Mamma Americana

4th of July, Italian style

A proper 4th of July celebration was in order this year. Saturday morning we went to the weekly market in Tonfano and bought an American flag. Back in the garden I attached it to a broom stick and we put it up on the trellis. It looked pretty good. 

That evening, Lorenzo got the BBQ going, which was no small feat. The charcoal had been in the storage room all winter long, sucking up moisture and was rather damp as a result. It was too late to run to the store for more, so Lorenzo used newspaper and a fan to get things burning. 

Here he is grilling up some porcini alongside my mother in-law. It's odd to find porcini this time of the year. I usually see them in the fall, but it's been raining so much lately that they seem to be coming up early.

The lovely rosticciana (pork spare ribs) piping hot from the grill. We also had hot dogs (I felt it wouldn't be the 4th of July without them) served on hamburger buns because the supermarket was out of hot dog buns. All in all, I'd say it was a great evening. 

Bunny love

The warm weather this week has got me feeling better. It's hard to lie around when it's sunny outside. I've been spending time with my little 3 week old nephew who is up from Rome. That new baby smell will cure just about anything! 

Easter is here and I just finished this bunny in time for Eleonora's easter basket.

Bunny's backside

I found a tutorial for this on Betz White's blog. It calls for scraps of cashmere, but I used a felted sweater instead. It was fun to make and didn't take very long.

The other bunny came from this family heirloom chocolate mold. Mom say's it belonged to my great-grandmother Minnie. Grandpa said he remembered it from his childhood.

Here's a good article on using antique chocolate molds. I have no idea what we'll do with all this milk chocolate. I'll have to find some recipes to use it in. 

The chocolate bunny is also going into Eleonora's easter basket. In Italy kids and adults recieve giant hollow chocolate eggs with small surprises inside instead of easter baskets. The easter bunny doesn't exist. He'll make a special trip from the U.S.A. just for Eleonora though. Happy Easter!

Thanksgiving Goodies

I went shopping for Thanksgiving yesterday. Not an easy task when you're living abroad. If you know where to look though in Florence you can find cranberry sauce, canned pumpkin, fresh sweet potatoes, and even a turkey.

I do most of my shopping for international foods at Vivi Market, in via del Giglio, 20/22 (not far from the train station). It's not cheap: I paid €30 for a can of pumpkin, two small jars of cranberry sauce, 5 sweet potatoes and a can of treacle (molasses). But then again, the taste of home is priceless!

I love the design on this can of molasses. I'll be using it for gingerbread cookies in December.

Our turkey is purchased every year from the same butcher inside Sant Ambrogio market. Italian turkeys taste better than their american counterparts. Maybe it's because there isn't much of a market for them so there's  little or no industrial farming. That's my guess. They taste divine. Nice and juicy.

Last year's bird that I cooked for 20 people

Our little pumpkin

Here's our little pumpkin! Isn't she cute?

Mom and Dad went witchy

On Halloween we attended a party at Lorenzo's cousins. There were about 8 other preschoolers, all dressed up for the holiday. They were all so cute and of course they had a blast. Too bad it started raining at about 7 pm. No trick or treaters came to the door. 

Ghost and a little devil