love thursday...

oh, yes it is!! love is in the air here in venezia!...please visit the shutter sisters, keepers of love thursday.

what's cooking wednesday...

oh, hons...you seriously did not think i was cooking today, did you?!? no, thank you very much! i much prefer to let sweet italian chefs prepare my scrumptious meals& other gorgeous italian men plate the food& serve it to me! in that spirit, i am officially callin' this a what's eating wednesday (apologies to shan!...love ya, hon!)!! recipes will resume after we return stateside. in the meantime if you should be hankering for a recipe today...please visit shan for the master list. if you would prefer a teaser of venetian culinary delights, keep scrolling down! buon appetito a tutti!!

lost & found...

another lovely day getting lost in venezia (just a little bit~~)...& finding a new friend...D. & i had the wonderful opportunity to spend our midday with the delightful claudia of message in a bottle.she is a university student studying nearby. i am so glad that she commented on piacere last week, letting us know that she was free today. we ambled around the streetssoaking in the beauty...her english is perfect & she was so patient with my paltry stumbles through italian! D. & i thorougly enjoyed her company & her generous sharing of knowledge.on a different note, some business...if you have emailed me since we arrived & i have not responded, it is because we were having difficulties. it appears i have solved that dilemma. if you were trying to call us, well, that was an issue but D. took care of that one too. please check your email for the update (i hope)! if you work at pender (you know who you are!), D. sends a big 'shout out'!!

where in the world...

...venezia~~ a BIG sigh of relief this evening! you know the travel drill~~ hurry to the airport...wait in lines...sleep on planes...ha! sleep~~ not so much. this is me...blogging after 36 hours of uninterrupted awake, a few flights, a few train rides, problems with our ATM cards, & phones that are not working~~ so be kind to poor ol' piacere if the spelling & grammar are a bit~ ahem~ off! tomorrow is another glorious day & the camera is indeed working, so for now i will leave you with a few highlights of our first day in venezia...

going, going, gone!!...

we are out the door!!

...see you on the other side of 'the pond'!

i hope to be able to post from venice on sunday or monday...ci vediamo la settimana prossima!

a state of being

in my stumbles around the blogosphere today i read..."you are what you do everyday."

what will i do today??

what am i?? what do i hope that i am? what am i called to be? am i living in that general direction?or am i wasting my perception on the reality of someone else? doing what another 'thinks' i should be doing? what mass media insists i 'should' be doing? ignoring the passion within my own soul?

once upon a time, the answer was a very sad "yes"...& then ever so slowly, i began to wake from this stupor. in quiet moments, i heard the soul-whisper of the Holy Spirit asking me deeper questions...i pondered those questions. i held them up to my life being lived.

things shifted.

i felt love & excitement well up inside my heart...little bits at first~~ then more & more...

i began to wake...to live~~~ with joy!!

the quote above, from my bloghopping, challenged me to ponder...i went back to what i wrote last summer in my profile: am i following God's will for my life? spending lots of time with my family? writing, traveling, cooking? immersing in italian?

my heart felt lighter after reading this. before i had written my profile, i thought about it for a few days. would my profile be goals i would hopefully attain? or would it really be me? from re-reading this i see more gifts to count...7. spending lots of time with D. & the children...each & every ordinary day...by phone or in person8. time to write & a beautiful, inspirational place to do it with a wonderful piece of machinery on which to do it...

9. travel dreams...planning that will, God-willing, bring us joy throughout this year & take us back to the place where i left some of my heart on the last trip ;)10. a kitchen that is more than enough, filled with bounty...a place that gives me joy, be it time to prepare something from scratch or simply re-heat a waiting treasure...

today it will be a re-heat of yesterday's scrumptious treasure. i found some lovely squash at the market just beckoning me to take them home. for a few days i could only allow them to languish on my counter, such was their beauty...

but soon, my conservative inner voice said: "you need to make them into a dish, lest they spoil." i miss their color on these winter days, but the soup they provided has been a fine compensation! what's cooking wednesday?...

roasted squash soup

to roast the squash...cut squash in half, drizzle the squash & a cookie sheet with olive oil, also drizzle squash with sea salt...roast cut side down for ~30-40 minutes at 375(skin will be shiny & you will be able to pierce squash with a knife when it is done)

after the squash is cooled, scoop out seeds & stringy center (save seeds to roast), then scoop the soft flesh for use in the soup

in olive oil over medium heat, saute 1/2 yellow onion & 3 garlic cloves til soft

add 2 c. roasted squash & 1/2 c. chicken stock...heat through

season with fresh ground pepper, sea salt & nutmeg...to taste

if you desire a softer soup, puree in food processor then reheat if needed

grate white cheddar or parmigiano-reggiano cheese into puree & serve

serendipity

30 days of thanks & travel...
don't you love serendipitous moments?? this morning i was searching for a slip of paper that i knew to be tucked in one of my venezia travel books. i am certain that i flipped through the book that contained it no less that 4 times...& no paper. on the fifth attempt i took a deep breath, sat down, collected my patience, & gently paged through the book. what did i find that i did not see in the previous 4 increasingly impatient attempts?3 forgotten postcards from Harry's Bar that i had been meaning to frame for 2 1/2 years...they are the *perfect* hues for one of my walls (did not exist 2 1/2 years ago!) & today they will be framed & hung.

the sweet little picture business card from Ristorante da Carletto...this is *the* ristorante from night #4 of my "best 5 nights" post last month. would you believe, i had no idea that i had that card & on our april trip to venezia, i was hoping that we would somehow be able to find our magical place again. but...anyone who has been to that enchanting city can tell you just how easy it is to get lost & how hard obscure little places can be to find.writing...yes, i found some of my venetian words!

bellini @ harrys

peach bubbles of delight
glances of light
do you see?
in a place of fame & flood
am i truly here?
shy & casual
trying to comprehend
a city of magic
turn of corner
tucked away
a surprise to sip
to contemplate

so venezia. so cliche. but so much fun!

& yes, i did find the paper i was searching for! raise a glass to serendipity...cin, cin!