Posts

Showing posts from June, 2013

Goodbye Margherita

Image
  Image source Margherita Hack has left us yesterday. I loved her because she never lost her curiosity and drive to learn. That's a real scientist. I loved her because she was able to explain the most difficoult concepts in a way that everybody could understand. That's a real teacher.

A wedding in Cilento.

Image
Last Thursday a dear husband's friend got married in the beautiful Cilento, south of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. We spent two days and a half in the area, and visited the famous Paestum, but that's for another post. Husband and I at the B&B right before going to the wedding. I am wearing a dress I bought at Sandro Ferrone about 3 years ago. Earrings from a street vendor (handmade), necklace from colleague's mom, clutch from a random store in Boston (bought in 2006 for my sister's wedding) and shoes from Geox. These were intended to be my wedding shoes, but the color was a tad too dark, so I kept them and found them to match very well this dress. This was the church before the ceremony:  Flowers were red and white, and the bride had a red bouquet. Since this area of the town is not easily accessible, the groom came on a Vespa :  (Look at that background!) And the bride came on an old 500 - red, of course: The happy couple at the exit:

Sunday wedding.

Image
On Sunday I went to my cousin's wedding. It was an evening wedding and the reception was held at Villa di Fiorano on the via Appia Antica . It was a lovely and fun event, with a beautiful backdrop. Here's my outfit: The dress is a Sandro Ferrone I had tailored, the déco headpiece was from Particolari. The bride asked people to wear something on their head, be it a hat or another kind of headpiece. Earrings and necklace are so old I don't even remember where I bought them. It was when I was living in the US. The fountain in the back was originally for horses to go drink water, then was modified to end in this beautiful swimming pool. Here's a picture in the City Hall, with shoes and clutch:   Shoes are Ralph Lauren and clutch is from a random store.The bust is from some noble woman who lived in beautiful Palazzo Chigi, in Ariccia, where they were married. It was also the set for Il Gattopardo , the movie directed my Luchino Visconti, with Burt Lancaste

Frustrated...

Image
I have really been under the weather lately. I have had these terrible headaches plaguing me. They are becoming worse and worse, and now they are even becoming more frequent. Last month I had to be taken to the E.R., it was so bad. I wasn't able to eat anything, and if I tried to, I'd throw up. I wasn't able to stand for longer than 30 secs, not to mention the terrible pain. This time, it got a bit better. Still extemely painful, but I was able to eat something. I am home since Monday, and hope to get back to work tomorrow. It's very frustrating for so many reasons. First, there is no sure reason for these headaches. I have done a number of exams, but there is no clear verdict. It might be my neck, but it's not sure. Second, there is no painkiller which can help me. Even the strongest I have taken has only decreased a bit the pain, but no solution. I don't like to complain, but I want to say it somewhere. I am sick of being so sick. And scared too. Today

Sun!

Image
This is the beautiful sky I see from my balcony right now. It's not grey anymore, and we got quite a bit of sunshine this weekend. I was even able to go to the beach on Saturday afternoon! Today husband and I had lunch at my parents'. It's their 40th wedding anniversary. 40 seems such a long time! I wish them many more years together. Couldn't resist showing a picture of the cake!

Again on pizza...

Image
On Tuesday we had a mini pizza party. We invited mother in law and I started making pizzas using the dough I had prepared on Sunday. What you can see above is the fourth pizza I made - forgot to take pictures of the other three! I am glad to report that I learned pretty quickly to give it a round shape, and that they were delicious! May be the last one was cooked a tad too much, but was good anyway. What I like about this recipe is that the pizza has very little yeast, I mean, really very little. So it's very easy to digest. I think I'll try to make pizza at least every 2 weeks, it's fun, cheap and delicious. On another note, the sun finally came out - I hope to go to the beach this weekend!

Cooking class: Pizza!

Image
All images courtesy of La Strana Coppia . On Sunday morning I headed  to a nearby pizzeria ( La Strana Coppia , one of my favourite places here) for my third cooking class. This time the subject was: pizza! I surely could never miss this! The teacher was Antonino Esposito , who has many years of experience and a huge passion for pizza. We found our supplies already on the table: But first we enjoyed little brioches the teacher brought for us from Sorrento. They were a really delicious start! First, Antonino explained us everything we need to know about all the ingredients that make a real pizza napoletana : flour, yeast, sugar, salt, etc. Then, we got to make our own pizza dough! First Anotonino showed us what we had to do, even the details of the mouvements we had to do with our hands. Then we started working, and he watched all of us and helped and corrected us when we weren't "perfect". The dough which came out was beautiful, and we got to br