Pumkin Season

October just snuck up on me and I realized it would be time to get a pumpkin and try carving it with M. Well why wait till Halloween? Our first pumpkin we got way back in the beginning of the month. I took the time to carefully scoop out its insides so we could carve it if we wanted to. In the end, exhausted after spending 20 minutes of scooping, I decided to drill instead. It looked lovely sitting on our table with a lighted candle. The next day, to my disappointment, there was mold beginning to grow and the entire house simultaneously filled with fruit flys. In the garbage that went. But at least I had fresh pulp to try out some new recipes! The first was a focaccia. I had planned on taking it on a picnic play-date but was anxious about how it would taste after Corrado had frowned when I told him what I was making. Despite the face, it was delicious and he even requested I make it again. The next pumpkin I got I didn't handle so lovingly and it was immediately chopped and steamed. So here is what else we've been making: pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, more focaccia, a cheesecake, and pumpkin and sausage risotto. Now that I'm finishing this post nearly at the end of November it's time to make pumpkin pie!

Here are two of the recipes that you have to try with some fresh pulp. Super easy and yummy. Enjoy!

Pumpkin soup

1 liter of broth
700 grams pumpkin puree
100 g. mascarpone
2 shallots
olive oil
nutmeg, salt and pepper

Peel and finely chop your shallots and let them sauté in olive oil in a medium pot. Add your puree and let that absorb a bit of flavor before adding your broth. Let that cook over a low heat for about 20 minutes. Now remove from stove and blend the soup until it's a creamy consistency. Lastly, add the mascarpone and (some pecorino if you want) and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. This is great with day old bread and I even cooked up some bacon to serve alongside.

Focaccia di zucca

200 g. of flour
10 g. of a cake of yeast
olive oil
200 g. pumpkin puree
1 Italian chicory
1 onion
salt

Melt your yeast together with a bit of warm water before adding it to your flour. Begin to work your flour together with the yeast before adding some salt. Add the puree and knead. You want a very soft dough. I find I need more flour that then recipe calls for so just keep going until you feel you've got the right consistency. Put aside to rise for about an hour. Meanwhile, peel your onion and finely chop it. Let it cook in a small amount of water until it begins to become transparent. Now add your chicory which has also been chopped in long thin stripes. Add some salt and cook all together for a few minutes. When your dough is ready place in a pan sprinkled with some oil. Using your fingers spread it until fills your entire baking pan. Make sure it's at least 1 cm thick. Spread your onion and chicory on top, I also add a bit more of salt if I think I didn't add enough. I prefer to use larger grains of salt for focaccia but this is just my preference. Let it cook for about 20-30 minutes at a high temperature (200 degrees Celsius).

We've visited some museum exhibits these past months since the weather has been a bit iffy.
                          

 

Due to someone's urging me on to Pinterest, I have since become a junkie and this is the result:

 

And for all hallows' eve a cat that turns into a witch when the sun goes down!

Summer Recap

I want to try to get back in the swing of blogging. It really is a great way to keep up with each other so don't be shy, write away...

As you all know, this summer had brought a very unanticipated event which I prefer to leave alone. Instead, I'll share a few of our highlights from this past summer! Let's start back in May...

Maddalena and I took an unplanned trip to Texas to spend a great 3 weeks with my mom.

Bean bag toss!

Waiting for yummy tacos!

 We were quite busy showing Maddalena around Texas. We visited farmer markets, ate fresh fish tacos (though I was highly skeptical, I found that they were amazing!), explored parks, ate the best BBQ (even Matthew McConaughey eats there) got friendly with Grandma's chickens, picked strawberries and made jam, checked out a museum, rode on a glass-bottom boat, and watched the entire Breaking Bad series. It was a busy three weeks.

She loved feeding them.

After returning home we attended a wedding, unpacked our suitcases only to repack them in order to visit Corrado's family. Shortly after, it was back over to the states; this time Georgia.

 

While in Georgia, we weren't as busy but we did squeeze in some beach time and checked out a small museum dedicated to sea turtles. Ever since, Maddalena has a soft spot for "tuttles." 

 

She thought she owned the beach.

Oh him.

 Oh, did I mention Corrado tried to hack his fingers off with a chainsaw? Well he did and we spent a day in the hospital, too. Fun stuff.

 

The month of July was a quiet one after all our traveling. During the weeks we stayed cool in the house and only ventured outside in the later hours of the day. Weekends we spent splashing in the Navy club's pool. Then towards the end of August it was back in the car, this time our destination was only in Italy, to Puglia! Even though we planned a relaxing week, it was filled with more going here and going there, eat this at this Aunt's house and eat some more at this cousin's house that at the end I found myself 10 pounds heavier. Oh, the joy of summer. Also, I had gotten on the "no-poo" bandwagon (meaning I've stopped shampooing my hair) and having just started I was right in the middle of my degreasing period so I probably had an added pound of hair oils festering on my head. Not my best week.

She wants the phone.

She really wants the camera.

No, Corrado is not naked, his shorts were under M's bum.

What were you all up to this summer?



A Tale of a Shoe Meddling Mom

The sewing fun (or frustration) has not ended for me!

After those adorable moccasins I came across another adorable pair of shoes that I just had to make. And since the moccasins were giving me so much trouble always slipping off her ankles what could be the solution but to try again. After discovering on Pinterest  (a dangerous place) the lovely lady of homemade toast  who so generously offers not only a free pattern but also a free tutorial of how to make the most sweetest shoes and after seeing her pictures how could I say no?

Two frustrating days later (why can't I pick an easy project??) here they were.

Don't want to get too close; you would see all the mistakes.

 

 

But they were too big.

They lasted a week.

And here is what she is sporting when we go out now.

 

 

 

Finally, a pair of shoes that stays on. Now every time we pass a shoemaker's shop, Corrado nudges me and suggests with a grin that I go learn the art of making shoes that stay on.

 

The end of my shoe meddling. 

Happy Easter!

Sorry for the bad quality of the photos- not sure why.

Sacagawea couldn't make better mocasins...

Well, she probably could and most likely did but that doesn't take away from the fact that I made my daughter's shoes!

Let me fill you all in.

After months of lurking around numerous different sewing blogs my head has slowly been filling up with ideas and things I really, really want to do. Problem was, I needed a sewing machine. But some doubts kept popping up in my head- what if I never stick with it, what if I just don't like it! Then I'll end up with this thing collecting dust and money wasted. So I brewed about this idea for awhile, probably a year. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law sews and once in a blue moon I use her machine. Once I made a skirt out of the bottom half of C's old pants when he cut himself some shorts. Also, I shortened and modified one of his old button down shirts for myself. Thus, since we had planned a visit with her and the family, I decided it would be a great opportunity to work on some projects I wanted to get done.
So, I cut out the pattern for her shoes and I pinned and modified more of C's discarded pants into a pencil skirt, so far so good... There we are visiting, having a dandy time. One day presents itself with some free time, I jump on the opportunity and grab my stuff to sit down at the machine. Haha, silly me, haven't I learned my time is not my own?? To make a long story short- there were tears and screaming from a child who did not want me to accomplish anything, a husband who could not distract said child, then the cherry on top, I broke the machine's needle. End. I threw up my arms in frustration, projects came home unaccomplished.
After that episode I decided I needed my own machine so I could work on all my future projects when I could find the time, or when M naps. And that's how I ended up with my very first sewing machine; and not just any sewing machine, I bought Ikea's sewing machine. Who knew that they made these things? I had been debating whether to buy a good one which would cost TONS or go with this one. A quick internet search brought up some reviews, good and bad, but I bit the bullet and so far, I will say I'm quite happy. Granted, I've only done two projects now but I would say for a beginner, this machine is just fine.

Back to the shoes.
Considering it was my first project I'm going to tap myself on the back. If I were to make another pair, I would modify them a bit.

I also finished the skirt, should post a picture...

4 Recents

Let me open with a small quote from Vanity Fair-

"As his hero and heroine pass the matrimonial barrier, the novelist generally drops the curtain, as if the drama were over then: the doubts and struggles of life ended: as if, once landed in the marriage country, all were green and pleasant there: and wife and husband had nothing but to link each other's arms together and wander gently downwards towards old age in happy and perfect fruition. "

1. How true is this sometimes? The "happily ever after" that does not exist. So what are some good novels discussing marriage, any suggestions for the next time I head over to the library? I can think of Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth" but I need some other ones that look at a more Western view of marriage.

Maddalena's favorite book has been Jack and the Beanstalk. I felt bad having to return it so we've turned to oral tradition with some pictures to help. She loves it.

2.Warm weather is here and we've been taking advantage of it!

 

Homemade cornstarch paints!

3.We had a great time with the family. The trip went smoothly in the new car (which already has scratches on it; welcome to life in the city) and I'm loving those two extra doors. Besides relaxing and assisting M walk everywhere we took a trip to a nearby petting zoo. Considering the zoo had been a success with M. and since this was free, why not? Guess what was the favorite?

Should I put a chick in her Easter basket?

4.Have gotten the "spring cleaning" bug as of late and am working on switching out the wardrobes. Fun stuff. Yesterday, we went out to visit some friends and enjoyed a delicious smoothie. I'm now inspired to start making my own. What are some good combinations?

 

Other than that, just working our way through Lent and looking forward to Easter! What family traditions to do for Easter that don't involve tons of candy. Hmmmm...

 

Our Daily Happings

The month of February was a bumpy one for us. Our car decided to abandon us the end of January and we were forced to abruptly buy a new one. Today is the anticipated day which after dealing with banks, insurances, car dealers, we actually get to call it our own! After a month of not having a car I am so looking forward to getting in and driving around- anywhere!

The past month has also brought the rainy season. Lots of time spent indoors which meant I've done lots of reading. Here a wonderful quote from Solzhenitsyn- very prophetic of our times. Quick background, he his talking about the lack of trials and overall justice towards those who ran the whole system of the camps- even in Germany, he points out, there were trials for the horrors of Hitler.

"It is unthinkable in the twentieth century to fail to distinguish between what constitutes an abominable atrocity that must be prosecuted and what constitutes that ' past' which 'ought not to be stirred up.'
  We have to condem publicly the very idea that some people have the right to repress others. In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations. It is for this reason, and not because of the 'weakness of indoctrinational work,' that they are growing up 'indifferent.' Young people are acquiring the conviction that foul deeds are never punished on earth, that they always bring prosperity.
  It is going to be uncomfortable, horrible, to live in such a country!"

Alexander Solzhenitsyn
"The Gulag Archipelago"

How right he was.

Miss M. has been getting in on the action, too. She loves when I read to her and tends to pick a favorite that we have to read over, and over, and over...

For some odd reason I have gone on baking overdrive. From crackers to brownies, cakes and more cakes. I have been out of control. I blamed it on the stress of not having a car and being trapped indoors for too long. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) Lent begins tomorrow and the oven will be used sparingly. It's going to be a long, sugarless 40 days...

 

The rocking horse has been a huge hit. She is on that thing from dawn to dusk. I think we might just need to buy a real pony someday in the distant future.
I do, however, curse the cute rocking distraction for her. She loves to rock so violently that she is going to tip the thing backwards one of these days. Once I was able to sit her on the thing and clean, trim some shrubs or whatever, now she needs constant supervision.

We did have some good weather allowing us to go to the zoo. Out of all the exotic animals that we saw what was the favorite- chickens. The least favorite, judging by her face below, were the monkeys (I thoroughly approve).

While there, we were surprised by a passing shower and had to seek refuge under an awning not much wider than her baby carriage. She took it as an opportunity to explore the smog coated raindrops falling nearby.

Tomorrow we leave for a long overdue visit to Corrado's family. I have to pack, guess I'll go do that now. 

Looking back at Christmas and looking forward to the new year

Our Christmas was a very simple and peaceful one. After Maddalena retired for the evening, we stayed up late finishing little projects for Christmas day. I finished cookie decorating and knitting a hat while Corrado assembled M's toys to then be arranged under the tree. Now allow me to boast about my husband and my favorite toy that M got (yes, my favorite toy because this blog is written by me and not my daughter). Here is the proof and reason for boasting...

Corrado made this! How cool is that?

She is not too impressed.

I'm not huge about making a list of resolutions for the new year but I also think it's important to reflect and perhaps have some sort of direction for the coming months. Here is my attempt at a brief reflection of the year passed and turning towards 2014.
Recently, I've seen people finding a word summarizing their past year. After some thought, I would say "motherhood" sums up well 2013 for me. Technically I became a mother in 2012 but it was in 2013 that I really lived it. It is a state of being that I have entered and cannot undo. In just this past year I have lived so many moments of joy, suffering, anger, worry and many others emotions that are all tied to being a mom (and there will be oh so many more). Being a mother is like putting on a new pair of glasses, there is a new perspective on everything (I now cross the street prudently!). It has also changed the way I look at myself and my relationship with others. Quick example, I have learned that I can't respond patiently just to her, I have to also be kind to others (shocker!) in order that she learns what charity really is. Papa Francesco has recently been emphasizing the importance of concrete actions vs. words. And it's true. I can tell her now and in the future how to behave but what really teaches her is following my lead and doing what I do. And right now she copies everything I do- from cleaning the house, to scolding Corrado when he smokes. So last year was all about the beginnings of motherhood and learning all the simple things like changing diapers and breastfeeding. This year (and all the future years) is going to be about teaching and forming this little person, but by molding myself, first. Sorry, this is all really obvious stuff and you are all rolling your eyes at me but I feel it's different when you actually have to do it. There is an urgency about it and it's not a resolution that I can push aside and "save" for another year. As for dedicating a word to this year I need to think a little more on it. But I have the general direction.
Besides that, I want to try to live more naturally. Meaning I want to start getting natural soaps and using less sugar and things along that line.

Lastly, this is a decisive year for our little family. Corrado will be putting in his request to work abroad. It may mean moving to America or another country in Europe and it could open up a lot of possibilities for us in the future. Or his request could be denied(prayers that that doesn't happen). That would mean we would do some serious reflecting for the future but nonetheless we would be moving from Rome. So this is probably our last year here and I want to take advantage of that. It's hard when you have a little one to tote around and who does like waiting for buses? We will see what we can work in. Yesterday, we spent some time in the piazza at St. Peter's and took a Christmas family photo. Ok, multiple family photos because you never know if the person taking the photo is any good at what they are doing...

Happy Epiphany!