Baking with Chef Fil

I have never been one for cooking; the activity requires a bit too much forethought, patience and cleanup for my noggin.

However, in the past two weeks my ambivalence for cooking has been replaced with a passion for delicious, easy, and fast recipes. My constant companion in this has been allrecipes.com. My guinea pigs? Filippo and Dany. And it is only right that it should be so. Why, it's Fil's fault that my new hobby is so culinarily invasive! In love with the Disney flick Ratatouille, he wanted to make the french dish from which the film gets its name, which led me into the arms of allrecipes.com.

First attempt? Not a huge success...ends up I'm salt-hesitant. But the salted-up leftovers were fantastic! Ratatouille is a 100% veggie dish, normally composed of peppers, zucchini, eggplant, onions and tomatoes. Fil was sufficiently disappointed. But the Remy costume was satisfying.

Unhampered by my distaste of cleaning up, I have continued in my quest of discovering low-maintenance deliciousness. I have been hugely successful! I've already experimented with a second veggie dish, two chicken meals, and a pork roast. They were easy, fast and tasty.

Yesterday, I used my new interest in cooking to introduce my Italian family to pancakes! They tasted like pancakes! And they were wonderful with real maple syrup, imported directly from Krogers, USA.

Today, Fil and I wandered together into the land of baking. Once again media-inspired, Fil has been clamoring for American pie. He's a fan of Word World, an educational cartoon where everything and everyone is composed of letters, and they have multiple episodes with P-I-E, PIE! Unfortunately, he didn't quite grasp the concept that we didn't have to just find the letters "P," "I" and "E" and push them together for blueberry deliciousness. Even more unfortunately, I didn't realize that it wasn't the ingredient-equivalent of the letter-pushing until I was cutting butter into the crust mixture.

We have yet to try the pie, but the smell is divine. Next on the list: Cake Balls.

A Puzzler of a Summer

Where is my summer?! It has been a disgustingly pleasant 78 degrees for the past two weeks and I miss my sultry Italian summer! Filippo and I still have 10 more visits to the pool on our prepaid pool card! Dany and I haven't gone scuba diving since our first immersion. I want my summer back! Enough with this freak gorgeous weather.What have I been doing during this abnormal weather? Well, funny you should ask. Dany and I have been working on Part 1 of his 18,000 piece puzzle . We're almost done with the first leg, which is more than 4,500 pieces. I don't remember how big the puzzle will be when put together, but it easy covers a wall. These puzzles run for hundreds of Euros, but Dany has dreams of putting it together, fixing the whole thing up all fancy (with lights and plexiglass) and selling it for a king's ransom.

A Very Merry Birthday to Me!

I'm 25 years old! Doesn't that sound so adult? I balanced out my new adult-like age with some child-like antics yesterday, sneaking down the kid's waterslide at the pool and playing on the rope course at the park. I fight the inevitable march of time with regression tactics.

So, this blog is a bit behind the times (with the Times having marched a couple of weeks beyond my birthday), but still think my birthday should be commemorated with a post. It's kind of lame celebrating it in Italy -- where's my strawberry cake, damnit? I did have a very nice celebration, though. I went to a Sardinia cuisine restaurant with Dany (who gifted me with thousands of distractions via a shiny new smartphone) and our friends Marco and Vanessa. Wearing a beautiful new shirt-dress that Pam had bought me, we feasted on SO MUCH CHEESE. Sardinia is known for its Pecorino (goat cheese) and boy do they love that stuff. (I'm also a fan). Vane and Marco then gave me a beautiful set of earrings which went smashingly well with my new outfit. Birthday magic! (OR, everything-that-is-anything-in-Italy-is-a-variation-on-the-color-purple).

The whole week was awfully fun because Pam was off work. On Monday we had gone to the beach (where I picked up the rarest of rarities, a tan!). Tuesday we went shopping and ate at a Japanese buffet (delicious! They have a bar where the dishes circle around endlessly and you just pick up what you want, when you want it). Wednesday, we made Hawaiian pizza and then went to a super cool pool park (thus the waterslides alluded to in the first paragraph). What a great week!

That weekend (July 9/10), Dany's group, sfigher, had a song competition at the sea. What a wonderful weekend it was! The girlfriends went to the beach on Saturday while the boyfriends sound-checked. The actual concert was a spectacle! The stage was huge and alive with lights, and the show was very entertaining: comics, dancers, a beauty contest (gag), as well as the actual music competition. Sfigher knocked the socks off of everyone (except the judges, who must have brought extras) and they thoroughly enjoyed their crowd of 1,500. The next day, the sfighers and sfigherettes hit the beaches.

This past week I found myself on vacation! I spent the week cleaning and relaxing. It was a good week. I love summer in Italy.

Summer in the secluded-Italian-town

And I'm back in Italy! I certainly meant to update more often while in the States, but found myself overwhelmingly busy and sleep-deprived (what? you call that a vacation!?). I was all twisted up in the bureaucracy of applying for University. (I still don't know whether I was successful in that endeavor).

Since it has been two weeks since I returned, I suppose this post would considered "overdue," (in Italian, in ritardo). It has been a crazy couple of weeks! The air is full of summer vacation excitement, and my summer activities are already in full-swing. Last week was full of art-ing and park-ing with Filippo. It is HOT here, so we art in the afternoon and park in the evening. And this weekend was just as busy. On Friday I found out that despite having missed the final, mandatory rehearsal for The Melting Pot concert (my music school's annual display), I could sing in the final performance here in Sala Baganza. That was great news, except that I had never gotten around to learning the song. Thank goodness the Sala Baganese (not the official term) do not speak English and do not know my song ("Feelin' Alright" by Grand Funk Railroad), because I decided to skip a couple lines and throw in some melody interpretation. But what I lacked in knowledge, I made up with in spunk. What can I can I say? I'm a rockstar. I chalk this one up as a success.

Saturday was a bit of a recovery day, as in I slept until 3pm and spent most of the day reading this engaging book The Know-it-all, which is one man's quest to read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. It's very entertaining and informative and I highly suggest it. (I bought it for a dollar at the used book store!)

Yesterday (Sunday), Dany and I went scuba diving for the first time this year! I'm happy to report that we remembered almost everything from our courses, did not get the bends and did not get munched on by sharks! We had a great time and I'm still super happy from the experience. The coolest thing I saw underwater was a moray eel, staring me down until I moved away from his rock (see picture). The moray eel (or murena) that we saw was not yellow, but gray.

Starting next month (mmm, next week), we'll be starting the course for Advanced Scuba Diver, which will teach/certify us to dive to depths of 30m/100feet instead of our measly 18m/60feet.

In other news, my birthday is in 9 days! I'm going to be 25! One-quarter a century and what I've decided to be one-quarter of my life. Good first quarter-century, I'd say.

10 Things I Miss About America, the Food Edition

1. Condiments: That's right, you heard me -- condiments. Ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, honey mustard, etc. The Italians limit themselves to oil and vinegar on the salads (with popular variations including lemon juice) and ketchup/mayo/mustard on other food items. I regularly bring BBQ sauce and Ranch dressing back to Italy with me.

2. Delicious Chinese/Mexican/Indian restaurants. Are there cultural restaurants in Italy? Yes. Are they reliably delicious? No. And therefore, no one will go to them with me (expect Charlotte!) [As an aside, I do enjoy the deliciousness of the many, many kebab shops in Italy.]

3. 24-Hour Convenience. There will always be a convenience store, grocery store, or breakfast-food restaurant open somewhere. In Italy? Not so. In fact, finding something open after 8pm can prove tricky.

4. Kroger. My Kroger with its Starbucks, free samples, bread-cutting machine, chocolate fountain, large wine selection, and sushi bar.

5. Buffets. Italy is close to France...why aren't buffets more popular?

6. Sweets. As is to be expected, the flavor of the sweets (dolce) in Italy tastes different from those of America. The sweets are not quite as sweet, and they favor the hazelnut flavorings. Also, the icing is not the butter-sugar icing to which I am accustomed (and adore), and a large portion of their cakes have fruit and gel on top of them. Those are what pies are for!

7. Diet food options. Sugar-free fudge pops! Low-fat ... anything! Whole wheat bread, fajitas, bagels, chips. Double-churned ice cream. Every diet soda variation.

8. Free refills. In Italy, if you get a pop -- even from the tap -- you pay at least 2Euros for a can's worth. I don't know if they haven't yet discovered the wonder of the syrup-pop-setup, but they should get on that. Here you can get a pop for a buck and refill till your heart's content!

9. Cheeses. Don't get me wrong -- Italy has some amazing cheese. But they are missing cheddar, Monteray-Jack, and Colby, and therefore, so do I.

10. My mom's cooking. Obvious.

Falling... with style!

Oh what fun it is to fly in business class! Unlimited beverages? Five course meals? Massaging seats that turn into beds?! I ate like a cow and slept like a baby. (Which would translate to eating grass and oats and waking every 10 minutes, crying...but you know what I mean). I arrived at home refreshed and ready to tackle the Chinese buffet! Though I have flown in business class before, thanks to my Delta-laboring cousin, this was the first time that I have ever, ever slept on a plane. And who loves the handy-bags they give you? *Raises hand emphatically* I tried to snatch an extra for my friend, but most of the seats were full and I was unable. (I tried, Charlotte, I tried!).

Upon arrival I was surprised by my Aunt Kathy/Grandma Goat's presence (one and the same)! We enjoyed a very delicious meal.

Today I have read an entire book (the young adult novel "Th1rteen R3asons Why," which I would suggest) and Jamie and I washed the cars. It's a hot, sunny day so I'm lounging about in my swimsuit, using my bummy ankle as an excuse for laziness. I love vacation.

Timing! Ack!

Maybe the title for this blog should be "Invalid! Doh!" but I thought the true meat of the story was my timing ... 20 hours before I leave for the airport. This morning I woke up tired, and I stayed that way through the first 20 minutes of my morning workout with Pam. She was pretty tired, too, so we were going pretty slowly, impressed that we were moving at all. The problem started when I decided to kick it up a notch, to get my blood pumping. The next obstacle on the obstacle course was a plank of wood ala a balance beam that one must leap over repeatedly. Cue Leap Number 1 ... Cue Landing Number 1 ... Cue Ominous Crack as ankle buckles underneath performer. Sound Cue "Doh!"

Whoops. Now I am lying in bed, swollen ankle wrapped and iced, pondering tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I embark on the long journey to the USA. To add insult to injury...well, to add pain to pain ... my wheeled suitcase is broken. So tomorrow I'm toting around a large duffel which will be stuffed into the new wheeled suitcase I will buy in the States. It's the toting that's got me worried. However, I work for one of the best families in the world (and I've traveled a bit, so I would know) and Pam is going to give my invalid butt a ride to the airport. Otherwise I would have had to navigate a train and then a shuttle to arrive at the airport. I really don't think I could have managed it. If I had a wheeled suitcase, I would at least have a rudimentary crutch. Oh! I wonder if I can get someone to wheelchair me around in the airport!

In good news, because my smashing, intelligent, fabulous cousin Ria got me a buddy pass for the flight, there's a chance I'll fly business (knock on wood). So even with a bum ankle, I might have a comfortable journey. And we just found out this morning that Dany's band passed the Gauditions for the band competition. His is one of only 16 bands/performers that passed out of almost 80 hopefuls. Go Sfigher!