Italia: Giorno 2

Amici, Italia e meravigliosa. I mean, seriamente. It is rainy and gray right now, but who cares?! I slept until 10:15. Then -and y'all, you know how I love clothes and fashion; like, the art of it, really I do; I'm not superficial.- my sister took me to the Roberto Cavalli employee discount sale, and, I admit, I took advantage of a few deals. SO fun. You should see this belt I bought. It's labeled a man's belt, but I know of NO man who would wear this. Not even Pavarotti. It is a Cavalli snake head buckle on a belt. I mean, it is fabulous. There may have been a few other purchases, but such good deals, people. Such good deals. Heh-heh.

I am besotted with my nephew who is just the cat's meow. He is so calm and darling and sweet and soft, and really, I could have 85 babies. Literally, I could nurse and tend to 85 babies. Happily. Willingly. Joyfully. It then gets exponentially more difficult, and in that regard, I am thrilled with my two doll-baby sons.

Do y'all even know what happened to me this evening? Elia and I crossed and bought from not one but TWO mozzarella di bufala stands. TWO!!!

People, we ate a ciambella di bufala, and then, whilst enjoying said ciambella (donut) and some patatas fritas and wine and beer, the mozzarella man drove his cart to us, and I gleefully bought an entire, fabulous, quivering, still-warm orb of perfectness.

SERIOUSLY?

Ohmygod.

And there were these... some sort of fantastic, cured maiale (pork).

And we were: proud Mom and auntie...

Union Market = fabulous day 2 of birthday

A few weeks ago, a dear friend somewhat cryptically asked me what my birthday plans were. She asked if I'd save her a day because she had somewhere to take me. I do love surprises and such advance planning and readily agreed that today would be her day. M picked me up this morning and ferried me down to Union Market, a year-round indoor market in Northeast. What a perfect idea! Rows of food and drink stalls line three main aisles: meat; fish; bread; cheese; wine; pressed juice; Korean; Mediterranean; the still-ubiquitous cupcakes... We decided to eat our way and commenced with a stop at the juice bar, Goshen (I had a fabulous carrot-ginger-lemon concoction), before detouring through a fun housewares store, Salt & Sundry, where I bought the best item: a travel tin of Maldon finishing salt. After I waxed rhapsodic about Maldon, M bought one too. Isn't this charming?!

Then it was on to Rappahannock Oysters Co, yes! the same as that at the farmers market where I bought the clams last Sunday, where we chowed. Raw oysters, red snapper tartare with sorrel juice, crispy chives and some fabulous citrusy business, and a beautiful white gazpacho with cucumber, grapes and Marcona almonds. It was absolutely delicious, and the plating was top-notch. Doesn't this all look incredible? It was.

We also did an olive oil tasting at All Things Olive; there I bought a bottle of Frantoia oil from California. It's got an intense peppery aftertaste that made me cough in such a delightful fashion. I used it atop some mozzarella di bufala tonight for a super-caprese: perfetto! Fresh bread was bought at Lyon Bakery (and seriously enjoyed tonight), Turkish Delight and ful medames at DC Mediterranean and finally we ambled towards M's car.

Can you believe the two days of cool experiences I've just had? Thank you to my wonderful friends.

With today's goodies, I made and we just devoured this magnificent salad plus the ful.

Simple dinner, awful chili, exciting news

Despite the hot weather, Jack asked for chili tonight, red chili with beef and beans to be precise. Now red chili is not something I make very often, so I did a quick search for a recipe and came across one that sounded simple and good. Cubed sirloin, beans, nice spices...I made it all, served the boys, tasted it myself and we all went "BLECH!" and on to dinner #2. What a waste, but it is not good, just no good at all. Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run. Brilliant words Kenny, just brilliant. The Gambler is such a great song.

Anyway, for my own sup, I made a simple salad of mozzarella di bufala, shaved fennel, lemon, salt and olive oil (I swear I saw some version of this somewhere about six months ago), opened a can of best-quality vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, toasted some bread and called it a meal.

Do you know what I just registered for and am going to?? BlogHer 2013, a fantastic conference for bloggers in Chicago in two weeks. I am even able to attend the pre-conference day! I cannot believe this all came together, and I thank, profusely, everyone who is helping me with the kids (husband, father-in-law, friends!) as well as dear friends who are hosting me in Chi-town. Unbelievable and exciting opportunity.