Savona with Theo

We decided to take a road trip to meet Theo in Savona. Savona is a town on the



Mediterranean and Theo was in Nice, France so it was midway-- about a 2 hr drive for him and 2 hr for us. There is a large fortress on the coast. We went to the top and took these pictures. One view is looking toward France and the other toward Genoa and Cinque Terre. Also the Duomo had an awesome depiction of Adam & Eve and the 3 degrees of Glory. We had a great lunch near the duomo and ended the trip with Gelato and Calda Chocolatte (hot Chocolate pudding with cream --yummmmm). It was great to see Theo.

To Market, to market to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Saturday at the Street Market-
The market lines the center of the street. The vendors will set up a pop-up tent with all of their goods on the tables and then the white vans hold their extra stiff. this is the clothing and household section- the food section goes off like a T. This market is fairly big. I got some beautiful leather Italian shoes (its a miracle they have my size 10.5) for 20e.
See little Charlotte tucked away in her baby carrier under Rachael's coat? Nobody even knew she was there! Living in Europe is like these 2 bikes- One is old, charming, and slow, most likely early 1920-1930, the other new modern and fast Styling.

Cooking with Rachael

Rachael showed me one of her favorite quick little meals to make so here it is straight from her Italian kitchen:












First, put small Roma tomatoes and garlic chunks drizzled with olive oil into the oven to roast for about 15 minutes











Next, Italians use scales to measure their pasta, flour et...



















Measure out macaroni pasta ours looked like it was twisted - add to hot boiling water
Then prepare fresh salad greens with apple slices, buffolla mozerella pieces and chopped walnuts - drizzle with fresh balsamic & olive oil or fresh lemon









Make sure you get great fresh bread from the neighborhood bakery

Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata is one of my favorite dishes. I tried to make it-- unsuccessfully a few weeks ago for Rod. I found this recipe on line and tried it tonight. It turned out great! Adding the cooked chicken back to the pan for 5 minutes creates a really nice sauce. I will add a picture next time we down load pics

Chicken Piccata

Recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

• Easy
  

• Cook Time

  25 min

• Level Easy

• Yield 4 servings
  

Times:

Prep 15 min

Inactive Prep

Cook 25 min

Total: 40 min

Ingredients

• 2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate. Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.

Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.

A little bit about the hospital & brining home little Lottie

Notice the happy parents both on their cell phones texting the happy news-- This was about 6:30 AM Saturday morning















Rebekah- These pics are for you-- This is what the labor & delivery room looked like. It is an older building- like most everything here, but this area was recently renovated. It is very modern with some very interesting modern birthing equipment, But Rachael wasnt able to use the tub.

First off I need to post a picture of the room I waited in while Rachael was in labor. It was newly renovated, but they couldnt make it any more uncomfortable. The door at the end of the room leads to a maintenance area and it was very cold. Also, the lights were off. The oddest thing was there is no bathroom anywhere to be found. I wondered around various dark silent hallways and eventually was told to go to the emergency room. this is a children s hospital so there isnt a lot of after hours stuff going on unless its behind closed doors. Oh, also, sitting in this room you can hear the screams of the women in labor just down the hall (behind me in this picture). Those must be the women who didnt meet with an anesthesiologist to prepare to have an epidural. Thankfully, none of those screams were from Rachael-- she did great!!

Rachael's side of the post-partum room.
Leaving the hospital - Joe is carrying Charlotte and Rachael is taking the bassinet back to the nursery.

Little Charlotte Raya all dressed up to come home. Rachael loves chamillians and I found this at Tuesday Morning before she was pregnant. Its one of the smallest things in her closet and it drowns her. The little leggings and stockings are from a different outfit but almost fit. We had to put her in the combination to keep her warm, then the fuzzy bear outfit (with toes & ears) on top. And then into the Italian made car seat that Uncle JR & Grandpa found a great deal on in SLC that grandma snuck in her suitcase from Utah. (my other bag has been found and is supposed to be delivered today!! Yea!! its only been a week!!






































This is Giovanni's mom Giovanna and me with our Picolla babina

Charlotte Raya Criscione

NYC,Paris, Rome & Milano

What do these 4 cities have in common besides being the fashion capitals of the world? I was in all 4 within 24 hours!! I took a midnight flight from SLC to NYC, arrived about 7 am and took the subway into the city. I walked around, took the subway to Canal street where I accomplished one of my "bucket list" goals-- to shop the back rooms of the black market for a good deal. I was a little concerned that since I was by myself that I was doing something fairly foolish, but it was fun and in the end, I believe I got a good deal on some black market name brand (most likely knock off) purses. Then I found a UPS store to ship them home. I also found a fun fabric store to pick up some lining for the blessing dress for our little silician. I love fabric shops in NYC. I would aboslutely go nuts if I lived there all of the time. Then I took the subway back up town and got off around 5th ave and 42nd street. The stores are all having great after Christmas sales --- if only I had more space....... Maybe some day the girls and I can do a weekend in NYC. It would be so fun to see a play. I am not so sure about winter time though. But it wasnt too bad. I walked through the south end of Central Park. There was a film set for Gossip Girls-- my wbff's Jamie & Danny's fav. I was gloing to pull out my camera and take some pictures when I realized I must have left it home on the table with my cell phone charger. Ughhhh!
Oh well. Central Park was beautiful. The little lakes were frozen over and there were swans and ducks swimming in the little areas protectd by low hanging tree branches. I kept thinking how different it was without Rod-- I can see the picture possibilities but nobody to snap the pictures. I walked over to the Manhatten temple to the distribution center and picked up a couple of items (which turned out to be a very good idea). Then decided to head back to the JFK. I got there about 3pm and needed a boarding pass. My luggage was checked in SLC to Milan so I didnt need to check luggage but I still had to wait in line with about 500 other people all checking in for 3 Air France trans atlantic flights. I was in line for nearly 2 hours! The staff at Air France seemed so disorganized and didnt do a very good job relaying information to the people in line-- what line to stand in, where to drop off their luggage for security screening. I heard the luggage screeners complaing about how disorganized Air France was. Then, finally on to the plane. It was an overnight flight (2nd night on a plane with very little sleep once again) and finally landing at Charles de Gall in Paris. That airport is HUGE!! and very confusing. There was snow on the ground and I had been talking to my plane neighbor who was from Florida and had never seen snow-- how some airports dont have equipment to deal with snow so when they get it, it can really cause problems. Boy did I forshadow that statement!! We soon found out that all flights into Milan where stopped. There were people at the airport that had been stuck there for 2 days trying to get flights into Milan. They had us pick up our luggage-- another 1-2 hour ordeal-- I only found one bag-- then they had us stand in line until they could figure out what to do with us. After about 2 hours of that fun (by the way-- Waiting your turn in line is not something Italians do well and that terminal was filled with 100's of Italians). They told us that Milan had received 1 meter of snow anod no flights were coming in. They also said that the trains were stuck in Lyon so nothing was getting through the center of Europe. They offered flights into Venice or Rome on standby. I decided that spending a 3rd night in an airport was NOT going to happen and that my chances of getting into Milan would be better from the south and from an Italian city, so, ofter not getting on the Venice flight, I took the Rome flight. ANYTHING to get out of the line of the other 500 angry people (and did I mention how un organized Air France is and how Italians dont like to stand in line?) To make matters worse, I had no way to call Rachael and update them on where I was. I know she would be tracking my flights but would have no idea of what I would do next. So I started asking people if they would mind if I could call my pregnant daughter. Eventaully I would have to rely on 6-7 various strangers for that favor through the course of the day. That was the worst part of the whole thing. Anyways--- back to my drama-- on to another Alitalia flight to Rome (a code share to Delta). Then pick up my one bag (with the car seat inside) file a missing bag claim, then I went upstairs went back to air france and found that I could get the last flight-- and one of the very few flights that came into Milan, arriving about midnight. So what an adventure-- lots of lines, I read 2 books, watched 2 movies on the plane and slept only about 2 hours over 2 full nights. But I am finally here in Milan!! waiting for our little sicilian to come-- maybe today on 1-9-09! Well see if these contractions lead to anything. Rachael and I walked around the center last night. The Duomo is beautiful and doesnt have any scaffolding! Some of the Christmas lights are still up. The castle sparkles and hascascade up and down like the Disneyland castle lights. Inside the galleria they have beautiful blue lights in the center. I hope all of these lights are up when Rod comes on the 18th. Rachael & Gio's aprtment is really cute. Very European. Her kitchen is like a doll house-- everything is miniture. She has been trying to teach me the bus/ trolley and subway connections so I wont be so lost when she is in the hospital. I am almost through with my 3rd book and I know where Zara and 2 H&M's are. So the adventure continues!!