International Cat Day

In honor of International Cat Day, I'd like to take this time to remember my beloved cat Sophie, whom I lost this past Thanksgiving and miss every day.

It is hard to think about her now and not cry. She was with me for over 15 years and was the sweetest, funniest kitty I've every had.

When I first rescued her from the pound, she was a young, short-haired, 5-lb, flea-ridden cat who fell in love with my father initially and hardly spared me a glance. My parents were about to move out of our family home with me staying on - and a house just wasn't a home without a kitty. It took me loads of money and who knows how much time to rid her and the house of fleas. more time to train her not to jump on the kitchen cabinets. and weeks for her to stop smacking my dogs. but we settled in. Who knew under that short-hair hair was a silky, long-haired kitty who would rule the roost and priss about with her tail in the air.

She loved me unconditionally and every work day, I found her waiting for me by the door or she would walk out into the garage so we could walk inside together. She didn't like it when S. and I fought or even had a loud discussion - she would meow and rub against both of us as if to calm us down. She made me laugh when I was down and kept me company when I was lonely. She would snuggle up to me on the sofa - maintaining her independence of course - and let me pick her up and hug her when I needed to. We made up songs for her, talked to her all the time and often wondered how a 8-lb cat could sound like a herd of elephants running up the stairs and down the hall.

And now that she's gone, it's astounding how a small, quiet animal leaves such a huge hole in your life. the house seems so empty without her. But I am thankful for the blessings and company she gave to me thru the years. I was hoping to have her longer but until that last day, she was still the same sweet kitty I had loved over the years.

If you are a cat lover and have a cat, take time to appreciate and enjoy your kitty today.

And so the Italian Adventure Begins...

After months of scouring the internets for tickets that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg or any other detachable body part, we finally decided that to save a few bucks we would give up the dream of getting to Italy early. And so, we found a pair taking off on Christmas Eve arriving late morning in Venice. Not ideal but not terrible either. At least we would make Christmas lunch :)

Daring dashes to the madhouse stores for last minute gifts and warm clothes (hello I live in Texas, it doesn't get that cold here). Long lists of what to pack with the determination not to stuff too much into the suitcase. Bills to pay so we could come back to a house with electricity. A million and one things to do before leaving which suck up the hours before a big trip.

The day finally arrives and guess what? A Christmas miracle occurred. It snowed in Dallas. HA of course it would snow as I am leaving. It looked lovely coming down along the runway as we waited for our flight. and waited. and waited. yep, our flight was delayed but not because of the snow. We were almost an hour late in leaving but the plane was nice and the movie selection... oh the movie selection was GINORMOUS!! I didn't sleep at all! I watched Julie & Julia, G-Force, and The Hangover. (that movie was hilarious lol)

Unfortunately, we didn't make up enough time in the air and had a tight connection in Amsterdam - where, I might add, we had to run across the WHOLE FREAKING AIRPORT to make our connection flight to Venice. S got to the gate before me and as I was running up to the gate, they called my name over the intercom.lol Hopping on the little tram we were the last ones on the plane. It was snowing pretty hard by that time and frankly we ran for for nothing because we were further delayed while they de-iced the wings. actually that was kind of cool. I'd never seen that before =)

Tired beyond belief, cramped in the little puddle jumper, and just ready to get there, S. & I couldn't help but get excited when we finally saw this:The Euganean Hills. S. loves those hills and I swear I could hear the angelic music swell as we gazed out the window to see them. So after a day of travel, no sleep, snow, and hot, cramped places - even though we were over an hour late in arriving - S. was home.

Our luggage however, was not.

More later...

**tap tap tap** **tap tap tap**

Anyone here? probably not and I don't blame you at all. 2009 was a pretty sucky year and life just got in the way of blogging. Plus, nothing interesting happened last year so...

However, the year ended on a good note with Christmas and New Years in Italy! Can you believe it had been 6 years since I had been on vacation? Or seen my in-laws?? Once I did the math, I couldn't believe it had been so long. sigh I totally needed it and it delivered!

So, as the new year has started (though I'm still a month late) I will be posting all about our adventures in Italy during the holidays. Where we went. What we ate. Crappy weather. Funny observations. and so on

Here is a teaser :) Where are we?

More later...

EUREKA!

AHA! I have cracked the DaVinci-esque code of making a good tomato sauce!

If you had told me 10 years ago that pasta would be a staple in my everyday diet, I would not have believed it. I didn't like pasta then. too mushy. too much sauce. or bland. yuck. My family was not a pasta family so I hadn't really been exposed to the good stuff. Since meeting and marrying S. that totally changed, and I have been on a quest to make at least a comparable sauce to the one he makes.

And so here we find ourselves. What is the secret you say? Well, in my humble opinion it is two-fold:

1. Use good tomatoes.

2. Let the sauce cook. For awhile. As long as you can and still keep it "quick"

Sounds simple right? Well it is and it isn't. Let's examine the process, keep in mind its all variation on a theme depending on what you have in the pantry, or are in the mood for, or have time for.

Most Italian sauces begin with a soffritto. Soffritto is basically the saute of diced aromatic vegetables - onions, carrots, celery - in extra virgin olive oil. Add a little salt and let them soften. We usually just use onions in the soffritto, probably because we are lazy and don't want to chop all the other veggies. Then add the tomato.

Here I will digress to a more personal approach. We usually use canned organic strained/crushed tomatoes for our sauces. Fresh are good, but as we don't grow our own, when we get fresh tomatoes (in season of course!) we like to eat them with mozzarella, drizzled with ev olive oil, salt, pepper and basil. We never seem to have a surplus for sauce. From time to time we do make a fresh tomato sauce, but I leave that to the expert - S. Anyway, back to the cooking. Try out different brands of canned tomatoes (not the pre-made spaghetti sauce or marinara) to see what fits your taste best. (Currently, we are really enjoying Pomi strained tomatoes). And then, let it cook. stir occasionally. taste for seasoning. let it cook some more. You see, as it cooks out the water, the tomato concentrates and thickens - the flavor is delicious! Interestingly enough, tomatoes are one of the few fruits (or vegetables if you swing that way) that when cooked, have higher levels of lycopene and antioxidants. I know some recipes add sugar to the sauce. I don't do that. I don't really like a sweet sauce - I think the tomatoes are sweet enough on their own. But to each his own I guess.

Pretty much that is it. A basic sauce. Mix it up by adding different herbs (like rosemary and basil or even herbs de provence) or spices. I like black pepper, red pepper flakes, smoked paprika or crushed red pepper. [side note: add some red pepper flakes to your soffritto for more flavor] We also like to add a bit of vegetable broth powder (which comes from Italy) as it gives a bit of depth to the taste. If you want meat or mushrooms in the sauce, cook the mushrooms with the soffritto or add the cooked meat after the vegetables soften.

Now combine it with good pasta. Seriously, there are definitely some bad dried pastas out there. We have tried them all and DeCecco is our pick. There are other good brands but this one is the most accessible to us. (meaning I don't have to go to Whole Foods or Central Market to get it, my local grocery store has it) I just learned from S. that by looking at the cook time on the pasta box, you can tell if it is good or not (most of the time). The longer the cook time, the better the pasta. Who knew? And for God's sake DONT OVERCOOK THE PASTA! overcooked pasta is gross. It should be "al dente" and you don't need to throw it against the wall to see if it's ready. HA just get a piece and chew it. if there is a little bit of resistance when you bite it. firm but not hard, it's ready.

Once the pasta is drained we normally put in the sauce pot, stir to combine with sauce and add parmesan cheese. This technique helps dry the pasta a bit and helps the sauce adhere to it. I'm not sure but I think this is more traditionally Southern Italian. I say that only because there are so many different ways and variations of making "authentic Italian". This is how we do it, it's not even something S's mom ever did - it's our own kind of northern-italian-texan twist.

I don't mean to brag or anything, but S. has even said my sauce is as good as his mother's. High praise indeed! lol

More later...

A New Twist on Tourism

Ahh Tornado Alley. I live in it. YAY!

For those of you who do not have this privilege, let me tell you that from an early age (elementary) we are given instruction on what to do in case a tornado heads our way. Believe me, if you haven't spent some time in the school hallway, on your knees, bending over with your arms over your head, during a tornado drill, you have not lived.

Can I get an Amen? HA! Anyway, I tell you this so you understand that I have a healthy appreciation (and fear) of tornadoes. When spring comes around, which is traditionally the beginning of storm season (though this year it seems to have started in winter), you can be sure that my mind automatically and unconsciously calculates the most internal space available in whatever building I'm during a storm. (It really does, just like my brain automatically calculates Italian time when I look at the clock.)

Now, don't be thinking I'm all obsessive or take cover whenever there's even a slight chance of tornadoes. I don't do that. However, I have been through one and it makes an impression. But normally, I am not that nervous during the season, just keep a watchful eye on the weather. My Italian on the other hand, did not grow up with extreme weather conditions. He has a tendency to "freak" out a bit when severe storms come our way. (shhh don't tell him I said that) I am completely surprised he has not yet built a storm shelter in our home. HA! I will admit though, he has gotten much much better =) But with his fear comes a fascination with tornadoes, that I cannot conceive. Evidently, he is not alone in that.

Over the last several years, it has come to my attention that a new tourist attraction has been created. Storm Chasing. People from all over the world descend upon our fair states looking for the awe-if not fear-inspiring onslaught of tornadoes, hail and severe storms that roam Tornado Alley. These are tours folks. Tours which have the ultimate goal of seeing a tornado spawned from the sky.

For me "storm chasers" are trained people who work with the weather centers and news meteorology teams to let them know what is developing. They are quite an organized group, full of HAMM radio operators, many with in-vehicle radar screens and whatchimacallit weather related gadgets. But not anymore. Recently, we watched a BBC produced show of a group of English travelers on a tour. In Italy, out of the beautiful town of Teolo, you have these guys who ride along with experts from OU every year. My Italian explains that while of course these storms bring about terrible damage and heartache for the people involved, it is one of the very unique "American" experiences a foreigner can have. Kind of like visiting the Southwest. It is the awe-inspiring raw power and sometimes terrifying beauty of nature.

In light of this, he dragged me to a severe storm seminar. *sigh* You would not BELIEVE how many people were in attendance! I am not even exaggerating when I estimate around 400. The place was packed. All of us were there to learn how to identify characteristics of severe storms, possibly tornadic storms, in the cloud formations. I learned a lot. As much as I griped (internally) about not wanting to go, it was actually very interesting. I even found myself a little excited about the phenomena. Anticipating severe weather so I can put what I learned into practice. What is wrong with me? lol

I am such a nerd.

More later...