no but really, i am this time. really.

years ago all my girlfriends and co-workers were doing it and i wanted to do it too.
no no no i'm not talking about wearing fur lined boots with mini skirts.

what were all my friends doing?
knitting!
i wanted to knit too! i wanted to go have weekly knitting night in a cool coffee house with the fun girls.
and the fun knitting gang wanted me to come knit with them. they wanted me to join!
i'm fun! i am! ummmm little problem... i can.not.knit.
can't i just come and be fun and not knit?
ummm yea, i guess not. they said i had to knit or try to.
i did try.
i got really far behind really quick.
if i struggle with learning something new... if i don't take something up naturally, i loss interest quickly.
yea i know...practice..... practice... smooractice... rolling my eyes and squishing up my face here.

one of my dearest friends really got into it and became a wonderful knitter.
she was well into her 60's and the funniest darn lutheran church lady i have ever known.
she had never picked up needles before in her life and bam right out of the gate...
FAB-U-LOUS!
she presented me with a skein of gorgeous yarn, bamboo needles and this book...

don't you just love it when someone just really gets you! it's just the best!
this book made me laugh hard... and it still cracks me up. there is a whole line of these quirky funny books. pure genius i say!
as much as i always wanted to knit myself the string bikini from this book (noooo)... i just couldn't get the hang of it all.
the farthest i ever got in my delusions were a couple rows of messy knots.
big sigh.
i had decided to just not knit.

jump ahead in the time machine....
why did i pick up the needles again? why even bother with all this madness again?
i have other skills and totally awesome talents. maybe not so totally awesome, but okay, sort of.
honestly...
i just can.not.stand that a ball of yarn and 2 needles can frustrate me so much.
i decided to try again. i shall knit! i shall purl! someday.

so in the usual long distance conversations i have with my youngest daughter (almost 20) when we ask each other what's new, what's going on, what do ya' know...
i blurt out that i'm trying to learn knitting.... again.....
and before she can say anything... i add quickly...
nooooo i mean it SWEAR IT really i'm trying to learn this time!!!!

her reply. simply.
in complete dry monotone sarcasm...
this is what i get....
L.O.L MOTHER.

i slapped my hand on the table and say... THAT'S IT SISTER GAME ON!

here is my latest attempt my practice, practice smooractice....

i have ripped out and started over so many times it's just not even funny.
everyone keeps asking what i am knitting.
i keep saying, nothing. i am not knitting anything.
maybe i should say it's going to be a bikini.

yep, it's a bikini.

what are you knitting?
have a happy day!
xox

our autumn in italy. food.

and then there was the food.
when you think of italy you cannot help but think of food.
i'm gonna be honest. we ate A LOT.
something else we did was walk. A LOT.
busting out lots of pics and words and some silliness and a recipe link and a recipe on this post just to warn you it might be a little long...

st. peter's basilica sunday morning

we walked a lot every single day. all day hard.
it's how i justified starting my day (yes, every single day) with
cafe americano(s) and chocolate croissant(s)

yum

and ending with pizza, pasta, wine annnnd gelato. yeah that's right... all of it!

romantic little place for dinner

i'm going to break this to you all as gently a possible...
not every single thing we ate in italy sent us over the moon.
i know hard to believe. but it is true.
i will not dwell too long on the foods that underwhelmed me, after all it was only a few meals in the grand scheme of life.
there were however some dishes that we loved that i knew would inspire me to attempt at home.
the food that we loved the most were not fancy and probably the most affordable simple meals of the trip.
hang in there with me i'm going to get to my first inspiration recipe in a moment....

on a food related note, kind of...
something funny happened in rome.
if you knew me and my beverage choices you would know how shocking what i'm about to tell you is.
prior to italy...
offer me wine and i would say... no thank you.
offer me red wine and i would politely say... no thank you and make a face as you turned away.
not that i have ever been sick from red wine, i just have never liked it, at all.

BUT..... take me to italy and something came out of my mouth like someone else was speaking.

i suggested we get a bottle of wine... red wine ladies.
RED WINE.  RED. the words came from my mouth.
i don't EVER say... let's get RED WINE. NEVER.

what in the world was happening i just don't even know.
it's like i was drunk and talking crazy talk. i SWEAR i hadn't had a drop to drink... yet.
mr. c fell from his chair then quickly ordered a bottle of red house wine before i could say i was kidding.
mr. c... likes him some red wine. yep. he does. (laughing hard here)
i know some times he pops in and reads my blog and when he sees this he will say... oh honey don't tell them that... haha mr. c tooooooo late!
don't you be pouting mr. c

water from the aqueducts. i tested out the 'drinking fountain' feature. it was great water!
see i drank more than red wine.

okay serious face..
back to food.
so back home again i went hunting for recipes.
let me correct this... hunting for a recipe for eggplant parm NOT baked to oblivion, swimming in a sea of sauce and heavy greasy cheese and guilt.

my favorite place to find recipes is from real people who don't get all crazy with fancy ingredients and spices i will NEVER use again. hate that.
straight forward real people food puts me over the top any day of the week.
i've been popping over at
'meatless meals for meat eaters'
a nice blog. love her story about health, family, healing food. she is real. authentic. she writes and cooks from the heart. someone i could be real life friends with and she has a *new cookbook.
i love that she loves to eat annnd miriam happens to be an american (texan) that lived in italy for a time. love that and i want to have dinner at her house.

source

here's the original recipe eggplant parm

my little tweaks.
i halved the recipe. it was only us 2 for dinner of which we had 2 good sized dinners! win-win x2!
i used a smallish eggplant producing eight 1/4'' 'meaty' slices
i made her sauce with boxed (canned) chunky tomatoes (fresh is not so fresh here right now)
i used a little olive oil for my frying
i used less than 1/4c of fresh fine grated parmigiano-reggiano (my fanciness food splurge)

this really is one of my favorite knives. everyone should have an aubergine colored knife!

the italian breadcrumbs i make from my own bread.

here is my recipe for coating 8 slices of eggplant
3 pc of day-old bread in food processor (or enough to make 1c md-fine breadcrumbs)
1 t dried rosemary
1 t dried thyme
1 t dried basil
1/2 t garlic powder
1 T fresh fine grated parmigiano-reggiano (love)
2 pinches fresh ground sea salt
play with the spices to your own tastes.

sorry no photos of the beautiful creation, my photography skills couldn't do it justice  anyways :(

the results;
loved.
let me tell you my mr c is a big (not fat) guy and he loves good food (and red wine. haha) and can still put away the food like a strapping michigan farm boy.
he was full, he was happpppppppy and several times said it was better than the original dish from our trip!
he thanked me over and over for making this.
this recipe tasted fancy... but it wasn't fancy... and it was budget friendly.
it tasted like i slaved away all day on this... but i didn't. it's okay if someone thinks i did though.
we popped open a cheap CHEAP cheap bottle of red wine we brought back from our trip. if it was bad we were out a whole 1.09 euros... btw, converted that's $1.48.
can we still be friends if i tell you how much i enjoyed that cheap red wine or are we broke up now?


have a happy day!
xox
tracie
*mr. c if you are not still pouting about the red wine mention, this cookbook is on my wish list :) thank you.

our autumn in italy. the sea.

we are drawn to water. to the edge of shores. to take in happy air.

we stood at the sea. we felt small against the space.
he smiled as he fixed bangs that escaped my french twist.
he tucked them behind my ear, like he does. they are never content for long.
i touched his face, like i do. he smiles again. he kissed my forehead.

on this day the clouds were thick.
the sun did not show.
on that shore we walked with few words. not many were necessary.
the rough waves warned of rain. the wind blew hard and changed direction often.
we looked away when sand stung our face.
we gathered tide polished stones to hold when our memories fade.
a rain drop, then two.
rome was calling for us.
we said goodbye to the shore.

xox
tracie

our autumn in italy

taking the long way there.

in the slower lane we drove through long twisting mountains.
those were the roads of italy that choose us on this trip.

roads of hair pin turns. of steep slopes. a slow breathtaking tour of cactus. silver leafed olive groves. of ripening orange trees.

we followed roads where the lantana bloomed.

through a small 14th century mountain village we wandered holding hands.

autumn leaves and ripe chestnuts fell on cobblestone paths.
small lizards sunned themselves on rocks in the afternoon.

church bells rang 2 blocks away.

we rested on a bench with amaretto cookies with the sun on our face.

we spoke almost in whispered tones as if the moments would end if we were overheard.

sunny afternoons cooled quickly as dusk came to the hills.

the warm scent of burning autumn leaves found us in our evening walks.

we could see our spoken words in the air as the sun set. i was thankful for my sweater.
i was thankful for so much.
when it was time, we said goodbye to the mountain.

xox

tracie

home again

i am swearing off pasta, pizza, red wine and gelato.... for the rest of the year...
okay maybe for the rest of this week....
it's good to get away but it sure feels good to be back home!

xox tracie