Cats and Dogs

There were a lot of cats in Italy and Greece. I saw the bulk of them on Hydra. Some of the cats are really good beggars. We had some kittens that were practically climbing our legs to get some food. We were total suckers and fed them.

The dogs in Italy and Greece are different. In Italy the dogs were on leashes. In Greece the dogs were roaming around or just laying around--but a lot of them had collars. When I lived in Greece before people didn't really have dogs and cats as pets. Now there are stores devoted to pet care.

We saw two interesting dog-related things. The first one was a dog that actually used the cross walks. He waited to cross the street, and then cross another. He could have walked across the street diagonally, but he waited for the cross walk. It was hilarious. The second thing we saw was dogs with water bottles in their mouths. People give the dogs a bottle of water and the dog will bite it and drink the water that dribbles out.

Fat kitty at the leather school behind Santa Croce in Florence.

This is how the dogs in Greece were--just laying around nothing phased them.

Cat at the Acropolis, where there were many cats.

Cat family in an area with ruins.

Sleepy kitty in Hydra.

Kitties in the shade.

Blue-eyed kitty.

This kitty on Hydra looks like our old cat Charlie (who we got in Greece.)

Chill

Its gotten really chilly this week. I'm not sure if its the cold or if she's feeling sick, but Bailey has been crawling all over me the last couple of days. I had to take a picture because it's so rare. I'm starting to get excited about our trip to Italy and also our dessert party. I sent out invitations today and took another look at the dessert list. I should probably come up with a schedule before we leave for vacation. I have to coordinate when I'm going to make 12 desserts! Nothing else exciting going on here. I'm trying to get back on the wagon before our trip. I never gain weight in Italy. I'll walk enough there to burn off all the gelato and pizza. Oh, gelato. I can't wait.

Somewhat Random Purchase

I first saw a Shirley pillow like this in Italy last Fall. A bunch of random things came together after our Thailand trip and I ended up buying it from Amazon.uk. I was all excited when it finally arrived today. Ross says Shirley and Stanley (his Stegasaurus) can mate and make woolly dinosaur babies.

Like me Shirley loves cake, and unfortunately I'm soft and squishy like Shirley.

Before and After

Ross learned how to knit at Lisa Diane's New Year's party and I got into it too (he said I had to get my own needles and quit playing with his). I'm not thrilled about the price of yarn and had read about yarn recycling on the Internet. I found a knitting pattern that I wanted to try and it required like 9 skeins of yarn or something. I decided to try and find a sweater to recycle. This is a Banana Republic 100% wool sweater that I bought at Goodwill for 3.99 + tax. I took this photo 1/29/2007. Ross thought that the recycling was a dumb idea, but he sure had fun unravelling the sweater. Bailey thought it was a game and wanted to play too.

As we unravelled the sweater I wound it up into balls, which I then wound into hanks. The yarn was kind of kinky and had to be washed. When wet it looked like ramen noodles. I hung the hanks up in the guest room to dry. It looked and smelled a little funny.


When they were all dry I wound them up into balls again. I weighed the yarn and got just over 600 grams. A lot of yarn is sold in 50 gram balls for about 5 dollars a ball (conservatively speaking), so I figured I'd gotten a pretty good deal. I got all the yarn ready in just a few days. The worst part was going from the dry hanks back to balls. We had one hank that we worked on for at least an hour because it got knotted up. Rolling it into balls in the first place (instead of just hanks) seemed like a waste, so on the next sweater I just wrapped the yarn into hanks.

So I think sometime In February I started using the yarn to make a shawl. I modified the pattern. Instead of just regular stockinette stitch I decided to try seed stitch. Also, I decided to start with the longest row (410 stitches) and decrease instead of starting with two stitches and increasing. I worked on the shawl off and on throughout the Spring. At some point it got shoved in the closet and I didn't touch it for quite a while. I think in September or October I was determined to get to the 100 row mark. I figured it would really be downhill from there. I took the shawl to Italy with us and knitted on the plane and on the train. I got quite a bit done. I was even envisioning finishing it by the end of November because I could knit on the plane to El Paso for Thanksgiving. I didn't knit again until that trip (I was too busy baking). When I got home I had something like 170 rows completed. The rest was a breeze and I finished it yesterday. I just washed it and it's lying flat on the bed to dry. Its huge! It's also nice and soft. I think its not a bad transformation, and I think 4 dollars was a deal!

NYC: Day Three

On Sunday morning we had breakfast at Financier. I was really attracted to this place because it was so bright and crisp compared to everything else in New York. I had almond brioche and Ross had some kind of apple pastry. We shared an extra large latte. It was nice to just sit and chill. It kind of reminded me of Italy.

We checked out of the hotel and headed to...where else....the bakery for some sweets to go. Then we headed up to the bus stop. The bus stop was different from last time. It was at a different location and with a different set up. They had us waiting in long lines. It was hot. The sun was blaring. I had my new white hat and my umbrella to shield me. Ross went and got us some lunch while I waited in line. When he got back they asked if we wanted to get on an earlier bus. We jumped at the opportunity to get out of the heat. We came home and Bailey yelled at us for leaving her again.

Ciambella alla Menta (Mint Cake)

One of the only things Ross wanted for his birthday was a cake. We had some mint in the fridge, so I decided to make this cake. I got this recipe from the Italian cooking magazine I bought the last time we were in Italy. I've made it a few times, and it is super-duper tasty. The Italian cakes I've made don't use leavening (they use whipped egg whites instead) and they aren't overly sweet. Also, they are kind of small. So, I'm going to share the recipe with you, and even translate it for you. I'm even going to do the weight calculations.

Ciambella alla Menta

240g sugar (7/8 c. + 3 Tbl.)

150g butter--softened (10 Tbl.)

3 eggs

one lime

one bunch of mint--leaves sliced into thin strips--reserve some leaves for garnish

confectioners sugar

200g flour (1 3/4 c.)

salt

butter and flour for the pan

1. Beat the butter with 200g (7/8 c. = 1 c. - 2 Tbl.) of sugar until well combined and fluffy.

2. Add mint, some grated lime peel, some lime juice, and 3 egg yolks.

3. Mix until well combined.

4. Add flour and mix well.

5. In a separate bowl beat egg whites with 40g (3 Tbl.) sugar and a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.

6. Carefully fold egg whites into flour mixture.

7. Transfer batter into buttered and floured bundt pan.

8. Cook at 180 C (355 F) for about 45 minutes.

9. Turn out onto plate and dust with powdered sugar and garnish with mint leaves.

I cooked this yesterday at 325 F for about 55 minutes because I use a heavy, teflon-coated pan. I just noticed that the recipe calls for 3 eggs, but the how to photos show 4 eggs. I think it would turn out a little less dense with 4 eggs.

Photo Month: Day 26: Italy: View from Duomo Stairwell

Dessert Party 2007

Well, I think that this year's dessert party was a success. We had 13 home made desserts, and I think that 12 of them were good. The yellow cake with chocolate fosting was popular, as was the mint cake. I actually think the mint cake was my favorite. I just couldn't wait to give Ross his birthday present, so I had everyone sing Happy Birthday to him and I gave him the wii. He was really surprised. After the party we played wii with Tejal and Tim. It was a good party and at the end I was exhausted. The next day I just layed around. Its been a week and I still haven't recovered. It's been go go go since we left for Italy. Maybe in the Spring we will have a ghetto dessert party that will actually happen....we'll see. At least that won't be nearly as exhausting cause i'll only have to make one or two desserts....and ghetto desserts are easy by definition.

The Negatives

I'm going to bitch and whine about all the annoying, irritating, bothersome, irksome things about our trip.

1. Cigarette Smoke: Athens was the worst.  At one point we opened the window in our hotel room to get some fresh air only to have smoke drift in from the cafes below. Sitting outside is a surefire way to have smoke with your meal.

2. Ugly Americans: I encountered them right away, and all the time. It started in Piazzale Michelangelo where some young (college age) Americans were carrying around wine bottles and drinking out of plastic cups. Classy.  They were arguing about who the statue in the center of the Piazzale was.  Ignorant. Stupid. Americans. It seemed like there were more of them in Italy than Greece. I'm delighted when people think we are English or Canadian. I don't want to be associated with all these stupid, rude Americans who think that the world revolves around them.

3. Smells: It seems that Italians and Greeks don't understand proper venting in bathrooms, so sewage gases come up through the pipes. Lovely. There are also some pretty nasty smells on the streets. Oh, and Europeans don't feel that deodorant or regular baths are necessary, so we got hit with a lot of body odor smells too. It seemed like when we were out and about it was either B.O. or cigarette smoke. One or the other. We couldn't get around without either.

4. Disrespect: Some churches and museums don't allow photos. My attitude: buy a postcard, it will probably be better than the photo you were trying to take anyway. If a church doesn't allow photos, then I respect that. It is, after all, a place of worship, and many times people were actually there praying. I felt bad enough walking around while people were praying, but to also take photos? No way. We met an American lady who was upset that some churches charge entrance fees and many don't allow photos. She was really angry about it and said she took photos anyway. Shameful. The worst was at St. Francis's Basilica. When we got to St. Francis's tomb there were people praying.  It was weird to walk by them and around his tomb. Photos were not allowed, but everyone seemed to be trying to sneak them in. It was awful, and the same way at the Sistine Chapel.

5. Relics: I don't like relics. We saw reliquaries in many churches. They bother me. I'm bothered because here you have some piece of a guy you see as holy, which means you desecrated and destroyed his body in order to put a tiny piece of it in a fancy jar. Ross is bothered by the fact that people worship that bit of bone or tooth. It is creepy and wrong. I always skip past them in the churches and museums. People fight over these bits of bone. Boggles my mind.

6. Poop: There was dog poop everywhere. Most people don't clean up after their dogs. Ross started calling them Italian biscuits. You always have to watch where you are stepping. Gross.

7. Rain: We had lots of rain in Florence, one rainy day in Athens, and it did rain some in Rome. We even had a rain shower at the State Fair. I'm glad I packed my umbrella and tall boots.

8. Restoration: Seems like everything we visited was under restoration: the Duomo in Florence, The Acropolis, parts of the Vatican museum, St. Peter's Basilica. Annoying, but necessary, and next time things will be brighter and cleaner.  It just sucks when you can't see things at all or they are covered by scaffolding. Cranes kept getting in the way when I wanted to take photos.

Okay, I'm done bitching.  The good way outweighed the bad.

Breville Die Cast 800ESXL

When we were in Italy Ross had cappuccinos in the mornings. He enjoyed them so much that we decided to get an espresso maker so we could make them at home. He was really excited about the prospect of steaming milk for hot chocolate. I found a model that had good reviews and we went to the store to check it out (I was planning on buying it on ebay.) At the store the machine looked nice, but the upgraded model was so much nicer. It took me a while to find a good deal on ebay, but I'm so glad we got the higher end model. We've had hot chocolate, cafe latte, cappuccino, and hot tea. I really don't have much idea of what I'm doing, but the results so far have been pretty tasty. Oh, thanks to Tejal for providing the Illy coffee. She gave us a whole case, so we won't be buying coffee for a while!

NYC: Quick Trip

Valerie and I took a quick trip to New York City this past weekend. It was a whirlwind trip. We were there about 24 hours.

Our first stop was to get some food at Peels. Valerie had the shrimp and grits and I had the gobblecado sandwich. We both enjoyed our food. We also had drinks. Valerie went with the traditional Bellini and I had the Jasmine Cooler--very refreshing.

I wanted to go the Crafts on Columbus street fair, so we headed uptown. We took a walk across Central Park--and that is when the rain started. It came down really hard. Despite our umbrellas we were pretty wet. My purse (huge purse) was sticking out, so it was soaked. We waited under some scaffolding for a while, then walked to a couple of stores. The rain eventually let up and we went back to the craft fair. I didn't see the vendor I was specifically looking for--lots of vendors left early because of the rain. I did find some really nice earrings made from Victorian spoon handles. I bought them. The same vendor also had really neat bracelets made from old typewriter keys.

After changing our hotelroom--the first one reeked so badly of smoke I was crying--we dragged ourselves out to dinner in Little Italy. Of course we got some dessert across the street at La Bella Ferrara. We headed up to Times Square, where I guess we spent a long time, because we didn't get back to our hotel until after midnight!

On Sunday we slept in and then went to Ess-a-Bagel for breakfast. We ended up standing in line for 45 minutes and just got (bagel) sandwiches to go--it was almost lunch time. The bagels were huge! We made our way down to the bus stop, and that was the end of our trip. I was able to sleep both ways on the bus. I credit my noise cancelling headphones. I love them. This was a great trip. It makes me want to go back for another quickie trip.

Two new things that I'm obsessed with: getting a bigger, better umbrella, and finding some cool tights. Lots of ladies were sporting fancy tights around the city.

Oh yeah, we walked 5.6 miles!

Angels and Demons

I borrowed Angels and Demons from Troy and finished reading it this week. It was just okay. I know everyone raves about it, but I thought it was just meh. There were just little things throughout the book that bugged me. The one thing the book did do was make me want to visit Italy again. I haven't been to Vatican City in a long time.

NYC: Day One

We headed up to NYC on Friday morning on the Megabus. We didn't take a suitcase. I took my big purse and Ross took a back pack. That's it. Ross was very impressed with how little I packed. We arrived in NYC around 12:30 I think, and we were very hungry. We took the subway down to Chinatown and ate at New Green Bo. They have great steamed vegetable dumplings. We got an order of those and eggplant with garlic sauce. It was just the right amount of food. Then we walked in a big circle looking for the bakery we like in Little Italy. Okay, let me mention now that it was very hot, and very humid. When I bit into that cold, cream-filled lobster tail I was in heaven.

We walked down to the financial district and checked into our hotel. After a short rest we headed up to the theater district to enter the Book of Mormon lottery.

Look at the crowd! There were so many people! Everyone entered to win $32 tickets to the show. We didn't win. Someone else named Brown won.

We left and went down to 34th street for some shopping. It rained. It was hot and humid and icky sticky. I looked at shoes in Macy's. We went to Infinity Shoes and I fell in love with a pair of boots. We stopped by La Bella Ferrara again for more pastries and then dragged ourselves back to the hotel.

Cake is an Essential Food

We bought a pandoro to have for dessert on new years eve. When the checker rang it up she was freaked out because the register wasn't adding tax. The other cashier said that Maryland doesn't tax essential foods. This just goes to prove that cake is an essential food--even cake imported from Italy.

Ross made zabaglione and we had that with cherries and the cake. I started the no C diet today, so I won't be having any for a while.

I Love You Honey

In Italy last year I bought a small, 40g jar of chestnut honey for 1 euro. Oh, it is so scrumptious. Yesterday I had some on challah for break the fast. The little sample size jar is almost empty, so today I started looking online for some chestnut honey. I found a few varieties and then tonight we went to Central Market. I found one I wanted (Italian), but the jars were all expired. I ended up buying a French chestnut honey (the one pictured). I will try it out tomorrow with butter on some challah.

I have also recently become interested in bee keeping. I happened to see a bee keeper on the show of the woman whose name shall not be spoken. The beekeeper showed how the honey is extracted from the honeycomb. It was fascinating. I definitely want a bee hive some day. It costs a bit to get started, so I don't think I'll be doing it any time soon. I'm not sure what kind of honey I'd get, but it sure would be cool to have my own bees and honey supply. In the meantime I think I'll be sampling different kinds of honey from CM.

Simple Pleasures

Yesterday's lunch (we weren't up early enough to have breakfast) was honey wheat bread, cheese (stella fontinella and port salut), blackberries, nutella, and honey. I especially enjoyed the fontinella with the honey. I bought the honey on our last trip to Italy. The honey is miele di castagno (chestnut)--not something I'd ever seen before. I also bought a eucalyptus honey for my mom. I only got a tiny little jar (sample size) and now I want more. The flavor (especially with the cheese) is heavenly. Ross got some excellent blackberries. Some of them are tart (which I like) and some of them are riper, sweeter, with 100 flavors exploding at once. The whole experience made me a little giddy. Such a simple little meal brought me such joy and pleasure. I can only hope for many more moments like this...

NYC Murals

I saw three murals in New York City that I hadn't seen before.

We saw this one from the High Line.

This is in Little Italy--fairly recent, it wasn't there on my last visit.

This one on Houston Street just cracked us up. It continued on to the right, but I couldn't get a photo of the whole thing.

Bah-Humbug

Today we went out. I don't go to the malls at all in December. Today was a clear reminder why. Traffic was terrible. The stores were crowded. There were long lines at all the check outs (and we weren't even at the mall). Oh, and worst of all: Christmas music. I walked into one store to look for one specific thing. Christmas music was blaring. I left and went into the next store just to look around. The line to check out was lengthening down the side of the store and the same exact song was blaring in there. I left. Was I safe outside? Of course not. That shopping area has music piped into the parking lots! It was crazy. We came home without buying anything. I guess that's good.

After dinner we ventured out again. To Target. Ross wanted to pick up a digital converter box for the TV. On the way there and back we drove through the neighborhood and saw lots of Christmas lights. I actually like Christmas lights--at least ones done tastefully. What we saw was mostly crap. We did find a couple of houses on August St. that were really cool. They had their trees completely wrapped in white lights. It was a lot classier than all the trees that we saw with the bottom 3 feet hastily wrapped in lights (we saw blue, yellow, green, red, white, and multicolor stumps).

Christmas in Italy was so different. No Santa. Three days of everything being dead because everyone was home with their families. There are some things I do like about the holidays. All food: panettone, stollen, eggnog. I suppose I'll spend the rest of the month at home--eating cake and washing it down with eggnog. Ha!

Pretty Poppies

On our last trip to Italy I bought this great watercolor of poppies for a mere 14 Euro. Now, two years later, I finally got around to framing it. It cost me over 50 dollars, and that was with a 60 percent off coupon! I'm glad that we finally have it framed and hanging, but I am always baffled by how much it costs to get things framed!

Photo Month: Day 19: Italy: Basilica di San Marco