new to the neighborhood

This is my first post after I made the move from Blogger. I feel slightly sentimental about leaving my ‘home domain’ — but the promise of being able to add a graphic blog banner/header with just a click of the mouse, was the main draw…

So..now I’ll just have to find an image … maybe first, I’ll have to find the time…*sigh* Follow my adventures in finding my way around this new WordPress neighborhood and hopefully I get to do some cooking along the way….

a nice place under the tuscan sun

I can’t believe it’s Monday already…and it’s been almost three weeks since I started my new job. Still learning and enjoy meeting new people — although I know quite a few people at work from my time as a SAHM (stay at home mom) when I had the time to throw dinner parties …

Anyway, the temperature has dropped and it feels like summer is slowly going away. We decided to make the most of last week, being ferrogosto followed by the Palio, meaning two days off from work. Last Tuesday we went to the sagra di bistecca in Cortona, which you can read about it in Tania’s blog. On the weekend, we returned to Cortona for the sagra di porcini and to spend time with our friends Tania & Keith at their new home.

We arrived late afternoon, just in time for a quick swim in their big pool with the view of Cortona in the background. Baby Boy wasn’t so keen going into the water, although towards the end he did spend some time knee deep on the steps of the pool. I ended up using his floaties ….yay…Lightning Mcqueen!
We sipped fruit cocktails made by Keith (he is the master of drinks!) and enjoyed some munchies I brought over from Siena.

cherry tomato, pancetta quiche (recipe to follow..not much time at the moment)

sticky cinnamon rolls (recipe to follow..not much time at the moment)

After more swimming and lazying around, we all got ready to head off to the sagra.

Baby Boy and his new game — gravel discovery. The pool and view in the background

The sagra was held in the big garden in the center of Cortona. Here are series of pictures from the sagra.

Porcini man

BIG frying pans

Porcini ladies

Porcini baby (plus few pieces of nectarine)

Porcini fritto — HEAVENLY DELICIOUS

Yum!

After a long day of lazying and eating, we decided to stay over at Tania’s and Keith’s. While Baby Boy slept in his stroller, the four of us (plus Murphy puppy) set under the Tuscan stars sipping on a wonderful Cortona red. The pool was lit beautifully — I was too tired (and full) to take pictures, but you should head over to Tania’s blog to see what I mean. It was so peaceful. That night, I slept so deeply. Baby Boy slept next to me and only stirred a little, while continuing to do his cute little snores.

Breakfast was under the pine trees — coffee, fruit, juice and leftovers … It was magnificent!!! I can’t thank Tania & Keith enough for a great time and for such a wonderful friendship.

for the grandparents ….

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horses, fish and the case of the spinach pesto

Siena is back in business again after the long weekend leading up to the Palio yesterday evening. On Saturday we decided to go to the Prova in Piazza del Campo. It was quite exciting to see so many people gathered in the piazza. The mood was amazing — I can’t imagine how it must be on the actual Palio day. Here is a footage of the race of the Saturday prova.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Baby Boy didn’t really like the ‘blasts’ at the end of the race. But he did have a great time hanging out in the crowd prior to the race.

I’d love to write more about the Palio, but I think it’s best to wikipedia it (am a bit lazy today .. haha..) or come to Siena and see it for yourself. Anyway, sometime next spring Baby Boy is going to be ‘baptised’ into a contrada — we’ve decided on Drago, not only because it is a smaller size contrada but also the dragon symbol is a link to Baby Boy’s Welsh heritage.

Sunday evening was the prova generale, with a show of carabinieri on horseback as well as another mock race for the horses. On Monday most businesses in Siena was either close or only opened half day. Since D got the day off from work, we decided to go on a short drive to Castiglione del Lago, a small town on Lago Trasimeno (Umbria). After walking around in the old center, we stopped for lunch at Ristorante La Cantina. It was a nice relaxing lunch for the three of us. Baby Boy wasn’t so much into grilled fish, but he did enjoy the patate rosmarino and a whole jar of baby yogurt (plus he finished off his left over pancake from breakfast in the car). The food and ambience was great — very different from Siena. I had a plate of spaghetti di sapori di lago and shared a plate of grigliata mista di lago with D.

After a quick gelato stop, we headed home just in time to watch the Palio on TV. Oh yes…remember my spinach pesto? Well…Baby Boy may not have the biggest smile, but at least he was willing to give it a try. He did manage to finish his meal at the end.

ps: Although there was a slight confusion on which contrada actually won the race (Oca or Nicchio), after examining the replays, the winner was the Oca (goose) contrada. Congratulations to Giorgia — our neighbor (& my former student).

Where’s the spinach?

Baby Boy turned 17 months old yesterday. He is a proper little boy, no longer a baby (although will forever be MY baby). It’s been almost a month since he started attending nursery for longer periods – staying for lunch, a nap and teatime, before being picked up at 4 pm. That’s a whole 6-hour stay!! There are no more tears in the morning and lots of laughter when leaving later in the day. All this development is giving D and I comfort that when I begin my new job in August, Baby Boy will be well adjusted at the nursery. Of course this does not in any way eliminate my guilt of leaving my baby for those long hours. I know that going back to work is the right thing to do – not only for myself but also for our family. And deep down I do believe that in some way it is a good thing for Baby Boy to gain his independence. But, the guilt is still there and I suppose will always be there. Although for the first month on the job I have been given flexibility regarding my work hours (at least till the new school year starts in mid September), I think there will be less time to spend on chores at home. Even with the help of D (who is working fulltime) and myself not working at the moment, it still took me a looooong time to unpack the boxes from our move in March. OK, I admit procrastination has been my friend for sometime. Anyway, since we both will be working fulltime soon, I am looking for efficient ways to keep our home life with good healthy home cooking, clean floors, laundered clothes, well-stock fridge and in the meantime having quality family time. So if any of you working families have tips for me, please do share!!

As a part of my ‘quick tip’ for healthy food, I decided to whip up a batch of spinach pesto. Baby Boy loves pesto, but he doesn’t like spinach (although he did gobble up our friend, F’s (twins’ mommy), home made spinach torta — but after that he refused any attempt of mine to feed him spinach). So I thought the best way to get him to eat spinach is to ‘hide’ it in a pesto. I followed the basic pesto recipe (you can find it online) and added a handful of spinach. Then I froze them in ice cube trays. Once they’re set, take them out and store them in ziplock bags in the freezer. I’ll report back with the results.

Friends, Food and more Food

Yesterday we drove up to Cortona to meet our friends, Tania & Keith, who we haven’t seen for awhile. We always enjoy our time with them, although with everything else going on, it’s been quite difficult to find the time to get together. While enjoying Keith’s super delicious mojitos, we caught up on the latest news from everyone. If you haven’t done so already, you should check out their adventures over at Tania’s blog. We also met with the newest member of their family, the very cute and cuddly (and big) Murphy. Baby Boy seemed quite amused by him, probably wondering how Murphy can be even bigger than fat cat Tequila. Later on we headed over to Osteria del Teatro for lunch. The food was delicious! I really enjoyed my primi of tagliolini with duck ragu. Baby Boy stuffed several strands of pasta in his mouth and dropped some on the floor. Thankfully in Italy, babies rule (even in posh restaurants). I also loved my dessert of mascarpone cream and lady fingers — it was like a super fancy tiramisu of some sort. I forgot to take photographs, but then again Baby Boy was in one of his exploration moods, so my mind was somewhere else. Then it was time to say good bye and head back to Siena. We had a great time and hope to see Tania & Keith again soon.

Since I forgot to post my first attempt at making insalata di polpo, I’m going to include this here. Although D keep saying that I should’ve taken a picture of the whole octopus before I sliced it up, I’m glad I didn’t. I love polpo — all sliced up, but not in its ‘original’ form…urrgh..scary. The lady at the fish counter told me that I should put the octopus in a pan and cover it with water. Add salt and then cook it on very low heat for about 45 minutes. Of course, you want to make sure that your octopus has already been cleaned(better leave it to the pros if you’re squimish like me). After the cooking period is over, cut the octopus into bite size pieces. Add this to cut up pieces of cherry tomatoes and red (bell) peppers. Dress the salad with extravirgine olive oil, salt, pepper and juice from one lemon. If you have fresh basil, throw them in as well. It’s a refreshing summer meal.

OK, another quick post about food. For dinner tonight, we had roast potatoes and cherry tomatoes seasoned with herbs from the Alps which I received in my pachetto della felicita from K. It was a wonderful rustic flavor. We also had the first ‘harvest’ of our home grown organic mixed salad!! A round of applause to my green thumbs — D & Baby Boy!

IL PACCHETTO DELLA FELICITA

While we were in the Bay Area last year, I participated in a package exchange arranged by Fiordizucca. After a few attempts from my package ‘buddy’, my pacchetto della felicita finally arrived!! Who says Christmas can’t come early (or later? …heheheh..)
K thank you so much for the wonderful goodies!!!

wine from Aosta Valley, pear & wine sauce, La Saporita spice, herbs from the Alps, linen from Aosta

Cherries and playful ‘boys’

It’s cherry season and the temperature has risen in Siena. Summer has arrived in Tuscany. A quick recap of the past few weeks events. I not only received one dream job offer, but I got a second one several days afterwards. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but at the end I chose to go with the second offer. I feel happy since I now feel that I’ve made the best decision. Plus, D and I will be working for the same company (although different departments), meaning that we get to have lunch together once in awhile. I won’t start till August, so I’ve got the next two months to get Baby Boy well adjusted at nursery. So far he’s doing great. He’s been staying longer and having lunch at the nursery. Hopefully in the fall he can enroll in the company nursery so the three of us can just walk to school/work together. It’s been a great summer so far. I’ll end this post with a sweet note of D’s cherry foccacia .. (recipe to follow)

..and the boys at play..

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Definetly (NOT) lost in translation

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Indonesian :
SELAMAT ULANG TAHUN OMA! JANGAN LUPA KIRIM SAMBAL GORENG TEMPEH.

English :
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OMA! hmmm…how do you say “sambal goreng tempeh” in english?

Just another lazy day ….

It was one of those lazy sundays where you don’t feel like doing anything except to enjoy good food and good conversation among good friends. Lucky for us, we were invited to a wonderful lunch at the home of the twins, M & G. As you can see, the kids clearly know what lazy sunday lunch is all about ..