As American as Apple Pie

It is always my goal to write these posts in chronological order, but I just can't.  I wanted to write a little bit more about our US trip and haven't gotten to it yet.  So here it is:

From US Trip May 2010

We were lucky to go to TWO baseball games while we were in town this month.  Both were Nats' games and both times they won, so that was pretty sweet.  We went to the first game with Micah & Anna, but not before meeting Amy in Chinatown for a couple of beers!

From US Trip May 2010

We saw a couple awesome home runs and one "play of the day" catch.  Don't ask me who did what, I don't remember any details.  That's why I try to write these things soon after the event happens...

From US Trip May 2010

The second game Fabri treated the Goldstein family (+ Chris, an unofficial Goldstein) to some awesome nose bleed seats. What's cool about the Nats' stadium is there are no bad seats.  We even got to see Steph who was at the game with her roommate.

From US Trip May 2010

I mostly go to baseball games for the food.  I like hotdogs & 8$ beers and of course peanuts.  Also sitting outside and yelling is fun too.  I even bought a new Nats hat so I would fit right in.  

Oh take me out to the ball game,

Take me out to the crowd!

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks!

I don't care if we ever get back!

Root, root, root for the home team

If they don't win it's a shame,

Cause it's one, two, three strikes you're out

In the ol' ball game!

Awesome Weekend

We had a truly spectacular in it's simplicity kind of weekend.  On Friday Fabri got home from work early which was a nice treat, so we started our weekend early with an aperitivo at home.  Then we met Gaetano & Detta and baby Sofia at our favorite Saluzzo restaurant, La Taverna d'Artista.  They have my favorite wine ever (Nebbiolo Roagna Igino - I will give you some if you come visit) and they make good steak (very important) and very yummy pizza.  We got 2 bottles of the nebbiolo, 2 foccacias, 2 orders of steak (for 2 people), 2 orders of french fries, a salad and some grilled vegetables.  It was excellent.  Sofia has gotten bigger and she's started eating baby food.  She was very good and didn't cry.  We gave her a red, white & blue summer dress to wear for the 4th of July and Detta said it was the right size, so I'm happy.

From Around the House

After dinner we walked around Saluzzo and all got gelato.  Now that it's warmed up here we can eat outside, walk around with gelato, and generally enjoy Saluzzo more. 

From Blogger Pictures

Saturday morning we went to the market with Olney and bought a couple things for lunch and some flowers for my new vase.  On Friday I had worked a lot on our balconies cleaning them up, transplanting a couple of plants and watering everything, so they were beautiful and ready to go for Saturday.  When we got home from the market, we had a yummy aperitivo out on the balcony.  We drank a rose wine from the Saluzzo hills and had cheese and meat from Valle d'Aosta which Maria Pia had given us from a trip she took a couple weeks ago.  Then we relaxed and watched a movie on the couch.  It was so nice to just lounge around together.  After the movie I made ravioli of spinach & ricotta with oil and sage sauce.  It was yummy.  After lunch we took a nap (like I said, awesome weekend).  Then we took Olney to run around in the field and then showered and got ready to go out.  We went to Alba with our good friends Anna & Claudio to meet the St. Mary's College folks in town for the Alba Music Festival.  It was great to see people and we're probably going back to see them again this Saturday.

From Olney Puppy

Sunday morning we woke up late because we got home at ~2:30 am from Alba.  Around 11 we went to Savigliano to walk around the flea market they had there.  On our way we spotted a bunch of friends.  First Pach, Edo & Mia were at Gerry's and we stopped and had an aperitivo there with Pach.  Then, we found Miki, Steo, Luca and that whole group of friends (about 10 people in all) and chatted with them.  I'm glad we saw so many friends, because we didn't see anything at the flea market and left with all of our money in our pockets.  Then we went to Ruffia and had lunch with Maria Pia & Antonio and helped them open up the pool in Ruffia.  As we were pulling the cover off and you could see just the littlest bit of water underneath, Olney jumped in the pool!  Then we had to pull the cover off quickly, because there was a dog in the pool!  It was particularly funny because that was the first time Olney had jumped in from the side of the pool; he always goes in and out from the stairs.  So there was some craziness.  Also, a neighbor came with a tractor to create a new vegetable garden where we're going to plant corn and tomatoes and zucchini.  Then we had dinner in Ruffia and came home to attempt to go to bed early.  That didn't work out, and though we were tired, we were happy to have such a wonderful weekend.

From Blogger Pictures

CROWSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Crowberger Wedding

From Carolyn & Marcello Wedding

Us all spiffed up for the wedding!

Two days after my birthday we left for the States for a well deserved vacation.  We arrived just in time for the Crowberger wedding extravaganza!!

From Carolyn & Marcello Wedding

Chris & Laura at the Rehearsal Dinner

Friday afternoon Laura, Fabri & I headed down to the DREADED Northern Virginia to get lost on the nonsensical roads without road signs.  After getting lost only once, we found the hotel.  Which, by the way, has the exact same name as another hotel 4 or 5 blocks north.  Welcome to Virginia.

From Carolyn & Marcello Wedding

Fabri & his blonde, teenage daughter, Maddie

But, once found, we saw the hotel was very posh and comfortable.  After depositing our stuff and saying hi to some Very Important People, Fabri and I went in search of his favorite smoothie spot, Jamba Juice.  Poor Fabri was heart broken when we saw Jamba Juice is no more.  Instead, it's the wine and beer area of the Magruder's grocery store, which was fortunate, because, while Fabri wanted smoothie, I wanted spumante!  We grabbed a bottle of Prosecco and made our way back to the hotel to have an aperitivo with the Crows.  Then we went to the rehearsal dinner at Harry's Tap Room.  On our way out of the hotel we met Carolyn's friend Laurie and her husband Harvey of the Atlanta Falcons.  That's right, a professional NFL football player!  Fabri was in heaven, and those 2 chatted a bunch.

From Carolyn & Marcello Wedding

Laurie, Harvey, Us, Laura & Chris drinking prosecco

The rehearsal dinner was very nice.  Laura, Chris, Fabri & I all had the Harry's Tap Room steak, but Fabri was so tired, he wasn't able to finish his!!  He regretted this later when Chris reminded him that Chris had never seen Fabri NOT finish something.  Fabri isn't very good with jet lag.  Then we ate a delicious chocolate cake made by Carolyn and Fabri and I headed back to the hotel to sleep while Mom, Dad, Laura & Chris went on a forced march searching for Murphy's Beer.

From Carolyn & Marcello Wedding

The next day we had to wake up early for the noon wedding.  We made the mistake of following Dad to the location.  Northern Virginia roads struck again, and we drove the wrong direction for about 10 minutes before turning around.  Punctuality was stressed, but weddings never start on time, and we got there with plenty of time to spare.  It was a lovely ceremony outside next to a lake in front of a koi pond with a waterfall. 

From Carolyn & Marcello Wedding

The reception was full of prosecco and Carolyn was soooo beautiful.  I loved her hair, which Aunt Pam styled.  Fabri wouldn't dance with me because he was having fun hanging out with the guys, so I danced with Maddie and Aunt Sue.  The cake was an amazing finale.  It was made by Carolyn's friend Maris who is a pastry chef.  It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time.  Virginia is for Lovers.

From Carolyn & Marcello Wedding

Better late than never

From 28th Birthday

Me and Angela

I'm always so slow writing my blogs!  This one is about my awesome 28th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  We threw a little dinner party at the house in Ruffia.  I made hummus with vegetable crudites for the cocktail hour and bought like 8 bottles of prosecco.  Anna and Claudio kindly brought what I call Alba Salad, but has a different name at every restaurant that serves it.  Anyway, it's a yummy bite with celery, toma cheese and walnuts served with some sort of vinaigrette dressing.  So I served that as our first appetizer and then Maryland steamed shrimp with Old Bay.  The shrimp is always a crowd pleaser and I think I owe every guest a can of Old Bay now...

From 28th Birthday

Fabri and Antonio

The main course was pizza cooked in the wood oven by Maria Pia.  That made the party.  Everyone got in on the action and helped cook the pizzas.  It was all soooo good, especially the vegetable pizzas!

From 28th Birthday

Making pizzas!!

For dessert, I made black bottom cupcakes.  They're from my healthy meals cookbook Laura gave me a few years ago.  Here's the recipe:
1/2 of an 8 ounce package fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 and 1/3 cups sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Line 18 muffin cups with paper cupcake cups; set aside.

In a small mixing bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Add 1/3 cup of the sugar and the egg.  Beat on medium speed for 1 minute or until smooth.  Stir in the semisweet chocolate pieces; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine remaining 1 cup sugar, the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping side of bowl occasionally.  Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each half full.  Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture over each.

Bake in a 350° oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.  Cool cupcakes in pan or on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan and cool thoroughly.  Makes 18 cupcakes.

Bon apetit!

From 28th Birthday

Easter Weekend

From Easter 2010

Peyton in baby jail.
 
As I mentioned in the last post, we had some fun house guests for Easter weekend.  They arrived Saturday afternoon in Saluzzo.  We started with introducing the dogs to each other.  As expected, Olney just wanted to play with Marco & Sam the two Pomeranians.  They weren't all that interested in playing with Olney and mostly ignored him, so we brought the party upstairs to see the Olner's reaction to having other dogs in his house.  First on the leash than off the leash everything went fine.  Marco stayed under Kevin & Rebecca's feet and Sam just calmly explored the house.  With the dogs getting along, we decided to all stay in Saluzzo (my plan had the dogs not gotten along was to stay in Ruffia at the B&B).  With sleeping arrangements set, it was time to start unloading baby Peyton's stuff.  I had NO IDEA how much stuff a one year old requires.  She had a baby jail and a baby chair and baby food and cute baby clothes and a bunch of toys.  They have a HUGE American style car to fit all that stuff and they need every inch of it!  I don't know how Europeans do it, there's no way all that stuff would have fit in a regular European car.

From Easter 2010

Notice giant baby bag Rebecca's carrying.

Saturday night we showered our guests with the Italian experience.  We went to a wine bar for an aperitivo in the unique ambiance of a wine cellar.  Then we took them to our favorite pizzeria/restaurant for pizzas and steak and more wine of course!  Is there anything better?

From Easter 2010

We kept the dogs at the house, but separated them by putting little Marco & Sam on the balcony.  When we let them in Olney was fine until Sam grabbed his stuffed goose. Then Olney jumped on him and barked and growled.  There was no biting and no injuries, but after it happened a second time when Sam grabbed Olney's bone Sunday morning, we decided to keep the dogs apart for the weekend.

From Easter 2010

Sunday was all about Easter lunch.  We went to Ruffia around noon with Olney, but left the little ones on the balcony.  Apparently Sam really loves balconies.  So we met all of Fabri's family at Ruffia for a long, several course, incredibly filling lunch.  I gave Kevin & Rebecca a pep talk before lunch trying to explain just how much eating was going to be involved and they should pace themselves.  Silly Americans, after every course they were like "whoo, that was a lot of food, I'm glad I made it."  And I would have to correct them and say, "that was just the third appetizer, we still have pasta, meat, cheese, fruit & dessert."  Welcome to Italy.

From Easter 2010

I forgot to mention how proud I was of Olney who, though he ended up not loving Sam & Marco in his house, he did seem to love Peyton, especially when Peyton was eating.  When she was walking around the house, Olney licked her a lot.  Mmmmm baby.  But she's used to dogs, though Olney's about 800 times the size of her puppies.  When Peyton was eating breakfast Sunday morning, she was nice enough to share with Olney.  He ate from her hands and from the floor when she dropped the food.  Rebecca wasn't used to such a big dog.  Usually the dogs can't reach Peyton's tray while standing normally!

From Easter 2010

Sunday the weather FINALLY got pretty and Rebecca & Kevin could see our mountains for the first time.  They didn't realize how close and beautiful they were.  Silly rain clouds.  We decided to go on a walk through Saluzzo to show of the prettiness and we were lucky to find a flea market.  I love me some Italian flea market, and so did Rebecca because we each bought some stuff.  We made the steep hike up the hill to the Saluzzo castle and eventually settled on a bar up at the top of the hill for lunch.  Olney was being quite the pest, but we managed to enjoy a nice 2 bottles of wine kind of lunch with panini and salad.

From Easter 2010

It was really a gorgeous day and Fabri and I were so happy to be able to show off our city.  In the afternoon Kevin & Rebecca loaded up the giant SUV and headed to Lucca for their week in a beautiful villa.  Fabri and I gave Olney some TLC as he was still stressed out of the little dogs being in his house and everything was back to normal.  We will have to plan a trip to Heidelberg to see our new bffs and drink some German beer soon!

Birthday Month!

Some people know April  for the showers that bring May flowers, but, to me, April is my birthday month!  And I do think it should be a month long celebration.  So far we're keeping busy and having fun.

From Easter 2010

Last weekend was Easter which is another excuse to eat way, way too much.  I'm not going to do a long Easter weekend post yet because I'm still waiting on a bunch of pictures from our new best friends Rebecca & Kevin.  They're friends of Micah's and are stationed in Germany and came to visit for the Easter weekend with their 1 year old daughter and their 2 pomeranians! We all survived (even Olney) and we all had fun!

Added to the fun and excitement is more work.  I have two new English students which means more money, so that's good.  The museum is going on as usual.  I'm a little sick of moths & butterflies, so I've started working in other parts of the collection and I'm attempting to help Gian with a new geology exhibit.  It turns out I don't know much about geology...  Oh!  Also this year I'm going to work on my own exhibit titled "The Insects you WANT to see in your garden" about beneficial insects.  So work is going well!

From Olney Puppy

Here's a picture of Olney getting the last bit of dog food dust from the bottom of the bag!  That should hold you over until I get the Easter pictures!  Don't forget to comment!