Last Week I:
Listened To: I raced to finish Stephanie Dray's My Dear Hamilton before my library loan expired yesterday. I couldn't help but keep comparing it to the musical and wondering how much of it was novel and how much of it is history. So expect that I'll be reading more about Alexander Hamilton in the coming months.
Watched: Some basketball, the start of the new season of The Voice, and last night I binge watched Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. I cannot tell you how badly I want really authentic Italian food now. I may even break out the pasta machine this week.
Read: I finished Margot Livesey's The Boy In The Field and am finishing Tea Cooper's The Girl In The Painting for a review on Tuesday.
Made: We celebrated Miss H's birthday with my dad and brother-in-law yesterday so I made one of her favorites, Asian Chicken Salad, and a birthday cake that my dad said must be photographed before we cut into it. Unfortunately, the colors didn't come out true in the photo, making it frosting look very strange. I swore I would never frost a cake that way again, but I may have to give it another shot just for the photograph.
Enjoyed: Being with family and the weather, of course!
This Week I’m:
Planning: I'm behind on 40 Bags In 40 Days so I'm hoping to focus on that this week.
Thinking About: My mom, always my mom. I never know what will make me think of her and have me in tears. I know we were so very lucky to have her for 87 years but it still wasn't enough.
Feeling: Happy to have had Miss H in town this weekend and Mini-him with us much of yesterday.
Looking forward to: More family time this coming weekend as we get together to celebrate my dad's birthday.
Question of the week: What's your favorite Italian meal?
My mom passed almost a year ago, and I still think of her and miss her every day. My thoughts are with you as you grieve.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to have your kids around--family times are so precious. We get to see our son at the end of March for 2 weeks -- we haven't seen him since Christmas 2019!
Favorite Italian meal - chicken cacciatore with white wine and vinegar (we had this in Rome in 2015 and have figured out how to make it reasonably well). We've been watching Searching for Italy with Stanley Tucci on CCN and it's making me really ready to another trip to Italy.
Hope you have a good week.
I remember being in on a group read with you about the time your mom died and I couldn't imagine how you were managing to go on. Now I truly understand why you had to step away from that and deal with your grief; it is overwhelming at times. How did you get through the first Thanksgiving and Christmas without your mom? I'm not sure how to navigate that yet.
DeleteMy grandparents were Italian and although they weren't all that kind to me, they did teach me how to main a mean pot of Sunday Gravy and meatballs. Gravy being tomato sauce. Now, with me being gluten free it's hard to do true, authentic Italian but my fave meal if it's done right is gnocchi. Tender potato dumplings, baked with tomato sauce, ricotta and fresh mozzarella.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear that about your grandparents! I was so blessed to have two sets who adored us. I've never made gnocchi but always wanted to try it. I'd never heard tomato sauce called gravy until we visited Jeff's aunt and uncle (he was 1st generation American with parents from Sicily) and they were talking about making gravy.
DeleteGlad you got some sun your way. Spring and the buds and the sun are starting to make my heart a little lighter right now.
ReplyDeleteBig hugs. No matter how old or young we are or our parents, it'll always be hard. Thinking of you and your family.
I now looked up where I can watch this Stanley Tucci cooking show...I am going to bingewatch as well. I love him and I love me some Italian. Though, I have never really had authentic Italian but anything with pasta and fish and wine and bread will have me drooling.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
Oh golly, you really must search out authentic Italian! Omaha had a big Italian immigrant neighborhood and their descendants opened all kinds of restaurants. Sadly, so many of them are now gone now. But we're lucky to still have a few that are carrying on the traditions.
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