The future of books

This looks like a fascinating book and is definitely my next read after I finish My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler. Yes, my taste in books is all over the map.

Reviews from Amazon:

“This book is lively, smart, funny, wildly creative, and gives me great hope for the future of writing.” —A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

What a fun and timely book this is. I sat down to read it expecting a coroner's report and found a manifesto instead. Maybe it's not time to go back to work at Applebee's yet, after all.” —John Wray, author of Lowboy

Thanks to Maria Popova @brainpicker for bringing this to my attention. I love her twitter feed.

Here is my handle, here is my spout

Greetings, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are about to ring in the New Year with gusto.

But let’s get to the main point of this post… the teal teapot. I love it! Like really love it. Chuck gave it to me for Christmas and it’s been in heavy use since. This is my first teapot; always had a kettle, but it’s not the same as a cute little teapot. Look at it! It’s so cute and it brews a mean cup of tea too.

“Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.” Zen quote

Yeah, I took a cheesy artistic photo of it. So what?

My new favourite store might just be David’s Tea. (Sorry Sephora) I’m thoroughly enjoying their “Forever Nuts” blend right now. It has a subtle flavour of nuts, apple and cinnamon and turns a nice shade of pink.

So this is how I end 2010, talking about tea. Oh well, I might be getting older, but I raise my tea cup to one helluva year. And that’s an understatement! In the last year, I fixed up the house, upgraded the car, went on the trip of a lifetime, saw art that made me weep, learned to not hate the kitchen, and fell in love. That’s definitely a year to remember.

Happy New Year everyone! My 2011 resolution is to paint again. I'm starting to miss it.

Beautiful Christmas bouquet from Chuck.

Oh by golly, have a holly jolly

Yay, Christmas is here! I love this time of year.

My Christmas actually started last week out in the country at my mom’s. We had a wonderful brunch and gave and received some sweet gifts. I got a lot of kitchen stuff this year! Pots, pans, knives, muffin tins, baking sheets and a spring-form pan (I had to ask what it was!).

Then it was off to my aunt’s for our family dinner. I’m certainly blessed to have such a great family; everyone is always happy and there is never an argument. And we’re Irish, French and German! (With some Nigerian mixed in.) Maybe it’s the booze. The one thing I missed this year was my Uncle Hans’ song “Strokin” playing through our formal dinner. Oh well, I guess you can’t get everything you want.

Today it’s Christmas Eve and I will be doing something I have never done before… I’m going to Midnight Mass. As most people know, I’m not a “churchy” person. Far from it. But I’m pretty excited to go since I will be celebrating the holdiay with Chuck. As hard as changing holiday traditions can sometimes be, this one seems like a piece of cake. If it’s anything like listening to monks chant in Florence, I might become a weeping basket case.

Another holiday change… we are attempting to make a turkey dinner tomorrow. And I’m not responsible for the turkey (Chuck is, ha). These next few days are going to be filled with new traditions, and I’m looking forward to it!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Update: Christmas mass was nice, but seriously... too much incense people! I couldn't breathe. Also, our turkey dinner was a hit. We used this glaze and it was delicious. The gravy turned out super yummy too.

It's a good thing

Hello everyone, it's been awhile. I went into blogging overload in Europe and took quite the long break when I got back. Plus, after visiting all that exciting stuff, settling back into normal life just didn't seem interesting enough to talk about.

So tonight, as I was sitting at home doing absolutely nothing, I thought, "hey, how about a short little post to talk about... ah crap, I still have no idea."

Oh wait, I know, I'll talk about my foray into domestication. Cooking and baking to be exact. Yep, you heard right, I'm actually using the kitchen for what it was designed for, instead of just umm... designing it. This is something that I have shunned, ran from, and maybe actually hissed and spit at in the past. Well, no more!

In the past month I have used my stove more than I had in the previous nine years. This is hardly an exaggeration. I have made some fine pasta (with a little help from amazing herbs, oil and fresh pasta straight from Italy), great little asparagus and prosciutto appetizers (after going gaga over them at a friends party), and baked the most delicious granola bars (from a coworker who was generous to share her recipe). It's so nice when people share their recipes with you.

My friend Jen has even joined me and Chuck for a homemade meal. In the past, if visitors came for dinner I headed straight to the nearest take out menu.

Many have pointed to Chuck for kickstarting this latest adventure, and he certainly is a huge factor, but I also think my trip gave me a bit of a nudge too. Going to countries that created such simple, yet tasty stuff, was a bit inspiring.

I cannot believe I am saying this, but I'm actually enjoying it. Hopefully it lasts.

On another note, this week I downloaded the new "Martha Stewart Living" iPad app. It's absolutely stunning. It actually costs less than buying the print magazine and it has so many more features (podcasts, videos, panoramic photos). If you have an iPad, I highly recommend downloading it.

London photos

I have finally started using Flickr. My first photo set is for London.

That's how you end on a high note

Today was a great day in Rome. It was my last day of sightseeing. I'm here until Friday, but tomorrow I'm going to shop, pack and relax.

After breakfast this morn, I walked back to the ancient ruins. I couldn't resist, it's the coolest place. I started at Circus Maximus. It's really just a gigantic hole. But an awesome hole. That's where the chariot races were held and the stands could hold up to 250,000. That's crazy.


Afterwards I went back to the Roman Forum and paid to go in again. The tour I was on earlier this week didn't take us up Palatine hill and I wanted to see the views of Rome from up there. It didn't disappoint. This place is just a gigantic "wow!" After seeing all this I want to watch every movie or TV show on Rome when I get home. Maybe even "Ben Hur." I said maybe












As I was walking back to the hotel I met this really nice guy named Xi Tong who was selling photographs of Italy with an urban touch. I bought two. I'm happy. I have purchased a piece of art in every place I've been to. Have no idea where I'm going to hang all this stuff yet!

When I got back to the hotel I was boiling. It was stinking hot out today with no clouds. I cannot get over seeing Italians wearing sweaters and tall leather boots in this weather. I jumped in the pool when I got back. A nice quick cool down. I'm really enjoying this hotel. (They also make a great Bruschetta with fresh mint. Yummy)

Tonight I went to the Teatro dell'Opera to see their production of "Roberto Devereaux." I've always wanted to go to the opera, what a treat to actually go in Italy! I didn't know anything about this piece, but here's what I figured out:
Queen Elizabeth I loves Roberto Devereaux.
Roberto loves Sarah, the Queen's lady in waiting.
Sarah loves Roberto and is having an affair with him.
No one loves Sarah's husband.
Roberto is put to death.
Elizabeth is distraught about his death, even though I think she ordered it.

The Queen was performed by Carmela Remigio and she was phenomenal. Her voice was sublime. At the end of the performance, when the music was getting more and more dramatic, she had her final solo performance. It was just tragic to listen to. I was transfixed. Then she hit a note of such passion that my heart lifted and tears instantly started streaming down my face. Now that's incredible. Women were sobbing everywhere and the men were screaming "BRAVA!" Yes, brava indeed. That's an experience I will never forget. I'm emotional just typing about it.

One last thing. I'm very proud that I haven't been clipped or hit by a car here. They drive like maniacs and there is no such thing as "the pedestrian has the right of way." I wonder how many people are hit a year? I should google that.

Orchid at my table at the hotel:


Loges at the opera:

Yay, no more sheep herding!

I just got back after my way too long 15 hour tour of Pompeii and Naples. It was my last bus tour and I have to say, I'm not in the least sad they are done. Nope, not even a smidgen.

But before I get to today... I did write a nice long blog post about my trip to the Vatican and Pantheon last night, but my blogger app trashed the post. So here is my short version of yesterday.

I visited the Pantheon in the morning and was amazed. I visited the Vatican in the afternoon and was even more amazed. (I guess I can say that about everywhere I visit in Rome.) Oh, and I bought some beautiful italian boots in between.

In the Pantheon, I loved how the only light is from the huge hole in the ceiling. And it lights the whole place. Cool. What an amazing building.





At the Vatican, I got a private tour of the museum and saw some true masterpieces of Greek and Roman statues and Renaissance paintings. I loved finally seeing the Sistine chapel. I have been dreaming of seeing this piece of art since I was a child flipping through the National Geographic issue on its restoration. A dream come true. It's everything I wanted it to be, and more. I have seen so many beautiful ceilings in the last month, but this one takes the cake. Pure awesomeness.

Another great treat was St. Peter's Basilica. It's ginormous! The art within is so cool. I loved the wall murals made out of glass mosaics. So intricate and exact. Stunning. Michelangelo's Pieta wasn't too shabby either.


Cut back to today... This was certainly the longest bus tour. From 6:30 this morning to 10:00 at night! UGH! The tour was doing three tours from the same bus at the same time so there was a lot of waiting. It took us over 2 hours to get to Naples and then we got our shitty tour guide who was an ass and sexist as hell. (I firmly believe all Italian tour guides are in the "family.") They did a tour of Naples in the bus. Not sure why as they didn't show us anything but garbage and squalor. Then it was onto a coral factory where they tried to sell us cameos (I guess for the grandmas). Then they took us for a lunch that lasted over an hour and wasn't good. I just wanted to see Pompeii!

We finally did get to Pompeii at 3:00 p.m.! WTF. Then they gave us 2 hours to go through this massive, beautiful place that is like a maze. I couldn't stay with our ass tour guide, so I wandered off with a couple from Wales. We tried to see as much as we could in the short time we had. Didn't see much, we needed at least three to four more hours. What a shame.

Pompeii is amazing. (Yes, I realize I say that a lot. I need a thesaurus.) The bodies laying in the position they died in is sad and fascinating. To see a whole village completely destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius and yet completely preserved was quite a treat.








With our time restraint I never did get to see the dirty paintings, statues or brothel! UGH, I hated this tour company.

The nice thing was I had lunch with a lovely couple from Wales, Mark and Carol. I also had a great conversation with a young woman from D.C. traveling with her grandma from Long Island. They were a hoot.

I'm too tired to write more, but I will be back in Canada soon and only too willing to discuss my travels in person. So please ask when I'm back!

Two more days to go.

Listened to these guys for awhile at Piazza Navona:


Nuns window shopping:


This ad is everywhere:


The Swiss Guard: