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Yesterday I finished reading the most wonderful book. If you like Venice, glass works, history, a little bit of mystery, and a little bit of romance, then I can't recommend anything more highly than The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato.

Other than that beautiful book, not much has been going on lately. I've been helping Flavio with part of his thesis project, and I've been working, and I've been cooking a little bit. Tonight I'm making spaghetti pomodoro again, and I picked up a bottle of Arbor Mist sangria zinfandel to go with it (I don't know if this is a good pairing or not--I really don't know anything about wine--but I like Arbor Mist, even if it is a bit too sweet to drink with dinner).

I'm going to spend the afternoon going through some of the stuff I have packed away in the garage. Even though I'm not moving out until November-ish, helping my grandparents move a couple weeks ago taught me that it's never too early to start packing. Especially since I have a lot of stuff, most of which I probably don't even need/want for my apartment. Also, this will be a good opportunity to take inventory of what we have, so we can start figuring out what we still need (before we register for wedding gifts).

P.S. Sorry for my lack of photos lately. My computer is basically out of memory, and I need to do something about that before my trip (2 and a half weeks!!!), or else y'all won't get any photos of that either.

P.P.S. So I really want to go to Èze. Like now. Well, not now, but in the off-season, when it's empty and cheap.

Bad Week Gone Good

Well, it's been an interesting week. I spent Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday helping my grandparents pack, move, and settle into their new home. Although there was a lot more work to do than I had anticipated, and I learned way too many weird things about my grandparents, it felt good to do something nice for them.

Although the work wasn't completely done, my mom and I took today off to see a movie, eat at our favorite café, and do a little shopping. We saw My Life in Ruins, the new Nia Vardalos movie, which was absolutely wonderful. Sweet and funny with lovely scenery, exactly what we needed after a few hot & stressful days of moving. I had an amazing sandwich at Caffe Moderne ("The Roman": roast beef, provolone, parmesan, arugula, and a black pepper & rosemary mayo on multigrain bread), followed by an espresso and a dish of pistachio gelato (I also sampled the lemon-basil sorbetto). Before leaving the square, we stopped in at Lucinda's, where I bought a 16"x16" print of this lovely Kelly Rae Roberts piece.

And finally: today I booked my flight for next month's trip. Although I ended up spending $300+ more than I would've if I'd booked 2 weeks ago, and I have to leave Italy a day earlier than I'd planned, it feels good for this trip to actually be official now! Also today: Flavio booked our hotel room in Venice. We were originally planning to stay at 3749 Ponte Chiodo, the charming little B&B we stayed in last time. Unfortunately, it was only available for one night, and we wanted to stay for two. Then he found Hotel Priuli, a 4-star hotel close to Piazza San Marco!! We've booked the "Venice in Love 2009" package, which includes a free bottle of sparkling wine, free room service, a private motorboat to Murano, and lots of discounts at various shops & restaurants. Seriously?? I could die.

Oh! I almost forgot! I tried two new recipes today: Easy Cheese Danishes (for breakfast) and Roasted Shrimp Cocktail (for dinner), both from Ina Garten. Both recipes turned out perfectly, although I overfilled the danishes and the cocktail sauce was a bit spicy for me. I'll definitely be adding these recipes to my repetoire, and I want to play around with different fillings for the danishes. Sorry I can't share pictures...the lighting in the kitchen was bad when the danishes were done, and I was too impatient to grab my camera before tucking into the shrimp cocktail.

Now my hard-earned, heavenly day is coming to an end. I think I'll sleep well tonight. :)

Spaghetti Pomodoro

Get your twirl on!

If you've ever ordered from an inexpensive tourist menu at a restaurant in Italy, you've probably had spaghetti pomodoro, spaghetti in a light tomato sauce. It's a common primo piatto, or first course. The first time I had it was in Venice, last November. I've never liked spaghetti sauce, so I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed this dish. I asked Flavio how to make it, and this was the recipe he gave me. Of course this is just a basic method; there are endless variations. Flavio likes to add mozzarella, black olives, and cherry tomatoes. I think I would really enjoy it with sautéed mushrooms.

Spaghetti Pomodoro - serves 4

• olive oil
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 28-oz. can peeled crushed tomatoes
• basil (fresh is preffered, but dried is fine)
• salt
• spaghetti

Sautée onion in a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove onion, if desired. (The onion imparts a nice flavor to the olive oil. When I've had this dish in restaurants, the sauce has never had onion in it. I hate onion, so I remove it. Flavio would prefer to leave it in.) Add the crushed tomatoes and stir in basil and salt; cover. Stir occasionally (keeping the lid on the skillet between stirs). Let simmer for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook and drain spaghetti. Stir pasta into sauce and serve. Buon appetito!

Bella Monkey

[ raveled. ]

I just finished knitting another monkey. Partly I wanted to figure out exactly what I'd done to make the last one (because I hadn't written anything down at the time), but also I wanted to make something pink and girly. Although I wish I'd done a better job embroidering the face (I just don't have the patience for it!), I'm pretty happy with how she turned out overall. And I love the way these photos came out!

Missing Italy

Well, it's not official yet, but it looks like I'll be spending some time in Italy this summer. I'm definitely going for Flavio's graduation at the end of July, but I'm hoping that I can stretch this into a 2-week stay. If I can, we'll basically be having our "honeymoon" (even though the wedding won't be until November, maybe). I'm so excited!! This is all contingent on me being able to get a little leave of absence from work, but things have been so slow (and are only getting slower), I don't think that'll be too hard to swing.

I've been watching a lot of Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel, and just about every day they show a different city in Italy. It's filled me with a strange feeling I can't quite describe...something in between homesickness and the travel itch. I'm eager to be back in a place I love, but just as excited by the prospect of exploring new parts of that place. I want to go to Verona, visit the Casa di Giulietta and rub the statue's bronze boob for good luck, and ride a free bicycle through the streets while I take in the mix of Roman and Venetian architecture. I want to go back to Venice and eat four ice cream cones again. I want to travel to Bologna and take my first scooter ride and see if the mortadella tastes as good as the Oscar Mayer bologna I grew up eating.

And don't get me started on how jealous I am of Flavio right now. Tomorrow morning, he's hopping on a train and heading for the coast. He's just going to spend the day reading, sunbathing, and swimming in the Mediterranean. Then he'll spend the night camping on the beach. If I didn't love him so much, I think I might hate him a little bit. ♥

I'm Not Lion

[ raveled. ]

This is Albert. Recently, Flavio requested a knitted monkey. I looked for patterns but couldn't find one I liked. I admit, I've been completely spoiled by Ysolda's neat, tidy, seamless!!! toy patterns. For this monkey, I used the Elijah pattern as a template, and then just modified it as needed to create a monkey-ish head and limbs. Unfortunately, I didn't write anything down as I was going along, so I can't give any tips for recreating this little guy.

I love you, sweetie. Albert will be in the mail tomorrow, along with your surprise!!!

Puddles

It's been 9 days since my last post, and it's rained every single one of them. Poor Xena doesn't seem to know what to do, tip-toeing through the mud and muck. Although the sun is shining today, there are storms in the forecast pretty much every day for the next week. As long as it doesn't flood, however, I'm not going to complain about the rain. The farmers need it, right?

Other things that have happened in the past 9 days:

• I finished some books. The count is at 22 now, which completely blows my mind. That's two more than I read in all of last year.
• I've become kind of addicted to Twitter. Follow me!
• Flavio helped me translate an Italian song, "Sincerità" by Arisa. Now I've got the album, and I can't wait to be able to translate them all.
• I broke the dryer. FAIL.
  
• 24 hours later, and my clothes laid out on drying racks are still damp. Eff.

Ok, I guess that's all.