Where'd May Go?

Ok, so I missed an entire month...good God, I missed an ENTIRE month! I wish it was because I was off in some wonderful foreign land, oh wait...I was! At least for half of it. As you know from my previous post, Bruce and I were in Italy for three weeks. The scary thing is we've been back for three weeks already! Holy cow! Italy was absolutely fantastic! We got home late on a Sunday, and no word of a lie I was online Monday morning looking for real estate in Italy. Such a magical place... something new and wonderful around every corner. Even the language woos you! My dreams are still filled with our trip and I pray that it lasts forever!

I seriously question why we choose to live in Edmonton. One day...but until then here's another photo:


There's always stress in our lives and there always will be but I bet I would deal with it better if I lived in Italy! Ha! At the very least, this trip reminded me that you need to take care of yourself, don't let all those stressful situations eat you up - sometimes it's best to hide out for a little while, take a vacation, learn to live life again instead of just getting through it. Italy came just at the right time. Ciao!

When the Moon Hits Your Eye...

Started today with seeing the Pope at the Vatican...two hours in the sun! Talk about a sunburn! We made our way across the Tiber River in search of the Pantheon...found some gelato first! Mmmmmm....bacio (chocolate hazelnut for me and tiramisu for Bruce). We stumbled across the Piazza Navona, an artist's paradise and were woo'ed into a pizzeria for lunch...I had margherita pizza and Bruce had pizza al funghi. We totally could have shared one - lesson for next time! With full tummies and my head bubbling with beer we made our way to the Pantheon - so many people!!! Learned how to shoot on manual as it was dark and light inside, very impressive! Here's a photo of the Colosseum from yesterday.

We decided to just walk after that and we stumbled across an Italian Communist Party rally...we stayed to take a few shots and then decided it'd probably be wise to move on! From there we just walked and walked some more and lo an behold, came across the Spanish steps on a sunny day! Could not believe how many people were there on a sunny day!!! We wound our way through the Roman streets and found the Hotel Madison, which we're staying at at the end of our trip, right across from the train station! Just got back to the room and took off my necklace and realized I got a sunburn around it too! I'm so smart, brilliant in fact! Off to dinner shortly and then tomorrow it's Florence!

We Weren't Struck Down By Lightning!

Day two of Rome, fantastic! We found a little taverna for nutella filled croissants and cappucinos - soooo good! It's a good thing we do a lot of walking on vacation! Then we caught the train to SanPietro station to visit Vatican City. Once inside the walls we saw the swarm of people, the lineups were massive - a little worrisome until a lady approached us about joining a guided tour. I was a little skeptical but we took a chance and were pleasantly surprised. She brought us across the piazza to a guy who was chatting with two other tourists. His name was Lewis and he was Scottish, no heavy brogue though so it was great. I swear this guy must just read about the Vatican, the Roman artists, history, culture - he was truly a walking encyclopedia! We toured for about 3.5 hours and finished the day with a little jaunt up to see the dome of the Vatican - 700-ish steps. Bruce said his ass was gonna look amazing after that feat! Yup, said it out loud for everyone to hear...gotta love him! I'm proud to say even though he stepped foot inside the Vatican, nothing happened, nothing. Whew!
After the Vatican, we made our way to the Spanish steps where we experienced a Roman downpour! During sunny days, there are vendors trying to sell tripods and during the rainy days they all switch to umbrellas! We had bought one at the little grocery store by our hotel...shoulda grabbed one from a guy cuz they were cheaper! Sigh. After the steps we found the Trevi Fountain and luckily the rain stopped for that! We stopped at a little restaurant for some pasta and wine and made our way back home. Trying to get to bed a little earlier because we got tickets to see the Pope tomorrow! Should be awesome!

Italia!

Our first full day in Italy! So tired. We left the hotel at 8:30 this morning and it's just after 10 pm and we just got in! Not a whole lot of sitting except for the first little while this morning when we took the 'Hop On Hop Off' bus! We were checking in yesterday and a lady came up to me to let me know that they were leaving this morning and she gave me their bus tour tickets because they were good for 24 hours...so we used them up! Sally, you were so right - we totally got our bearings and got some great shots to boot! I still have to download some photos but I'm sure Bruce will stay up late uploading his so keep an eye out for Facebook! I think it's time for a glass of wine before I head off to bed. We bought a bottle yesterday for about $5!!! Ciao!

Yawn...

Have I been sleeping?! I noticed it's almost been a month since my last blog post. Has nothing happened in my life in the past month?! On the contrary...I've been run off my feet in the past month! Good God! I don't know what's going on but I have been swamped at work and at night, what do I do? More work usually! I'm trying to keep up but it's starting to pile up and Bruce and I have nine more sleeps before we leave for Italy for three weeks!

There's been lots of cool things that have happened throughout my days in the past month, but having a mind like a sieve isn't going to help me share them with you. The feelings that those cool things left me with still linger but I can't recall any details, sorry.

You know how sometimes you seek the universe for answers to what seems an impossible problem to solve? You spend hours, days, weeks even months trying to figure out what the best move to make is, what the right choice is, just trying to get clarity on a situation. Then one day life just throws what you need to know right in your face! Just like that. It's almost like God has given you a deadline to figure something out and if you haven't done it in that time, He's just gonna tell you what you need to do. You have to love how life takes care of you...my lesson in all of this is you need to relax and trust that everything is the way it should be until it changes. I know, it's a very deep thought but I dare you to think about it for a few minutes!

Acknowledge past events, but endeavor to manage the present with a view to creating a brighter future.

An Evening with David Adjey

Ok, this is kinda old news now but I haven't had a chance to sit down and type for a little while. Here goes...this past Tuesday, Bruce and I had the opportunity to attend a dinner with Chef David Adjey, you probably know him from Restaurant Makeover on the Food Network.


He's the Chef in residence at NAIT this week and they held a dinner with local food bloggers to tie in with the social networking trend surrounding food. When we arrived there was an empty seat right beside David that I took advantage of. The NAIT students prepared a tasting menu all prepared from recipes in David's cookbook, 'Deconstructing the Dish', which he autographed for me!

Shrimp
spoon bread stuffing
kick-ass tartar sauce
wilted chicory

Artic Char
Fennel braise
Yukon gold dumplings

Pork Chop
rubbed with 'stir-fry' paste
baby bok choy
kumquat-garlic sauce

Halibut
crab hash
saffron aioli
"angry" fritter garnish

Beef Tenderloin
red wine jus
lobster butter
buttermilk onion ring

I have to note here that the dinner was filmed and will be on the NAIT website and YouTube if I'm not mistaken. Remember I sat right next to him...probably gonna be on camera once or twice. What was I thinking??? Especially when I noticed the first selection on the menu, shrimp. Shrimp and I don't get along, I hate shrimp. But what was I gonna do? I'm sitting next to Chef Adjey, I'm most likely on camera...do I not eat it? Do I attempt to eat it and gag cuz I have a huge gag reflex with foods I don't like...you should see me with fresh tomatoes! Yikes! Anyway, I decided to follow his lead. He pulled the tail off a shrimp. I pulled a tail off a shrimp. He popped one in his mouth...I tried to bite mine in half - a little rubbery so I shoved it all in and chewed...and chewed...and chewed...remember I think I may be on camera so I tried not to show any displeasure but now I'm starting to worry that I've been chewing too long. Seriously, did I have to sit right next to him?! My favourite was the beef tenderloin followed by the halibut and artic char. I noticed that David hardly ate anything - I don't know if he didn't care for it or if he'd been eating all day or if he was too full from all the champagne! So I didn't feel bad for leaving something I didn't care for after at least trying it. I was proud of myself, especially for being a picky eater! But to my disappointment, there was no dessert! Sigh...

Also to note here, Bruce convinced me the night before that I should bake some cupcakes to give to Chef Adjey. So there we were, getting coffees from Second Cup and ingredients from Sobey's at 9:15pm the night before! Seriously...9:15! I was up baking and frosting until 12:15 cuz the cupcakes have to cool! Anyway, I gave a dozen to him. He didn't try one in front of me but Diane who had invited us to the dinner received a message from him regarding my cupcakes:

If you can't make it out, Diane emailed him and asked him what he thought of my cupcakes and his response was, and I quote, "I ate 5! The bellman ate the rest. They were delish!" Try and wipe the smile off my face, David Adjey thinks my cupcakes are delicious! What a great night!