Autumn Kitchen

It's fall here in Saluzzo. The leaves are changing color and falling from the trees. When it's a clear day, you can see snow topped peaks on the mountains. I love fall. I love the weather and the smell and I love the food! It's autumn in my kitchen and I've been cooking with all sorts of seasonal ingredients. We were gifted a crate of apples and I like to turn a few into apple pie or sauteed apples every so often. There's nothing like warm apple slices with cinnamon and sugar!

I can't walk by a good looking squash or some strong smelling leeks without imagining what I can do once I get them into my kitchen. The other day I made a favorite recipe for mushroom soup from Smitten Kitchen. 

Those are chestnuts being roasted on an open fire below. Does it make you feel like singing or like eating? 

Fall is fair and festival season as well. On Sunday we went to a fritter festival in a small town nearby. We bought a big bag of fritters from all over the world for 11euro. I really like the salty ones even more than the sweet. Our favorites including the vegetarian curry fritters from India, the meat and veggie fritters from Senegal and all the Italian ones including the sweet chocolate & apple fritters and the savory leek, corn, and pesto fritters. Speaking of pesto, I don't think I would consider it a fall food, but Giulio really loves it and I still have basil growing on the balcony...pesto fritters anyone?

 And of course fall means pumpkins! I was able to locate a Halloween pumpkin which you don't realize how important that is until you try to carve a pumpkin meant for pies. They have thick skin because you want all that flesh for your pie. Giulio loved sticking his hands in and getting messy. Afterward I roasted the seeds which are still a choking hazard for Giulio, but Fabri and I scarfed them down while watching movies for a couple nights in a row.

We're loving the weather (even if it's overcast and a bit damp, it hasn't been cold) and we're looking forward to our upcoming visit. Oh, one other great thing about fall, Fabri & Gaetano have started brewing again after taking a break for the summer. We haven't tasted the newest bitter from Palmotta brewery (the name they've decided on combines their last names) yet, but I have a feeling it's going to be even better than the last, which was awesome!

Gamma & Pumpa Come to Visit!

Grandma reads a bedtime story

Giulio's drum solo at Wayne's

I love how Giulio knows his grandparents instantly and doesn't play shy even for a minute. When we arrived in Nice and Dad was waiting on the sidewalk to help us unload the car, Giulio jumped right into his arms! "Pumpa!" he yelled.

Giulio & Grandpa on the beach

 

Le Petit Train

We had a great time together in Nice and then in Saluzzo. It's wonderful having extra eyes to watch Giulio and extra bodies to play with him. He runs everywhere now, so you've gotta be quick!

Aperitif in Old Nice

Now we're looking forward to our visit in November! We want to see Auntie Laura & Uncle Chris' new house and Carolyn's new belly! Email me if you want the exact dates/want to make plans. I don't have a US cell phone # right now, so you can delete the one you have for me.

5th Anniversary in Tuscany

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Duomo of Pisa

Biking on the walls of Lucca

Chasing pigeons in the square in Lucca

Rental house in Lucca

Summer time fun!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of what we've been up to. We went to Nice for a weekend. We've been spending a lot of time at the pool. And when it's very hot, we make up new games to play inside the house! I wish I had more time to blog, but this ever growing kiddo (30 lbs, 33 inches) keeps me so busy. I wouldn't have it any other way though. It's so much fun to play all day!

Giulio with his second cousins in Nice!

Giulio & Daddy playing in the tent at Ruffia

Keeping cool and watching some music TV

Taking a walk in Nice!

Giulio loves the water at the beach & at the pool!

Giulio got a haircut last week!

Too hot outside? Let's get pulled around in the laundry basket!

Oh yeah, and we were in the newspaper for being awesome!

Spam!

I get more spam comments that have to be deleted on my posts that comments from friends, family and other interested parties. Boo to you all!!!

That's Giulio's "no, no, no" face.  He's walking & talking folks! He says mama, dada, bubbles, bottiglia (bottle in Italian), Nono (grandpa), Nona (Grandma), Laura, bow bow (dog), Gamma (for both Grandma & Grandpa), yum, bye bye, ball, gira (turn, referring to fans) and especially NO! He also does some animal sounds, the cutest being when he snorts like a pig.

In an effort to torture me forever, he's still not sleeping through the night and takes only one nap a day. And I don't know why, but the dog is trying to wake up the baby now. Bye!

Giulio's Favorite Things: Swings

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

 

 

--Robert Louis Stevenson

Easter Bunny

When Giulio woke up Easter morning, the Easter Bunny had hopped by our house. He had hidden some eggs full of yummy cereal puffs and left a basket of goodies on the table.

Giulio found 2 or 3 eggs before he got bored with that game and took a look in his basket. The books were his favorite part.

Then we went to Ruffia for Easter lunch with Giulio's aunts & uncles and cousin Lucrezia.

After lunch, the sun came out and it was so warm that we had dessert outside and Giulio walked around the garden with Nonno & Nonna.

Just one more thing, participate in the survey below and comment with any ideas on how to continue to measure Giulio's growth for all the blog readers!

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	He's growing slower now, every 6 months is fine.
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The Big ONE!

Our little boy is one year old! I can't believe it. He's changed so much in this year. I was looking at some videos when he was just a couple weeks old and I can't believe he was ever that small.  He's still at about 27.5 lbs and is a little over 31 inches tall (2 feet, 7 inches). We have a new pediatrician who we like a lot and the little boy makes friends wherever we go!

Blowing out the birthday candle with his 2 Grandpas!

Then after the big birthday, we took Giulio to Nice for his first time! I can't believe we hadn't been for over a year! It was nice to get away from home, but we learned that you cannot have a relaxing weekend get away with a one year old and the walk from Old Nice to our apartment is too far. Also, Giulio's cuteness translates easily into French and people adored him. The best part of the trip was on our way home when we stopped at a snowy Troll Brewery for a couple pints and a snack. Giulio loved walking around the restaurant holding hands.

Speaking of walking while holding hands, Giulio took his first steps on Sunday night! He took a couple of steps towards Fabri while they were playing before bed. He's repeated it every evening this week, but he still needs a lot of coaxing and hasn't "taken off' yet. I'm sure that will happen way before we're ready for it!

Silly Baby Boy

Giulio's First Birthday Party!

I have so many photos and stories I need to get on here! Giulio's birthday party, his actual birthday, a visit from Grandpa and Giulio's first trip to Nice! We have been busy celebrating.

We threw the party at Baladin Cafe, a microbrew pub in Cuneo. There's a round room with all windows decorated like a circus tent which was just perfect. We had a yummy afternoon snack of all sorts of gourmet bar food and drank good beer and their own microbrewed cola.

There was cake (made by yours truly)!

There were presents!

And there was lots of fun cousin play time!

There are a ton more photos in my picasa web albums (link to the right), but here's a collage of some of the best ones!

Birthday Party Day!!

Today is Giulio's first birthday party! I made my own decorations and a cake AND cupcakes and this afternoon will be off the hook! ;-)

Giulio's new chair from Nonna & Nonno

I need some practice decorating cakes, but I think the secret is to cover any mistakes with sprinkles!