Look what we did!

We made Tortellini! From SCRATCH!!! lol

Since we are a blended household of Italian and American traditions, this year we decided to honor that Italian Christmas tradition of making tortellini. It was our very first time and wow, I can understand why people only make it once a year - its a lot of work! We don't have a pasta machine so we had to roll the pasta out ourselves. I think we should've made it a bit thinner but all in all it was delicious. Stefano mixed together the filling and made the vegetable broth we cooked it in. I rolled out the dough, cut out the circles, filled and shaped them. I think we did a pretty good job for our first time! I am a natural at shaping these things. Who knew? lol

I also roasted my first whole chicken, which was good but not great. It was very juicy but not the as flavorful as I was hoping. The veggies I cooked with it were delicious though. That was our Christmas night dinner that we shared with our good friend Erin. She is always open to be our test eater and I am always glad when I don't give her food poisoning.

This year we had a "Baptist" Christmas and Stef went with me and the family to the Candlelight Service at my sister's church. (last year we went to midnight mass - a first for me) He was a little freaked out that it started at 6:15pm. hehe Afterward we had Christmas with my parents and stayed up late. We waited until it was "officially" Christmas day to exchange our gifts. (at about 12:15am..hehe) I bought him the complete works of Bach cds and he got me an ipod nano! YAY

We called Italy around 8am (their time) and wished his parents a Buon Natale. Can you believe our nephew (4 yr old) wasn't even up yet??? When I was a kid, we HAD to wait until 7:00am and not a second sooner. I remember watching the clock waiting for 7 to get there. When we finally did talk to him, he was over the moon that Babbo Natale had dropped off a present for him in Texas and it was on its way to Italy. lol The rest of the weekend was a rushing blur of presents, kids and food. It was a nice holiday even if it was a pain to get up this morning for work.lol

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Now we can turn our sites on New Years!

More later...


PS - Buon Ono Mastico to all the Stefano's today. It's Santo Stefano day.

HOLIDAY WISHES

MERRY CHRISTMAS
BUON NATALE
JOYEUX NOEL
FELIZ NAVIDAD

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Holiday Season!


Stacy, Stefano & Sophie

Where am I?

Nebbia. Fog. I know it looks like car exhaust (that is my expert picture-taking-while-driving technique at work folks!) but its not. It's FOG. A ton of fog, like every day... for 2 weeks.

Some mornings I can hardly see the car in front of me. Others it's like the picture - hovering low, just above the ground. If it wasn't so sunny it would be creepy. Regardless, its just weird. We don't usually get this kind of thing often. Doesn't really help my Holiday funk. sigh

On a happier note, our team had a Christmas breakfast this morning. Which was fun even though I could hardly taste my french toast. (I have a bit of a cold) We did a white elephant exchange and I ended up with a pewter bread tray thing. Not what I would've picked out but it's fine. Dang coworker stole my itunes gift card. GRRRRRRR

Our team manager made the cutest gifts for us. She compiled lots of Christmas songs, burned them onto CDs and stamped a cute label on it. She's very crafty - I think next year I will try to do that. Was a great gift! Of course if I still had my itunes gc I could do it now! lol My accomplishment of the week - I have all my Christmas shopping done!! now I just have to hit the grocery store - WOOOHOOO

more Christmas spirit later...

It's December...huh?

Hello from the land of 80+ F temperatures! Geez, I thought Christmas was supposed to be chilly, with chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Wow, it has been warm these last few days. Here we are just days away from Christmas (CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT???) and I am having trouble at all. Others, namely Sophie, don't seem to be having any trouble getting into the spirit. We couldn't get the tree up quick enough for her!

My shoppings done, mostly. Lights are everywhere. But still it doesn't feel like Christmas is a week away. Is it just me or does it seem weird and just wrong for Christmas to be on a Monday this year?

So in an effort to bring some Holiday cheer into this blog, it is my goal to post pics of Christmas Spirit throughout the week =) To start things off let me share with you some of my favorite ornaments. Now, our tree is fake with multi-colored lights (cuz thats just the way we roll! no "all whites" in our tree!) and the ornaments are a mishmash of styles, shapes, colors and sizes. Homemade, store bought, you name it - they're there. But for some reason, these few just make me happy. I don't know why but I like them.

Coming later this week - house decorations - the good, the bad, the ugly; and roasting chestnuts! I've bought them, now Stef just has to show me what to do with them!

More later...

Tour Del Gelato stops in Texas...

Sara at Ms. Adventures in Italy has issued a challenge around the world to taste and catalogue gelaterie! Now this is a challenge I can handle. =)

So now... sit back and enjoy the American-ized version of this delectible Italian treat:

PACIUGO

This chain of gelaterie started in Dallas by some Italians from Torino (I think) and has just exploded across the nation. In my humble opinion it is probably the closest you can get to the real thing, in my area at least, that is not homemade (my Italian husband agrees). I have to say though, it is not as good as the gelato I've had in Italy and the flavors are not as plentiful; but we like it and it satisfies the craving. My only complaint is sometimes the flavors pretty much all taste the same. Which could be my fault and a result of those I pick for my take home "tubs". But Stef says that sometimes that happens in Italy too - so who knows.

Lucky for me, Sara's challenge gave me a chance to stop by on my way home. YAY! The stores rotate flavors so unfortunately today, they didn't have my favorites. On a side note, why can never remember the name of my favorites? I just know them by sight. However, this did give me an excuse to try some new ones and a few seasonal varieties. I had fun with the store dude and let him take some "artistic" shots of the gelato. He was a nice kid (teenager) who excitedly told me about his upcoming trip to Florence this summer. Gelato spans he generations I tell you! Here are a few pics...


Points of viewing interest - recently they started making very spikey peaks on the tops of some flavors - why oh why do they do that? Also, in the second pic you can see some of the holiday flavors like egg nog and pumpkin pie. I tried them - they're pretty darn good. American-ized = cookie dough gelato. I mean come on, its cookie dough and gelato - whats not to like?? (though I'm pretty sure that would never grace Italian gelateria selections..hehe)

I decided to get a small tub that holds up to 4 flavors. Since I was a little pouty at not seeing my favs, I only got 3. hehe Chocolate chocolate chip, Amaretto chocolate chip and Italian Trifle (which is basically a Zuppa Inglese inspired flavor). So if you are in the states and are jonesing for some gelato, check out the web site and see if they are near you.

And now for Stefano's gelaterie picks in Italy (you'll have to take his word for it cuz I've not tried these):

GELATERIA NICO
You gotta try the Gianduiotto da Passeggio
Zattere, Venezia
041 522 5293

Gelaterie in Alpago area (Belluno) - this is the most important area of gelato. The "World Capital" if you will. It is full of families who have been making gelato for many generations and who really are responsible for the world wide spread of it. You pretty much can try any of the gelaterie in the Alpago area and not go wrong. They also have a festival in Nov - WOOHOO.

There - the Veneto has now been represented! =)

More later...

Surprise in the mail

YAY! Yesterday when I got home, I had a nice package waiting for me =) That's right folks, my package from the "International City Swap!" - all the way from Australia!

Thanks so much to mad for my goodies. As you can see here, i got some really cute "thongs" (mad - when I was growing up we called them thongs too, that was before the undies got so popular) - perfect for the pool =) ; beautiful and funny postcards which will come in handy when I visit Australia (I will do that someday); a pretty necklace and earrings set she made herself (!, I'm so uncrafty); an Aussie dessert wine (I really need that this week); and some yummy chocolate covered macadamia nuts, grown there (of course those are almost gone).

It was so fun to do the swap even if I was a day late in mailing mine. I love all my goodies and can't wait to do it again. Thanks mad! (and Shelley for organizing everything)

More later...

ARCTIC BLAST

Texas is not known for its wintry weather, so growing up, anytime you heard the words "winter storm" a small spark of hope and anticipation was ignited. In Dallas, everyone pretty much freaks out at the chance of snow or ice (mostly we only get ice). Grocery stores are raided (not literally), local news stations follow the weather 24/7, basically the city shuts down. Everyone waits with baited breath to see if schools and/or businesses are closed or delayed.

As it was as a kid and now into adulthood, my heart fills with joy when I hear words like "bitter cold" or "winter storm". I get very excited when this happens! I am glued to the tv and internet checking radars and weather forecasts. These last few days we have eagerly been watching and awaiting the arrival of the "ARCTIC BLAST!!" and today it finally arrived. =) Since we were getting sleet and the temps were still dropping, I decided to stay home and snuggle up!

WOOHOOO a free day off. So I made some risotto with porcini mushrooms and chocolate chip bar cookies. A good book and comfort food - what could be better? I did do a little bit of work but all in all a good day. So, I would like to share with you a Texas Winter Storm - its not very pretty but I'll take what I can get.




More later...