Skip to main content

Year's Sabbatical? Found Mediterranean Love!

Yes, my blogger friends, you read that right. It's been a blogging sabbatical of sorts and I'm simply tired of it. So much has happened. Where to start? Master's degree courses that have to be finished by May 2012, a mother-in-law moving in, entering hospice and then passing from terminal cancer, my youngest daughter's Senior Year, the trip of a lifetime to Italy, Greece & Turkey this summer, and then getting daughter number 1 moved back home and daughter number 2 settled at college. Wow, I'm tired just reading this. 


But, it's now time for a wonderful fall of recipes, entertaining, and the awesome scents those realities create in my home! Hooray! But first, this post will simply be a feast for your eyes (sorry no recipes) of the wonders of the food we enjoyed on our recent summer vacation (mentioned above). Let's just say they know how to do the food in the Mediterranean, so I hope you enjoy! And yes, there will be recipes coming from things I learned about making great food while visiting.

This is the first pizza we enjoyed in Venice! Artichoke hearts, meats, mushrooms and a fried egg in the center. Delicious!


My daughter, Megan, ordered a stuffed calzone! Yes, she ate the whole thing!!
Our pizza in Florence cafe. Just amazing!
Our hostess friends in Sorrento working with the curds...

... to make the fresh mozzarella!

Fruit kebobs readied for the...
...dessert bar chocolate fountain aboard ship!

Midnight dessert bar extraordinaire aboard the Equinox!

Comments

  1. Andrea, I came here through your link on facebook. How exciting that you were in Italy, Greece, and Turkey this past summer! Gary and I just got back from our 40th Anniversary trip to Italy, and I agree - the food there was amazing!! Look forward to reading your blog ...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Recipe Files are Lifesavers!

OK, so I promised this several weeks ago. You should know by now that blogging on my end never follows the schedule that the rest of my life routinely requires. I just have to say that good intentions ought to get me credit. Yet, imagine finding out in May that you will be teaching not 1, not 2, but 3 courses at a local university beginning in mid-August AND between then you have to deliver a written module for an academic publication! Yikes. Thankfully I'm never not lacking for rising to a challenge. So, when it was time to host a dinner party the end of June (that we'd had on the books for well over a month), I had to go to my well-organized files for ideas and inspiration. Here is where I am so glad that over the years I have spent the time on tearing and filing. About 6 years ago when the issues of Bon Appetit , Food & Wine , Real Simple and Southern Living were piling up in every corner of my pantry, closet, and kitchen, I knew I had to come up with a plan. Sure, t...

Salt-Encrusted Herb-Roasted Prime Rib!

Well friends it's almost a brand new year! And, after 5.5 years of teaching at the university level, I am putting down my spectacles and red marking pen for a season to focus on other passions of my life. This, of course, means getting back to creating and crafting in my KITCHEN more than I've had time for of late. When my husband Steve and I opened our business, and I started teaching in the Hospitality, Tourism & Events Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver,  my days in the kitchen were severely compromised. However, it has been a priority since opening those business doors in February of 2014 that our employees are honored in a very big way on their individual birthday. We have kept that tradition for nearly 5 years now, and this week, amidst all the holiday hooplah was no exception, as Mike Thompson, one of our technicians, was honored for his December birthday on none other than Christmas Eve!  The rule is the birthday boy or girl ...

A Couple's Fiesta! Baby Shower

So there are a lot of babies being born around me these days. It is amazing how it seems to come in waves of friends and family expecting at the same time. Seems like I go for years without knowing someone close to me awaiting motherhood and then all of a sudden there's a veritable nursery within my reach. With basically grown daughters (ages 18 and 21), I do miss the baby days from time to time. Thankfully I have numerous younger siblings who have blessed me with many nieces and nephews over the past years. Thus, whenever the "baby bug" hit there was one around to love on for a few hours. But if you know anything about me, it's that I LOVE to throw a party and I'm always looking for an excuse to celebrate something so that we can have people over and I can cook up a storm and feed a crowd! Thus, when some younger friends at church were expecting their firstborn this spring, it was a no-brainer that we would have a baby shower. So, we invited couples (instead of ...