Oh the jackhammers!

Today is the day of jackhammer alarm clocks. And regular hammers. And these two in my yard. When I came home from Paris I found the hole this man is standing in in my yard. It just sat there, open for about 3 weeks. Why didn't I call and ask someone about it? Because I've lived in Italy over three years and adapted their come-what-may attitude. If fate or God or the virgin Mary wanted me to know what the hole was about, then I'd find out. Three short weeks after the hole these Italian work men came (yes, in the winter almost all workmen wear bright, orange, reflective jumpsuits) and started banging about.

Let me back up. We have well water here at the house. In the middle of December a notice was posted that the water in my town was no longer potable. It seems that some chemicals have leaked into the water supply. It is ok to wash in and is ok to drink if it has been boiled because the chemicals will boil off. So we had a town meeting a week after the notices were posted. The landlords of the Americans living here and the command decided that the best way to remedy this is to connect us to the city water supply. We Americans living in this town got an email from the housing office that said that we should have drinking water by the end of January. Normally it would take about two weeks for the water to be fixed, but because of the Christmas season it would take a month and a half.

Oh, Italy.

My landlords son stopped by this evening telling me that they were going to connect the water tomorrow morning. He's going to post to make sure that everything is ok with us being billed by the city and that housing knows what's up. He said that if I come home from work and there's a ticket on my door, everything is ok. Just have to run my water for 10 minutes from every faucet and I'm good to go.

It seems like everything is happening so fast now. Jackhammers. Landlord's son. Water connect. Maybe the hole will be filled tomorrow, too.

Let the mensturals rejoice!

Apple has presented their new iPad. Most menstrual name ever? Yes. Do I want one? Also, yes. Maybe if I put my iTouch under my pillow tonight it will grow into a big iPad like in this picture. I'm a dreamer.

Flakes

It was snowing today in my part of Italy. Beautiful, steady flakes for over three hours. None of it stuck and had stopped by the time I left work. But for those three hours I was a little kid from Virginia excited at the prospect of no school. I kept getting up from my desk to peek out the window, making sure the snow kept up its hard work of keeping me distracted. I checked the weather online and the internets said that it's supposed to snow on and off all night. Hope springs eternal.

Cecilia turns 25

Yesterday was Cecilia's birthday. She turned 25, as you can see by the crown we made her.

We also made ourselves party hats and found some cute animal noses to add to the festivities. I was the elephant. Even though you can't see it in that picture, I was smiling. Maybe you can tell from my smiling eyes.

Missy (the wearer of the pig nose) brought the salad. I made the Pioneer Woman's stuffed mushrooms. The mushrooms are filled with cream cheese, onions, garlic, white wine and sausage.

The chicken is from the new cookbook I got in the mail last week: Nigella Express. It has four ingredients: chicken, garlic infused olive oil, bacon and white wine. It was moist, it was bacony, it made me do my happy dance. (I'm not kidding. I do a little happy dance in my seat when I eat good food.)

Finally to top it off we had cornbread. When I asked Cecilia what she wanted for her birthday dinner the only answer I got from her was, "Umm.... Oh! cornbread." Cornbread it was.

The girls

Cecilia turns 25 tomorrow. We girls know how to throw a wild party. Will post the menu and details tomorrow.

Happy Saturday!

Turkey Chili

I made turkey chili last week. I made it and froze some and fridged some. All of the internets say that PLANNING and making AHEAD is the way to succeed at... everything. Weight loss, saving money, curing what ails you, and the secret to life.

So I tried it and I think the internets are on to something. Planning really might be the secret to life. The jury's still out on whether it's a secret that really wants to be found out or not, but the internets do know something.

Now, about the bowling turkey. I have every intention of coming home tonight and taking a picture of my final portion of turkey chili. I was going to grate some cheddar cheese on top and take a beautiful photograph. But when I got home I was hungry and I ate the chili. Because it was delicious. So instead of a picture of an empty bowl, you get a bowling turkey. Fair trade.

This is a very rough recipe because I mostly just threw in stuff that I had in my fridge, which is really something wonderful about chili. It can be made differently every time and still come out delicious.

Turkey Chili of Last Week

3/4 pound ground turkey

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms,

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

32 oz can crushed tomatoes

16 oz can kidney beans

1 Tablespoon chili powder

3 shakes red pepper

2 Teaspoons Oregano

In a large pot saute onion, mushrooms and garlic while browning the ground turkey. Once the turkey is cooked through and the onions are transparent, add the crushed tomatoes, drained kidney beans, chili powder, red pepper and oregano. Stir together and let cook 30-45 minutes until flavors are nicely combined.

Shakespeare and Company

This to date is my favorite spot in Paris. It's a little book shop a stone's throw from Notre Dame.

Shakespeare and Company was established by an American woman at the turn of the 19th century.



Hoards of American writers flocked here during prohibition time so they could find their muse.



AKA, get drunkity drunk drunk.



The likes of Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde are said to have hung out here.

I bought Elizabeth Gilbert's new book Committed while I was here and a canvas book bag with a picture of the store front on it. I wish I could have spent the rest of the afternoon here. But it was raining (how poetic!) and there was Chinese food to be eaten.