics.

We had a fun 90 minute experience today with several good questions and a deep discussion about racism and another one on the value of a good education.

The Afternoon Class with teacher

Maria Egyed, third from the right

 The Afternoon Class with me

in the middle

 The AMAZING

Abdul from Togo

English as a Second Language?

No, not for Abdul, English is his EIGHTH language!

After a good classroom experience and before a night of Skorpion football, a dolce is in order I think . . .

. . . I somehow said no to all of these

but did have a limone and fragola gelato

at this spot non Venegono Superiore

I coached the U15 flag team tonight,

here we have a drill that combines

agility work with flag tackling techniques

 Our U15s scrimmaged the Women's

squad the last 30 minutes of the night

 That catch by Sammy in red

draws a crowd

QB Piccolo rolling out for the U15s

The Women won tonight's scrimmage 6-0 to bring their record in these scrimmages the last two weeks to 1-0-1.

Our Prima Squadra's final bye week practice was long on effort and, unfortunately as is too often the case, short of both Offensive and Defensive linemen.

The pass happy, 2-1 Cernusco Daemons await us a week from this coming Saturday on April 6th, at their home for a 9:00 p.m. kickoff of the contest that marks our final game of the first half of our 2019 regular season.