Can Cream Puffs Make the Rain Go Away?

We are going on 16 straight days of rain so I headed to my local cafe for some spring color to brighten my mood. Pretty pastel candies and cream puffs can give you the best of temporary, forget the rain happies.

Italy is On Hold

Another rainy weekend spent in Santa Margarita. Going on 15 days of straight wet weather. I have been asking locals and they say this is un-usual. There is nothing sadder than staring out the window at the beautiful Italian Riviera threw the rain and not being able to go out, having to put the cover on the Vespas, and scraping together scraps of old bread to make sandwiches because even the markets are closed from the weather. Even the flowers have had enough and are drooping from being water logged and sun-less. Italy practically runs on the sun. Laundry is dried. Vespas and bikes are road to work. Shopping at the market. All done in the sun. Italy is on hold until the sun comes back....
Pier sitting with the pidgins and the old men discussing the strange weather.

I Need an Un-Rain Dance

This picture of Neptune in the main square of Moncalieri is appropriate because it has been raining here for 9 days straight and there is no end in sight, sigh.......

The Roma Aroma

My favorite smells are as follows, in no particular order:

The aroma of fresh roasted coffee beans

Toasted sesame seeds and sesame oil in a dumpling sauce

The sweet and musky sent of Barbary Brit perfume

...and now since I've moved to Italy I have added another to the list. Olive oil.

The robust scent of a strong virgin olive oil as it hits a warm pan and releases it's scent into the kitchen. Or drizzled over my salad with just a little salt and lemon. I have grown to love it more and more and before moving here I never noticed it's smell before. I'm tempted to dab a bit behind each ear...

Prima Comunione

Wanna go to a champagne filled, catered, huge cake having, everybody comes dressed up party? A child's first communion is just such a party and I experienced my first one last weekend with Pier's 10 year old cousin Pepe. From the moment we walked in the door we always had a glass of champagne in our hands. There were presents and photos taken and a most delecious cake of flaky puff pastery, cream, and strawberries. Yum.

Hold It or Pee on Your Own Shoe?

This is a downside to living in Europe. This toilet, if you can call it that, unfortunately is not uncommon around here. Some are inside like this one and some are outside like outhouses. As you can imagine this style of "toilet" does not work for women. There is no way to sit down and therefore no way not to pee on your shoes. It is exactly what we learned in school that they used in medieval centuries. Some parts of Italy, even in the big cities, have not advanced out of the dark ages. It made me wish for a dirty 7/11 gas station bathroom and that‘s pretty bad. I won’t be going back to that café.

Real Italian Pizza, Take 2

Our second real Italian pizza, this time we got a little cocky and added pesto and prosciutto. I think this is going to become an obsession and this might turn into a homemade pizza blog. We are having too much fun. Please give sugestions of what we should put on our next homemade pizza. Note: There is no pepperoni in Italy but maybe some greek olives or feta....

Vintage Postcards

Great old postcards I found at the market. I'm going to start collecting them and frame my favorites. The notes on the back and the vintage stamps are just as great as the pictures on the front.

Who Do I Think I Am?

This is my first Italian haircut. My stylist was Fabbio. I got the new Katie Holmes haircut. I was channeling Coco Chanel, Anna Wintor, 20's flapper, Atonement. Comments welcome.

Market Finds

Weekend at the market...

We made our first real Italian pizza!

Yum!!! Italians believe that less is more. This pizza had only tomato sauce and mozzarella and it was beautiful.

Polpo Pasta

We took the vespas down the coastline and had dinner at this quaint restaurant in the costal city of Sestri. Polpo means octopus. Every restaurant is a seafood restaurant here. We had a lovely view and it was a beautiful sunset as you can see.

Santa Margarita

On some weekends we get to stay at Pier's parents summer home next door to Portofino in Santa Margarita. Here is our lucky view...

Do you think that Liz and Richard ate the focaccia?

In 1967 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton got engaged right here.....In Portofino!! This weekend we went to the glamorous stomping ground of the rich and famous including Grace Kelly, the Duke of Windsor, Clark Gable, Ingrid Bergman, etc. etc. etc. This post card perfect tiny resort town on the Italian Rivera is bursting at the seems with charm. It's been irresistible to the jet set since the 1940's and continues to grow in popularity every year. Every yacht here is bigger then the one before and every shop here is more expensive than the one before, but how can you resist splurging when your starring at Dolce and Gabbana’s house and gorgeous black yacht? (picture below).

Portofino is in Liguria and is famous for it's Pesto and Focaccia. Not necessarily together. The focaccia here melts in your mouth like a salty buttery warm piece of cake that you always have to have a second piece of. Do you think that Liz and Richard ate the focaccia?