Wednesday, May 28, 2008

stateside

Just a quick post--I've arrived in America. I got in very late at night on Sunday, and as you can see already I'm experiencing serious jet lag, as I'm writing this post at 6 in the morning (and that's two hours later than when I woke up this morning...I know, it's crazy). Wanna guess what time I went to bed?

Anyway, not sure how much posting I'll be doing these next few days (although I do have a new cheese of the week for you coming soon), but I did want to link to this speech by Mark Bittman about a semi-vegetarian lifestyle (which my brother linked to in this post). Check it out.

Have a wonderful morning (or, if you're reading this in Italy right now, lunch) and a great day.

- Jackie

Sunday, May 25, 2008

wee hours

It's pretty late here (or early in the morning, I should say), and we're trying to keep our eyes open because Antonello and I are not going to get any sleep tonight. We are going to catch a 4 am train to Rome (and get some sleep onboard), and then from there I take an airplane back to the states--a last-minute, two-week trip to Indianapolis. Needless to say, it's been hectic these past few weeks, and my blogging hasn't been as frequent as I would have liked. But a lot has happened, not the least of which was Antonello's birthday, which we celebrated last Saturday. We also celebrated our four-year (yup! FOUR years!) anniversary the week before, which meant a nice night out for dinner and some lovely anniversary gifts (flowers for me and chocolate for him). It was a special celebration--I still can't believe these four years have flown by so fast.

I have some photos of Antonello's birthday meal, especially the cheesecake that I make for him annually to celebrate. For Antonello's birthday, we went out to dinner with his brother's family to this great little pizzeria out in the middle of the country. It actually tied our anniversary and birthday celebrations together, because it was the restaurant where we had our very first wedding dinner (as you might know, we've had two weddings--the religious one in the states, and this May 8th one which was just a small civil ceremony in Macerata). After dinner, we all took a moonlit walk through the charming walled town of Sarnano, where we seemed to be the only ones walking the cobblestoned streets. What a nice way to spend a Saturday night.

Happy birthday, Antonello (a little belated), and happy anniversary, too! Ti AMO!


Anyway, I should get back to packing, but here are some photos to share with you.


yum! cheesecake!



The birthday boy and our niece, Valentina