Tag Archives: photography

Rally Party

26 Mar

This past week-end was a non-stop birthday celebration for two of the sweetest girls I know.

It started on Saturday afternoon with a  rally race with all of their friends.  There were 10 clues (for the 10 years of the girl’s life), 2 chauffeurs, some bright yellow team head scarves and a lot of enthusiasm.

The 10 clues (which were hidden around the area)

 

The first clue read ” Go where you took your first breath of air”.  So off we rushed to the little small-town hospital where they were born.  The rest of the afternoon was busy passing by all the girl’s favorite spots from the last 10 years.  They had to climb to the top of an old tree in the park, walk along a river in the woods, go the the bakery, the gelateria, the local cow farm and all of our previous homes.

Some locals looked at us like we were absolutely nuts.  Others really played along and helped the kids search for clues (like the one that the ice cream guy hid and it took us over half an hour to find!).

Trampoline break in the middle of rally

In the end it took us almost 3 hours to finish the rally and all of the kids were so so happy.  They were always so excited to find each clue and figure out together what it meant and where they had to go next.  Afterwards we headed home for some well deserved cake (and a little prosecco for the parents).

When I tucked my girls into bed on Saturday evening one of them pulled me close and said ” Mama, that was the best afternoon of my life so far”.  Then other one then said “Me too Mama”.  

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La Vecchia Polveriera

23 Mar

So much sickness in our house the last week!  I can feel it’s starting to get better but it has been a long haul.  All of us with various ailments…sore throats, fevers, stomach aches (and all that comes with that…), headache and lots of coughing.  You name it, we’ve had it.  But better now than in a  week when we leave to go to the other side of the world.  I may have even deliberately sneezed on a kid last week so that they’d get it sooner than later.

When my kids stay home sick I usually try to get them outside for some fresh air (it drives the locals nuts – I have been scolded by more than a few old ladies).  Yesterday my daughter and I went for a very long walk in the woods close to our house.  We made our way over to an old abandoned gunpowder factory which we’ve been visiting for years.  It’s an enormous property full of hundreds of old derelict buildings covered with 50 years worth of vegetation.  It’s really beautiful.  And pretty creepy as well.  Right now the leaves are just coming out so in about 2 weeks time it will be an absolute jungle.

In 1935 there was a big explosion that killed many local people.  It was and is one of the worst local tradgedies and it is still talked about today by a lot of the older townfolk who used to work there.

They are now slowly clearing the whole area and have plans to start building houses, apartments, stores etc.  It’s in times like this that I’m grateful for Italian bureacracy and the length of time they take to organise any such project (in other words, I’ll be long dead before any of it actually starts to happen).

Funny to think that I used to walk these same paths almost ten years ago with 2 weeny little babes in baby bjorns (one in front and one in back).  Now I can stroll along with them hand in hand and have philisophical conversations.

Oops.  We saw this on our way out…

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Daily findings

21 Mar

After many months of cold weather my chickens have finally decided there is enough daylight and warm weather to start laying on a regular basis again.   Our 7 euro white Livornese chicken actually produced eggs all winter (about every few days).  Our fancy 45 euro Marans and Araucana chickens, who are known to be a bit more fragile, just decided in the last week to start laying again.

In any case, I was happy to open the coop today and find these three beautiful eggs waiting for me.  Just in time to make some birthday cakes.  I love spring.

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Preparazioni…

20 Mar

The time has come to start the planning, organising and decorating for my twin daughters’ birthday.  And this year being the big double digit birthday means they’ll be a lot to celebrate and with a lot of people.

I went into my sewing room with plans to organise laundry and iron.  This is what I did instead.  Not sure if it’s going to be a pinata (all that work to be bashed to pieces!?) or a decoration to hang from a tree.   Now off to organise some surprise activities for the girl’s party this week-end…

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縫う

17 Mar

I seem to be passing a lot of time in front of the sewing machine lately.  I go for ages without sewing a thing then suddenly I’ll have a month where I pass hours daily in my little sewing room.  Bits of thread are to be found all over the house, stuck to my clothes and in my hair.

Here’s another recent sewing project made in our sewing class.  Our zipper skills are slowly getting better.  Slowly being the key word here.  They are both essentially the same bag but we lined the second one.  Which was not an easy task.  There seems to be a lot of “sewing logic” that I’m still lacking. 

As much as I love that yellow material I’m officially sick of seeing it.  I’ve been sewing things with it for months.  So I guess that means it’s time to go to a beautiful Japanese material shop to buy some new fabrics. (The Japanese characters in the post title mean sew…I hope)

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Lovely Lady Lunch

15 Mar

You know those lazy relaxed lunches you can only experience with close girlfriends?  Well I had one yesterday and it was absolutely lovely.  Lots of chatting, boasting, complaining, explaining, eating, drinking and (most importantly) laughing was done.  And there was the added bonus of warm enough weather to sit outdoors.  I left with a spring in my step, a smile on my face and renewed energy to face the rest of the week (oh and some pretty awesome chicken stickers).

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Random

14 Mar

Quite often these days I find that my iphone goes missing for long periods of time.  After browsing through the photos on it I’ve discovered why…

I love kid’s perspective on life.

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Orange blossom cake with mandarine glaze

11 Mar

Today was a beautiful sunny day.  A bit on the chilly side but the smell of spring is definitely in the air.  And with that smell of spring comes the irresistable urge to clean and organise my house.

In between all this cleaning and organising I made some mini Orange Blossom Water Cakes with Mandarine Glaze.  A friend brought me the Orange Blossom Water a while ago and I’ve been really looking forward to baking with it.  I’ve never used it but have seen many Middle Eastern and Mediterrenean recipes which call for it.  It has such a pungent perfumy smell that becomes so mild when baked in these cakes.

Orange Blossom Water Cakes with Mandarine Glaze

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
small pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 Tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp orange blossom water
1/2 cup melted butter (unsalted)

1.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.

2. Beat eggs, lemon zest, brown sugar and white sugar until light and frothy.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix until just combined.  Add buttermilk mixed with orange blossom water and melted butter.  Mix until combined.

4. Pour into buttered cake pan (or mini cake pans).  Bake in 350 degree oven (35-45 minutes for one large cake or 20-25 minutes for small cakes.

5. For glaze mix 1/4 orange juice with 1 cup powdered sugar.  You can also add a little splash of the orange blossom water and some grated mandarine peel.  Pour over cakes.

Enjoy!

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Tree skirts

9 Mar

While my mom was visiting we got to do some really nice sewing projects together.  Aprons, zipper pouches and a few simple skirts for my daughters.  Every year in March I make each of my twin daughters a special skirt (and crown) for their birthday which is on March 28th.  This year I bought some really nice (I think) tree/bush patterned material in Canada.  I love the different greens in the print, the cotton is really nice and soft and it’s definitely not something you’ll find in a kid’s clothing store in Italy. 

I know the bright yellow isn’t the typical colour you’d pick to go with this material but I just love the combination together.   I had to take the skirt into a local fabric shop to buy the binding for the hem and when the salesgirl saw it she was horrified.  She looked at it and said “e molto….particulare”.  In other words it’s the ugliest thing she’s ever seen.  So it’s obviously not to everyone’s taste…

I used a thick elastic band for the waistline because it’s so comfortable for the kids to wear.  Plus, if they grow a bit then it still fits.  I’m thinking of making one for myself for when I eat one of those 4 hour Italian lunches and my pants always end up feeling a little too tight for comfort.

So 2 skirts with images of 2 different types of forests for 2 very sweet little girls who will be turning double digits in a few weeks (gulp).

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Folkabilly Apron

7 Mar

A few weeks ago my mother gave me some old vintage apron patterns that used to belong to my grandmother.  I finally chose a model I wanted to sew and this is the result.

I was going for a little folkabilly look (cross between happy homemaker from the 50’s, a folksy peasant lady and rockabilly).

The pattern was really easy to follow and I love the fact that all the pieces were already cut out and ready to use.  Which means my grandmother probably made this exact same apron about 50 years ago.

I’m going through an apron phase at the moment and I’m really looking forward to going apron shopping in Japan next month.  Maybe I’ll even find an easy to follow pattern such as this.

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