Under The Peach Trees

Hotel All'Angelo
Venice, Italy. May 2007

The last trip I took to Italy, I stayed two nights in Venice. I'd been to Venice before, but always as one of those dreaded Daytrippers- in on a morning train, out before dinner.

This time around would be different. There would be no rushing around to see everything, and I would take the time to watch this city, one of the most magical places on earth, twinkle at night.

We stayed at a little hotel  just a few zig-zagged alleyways from Piazza San Marco. Upon our arrival, we were ushered into an antique-filled sitting area, with French doors that opened directly onto a canal, to wait for a water taxi to bring our luggage.

And we were served, from a silver tray, bellinis.

Never before had anything tasted so perfect as that sparkling peach cocktail, drank standing in a doorway overlooking the city in which is was created.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago, a wanderlust state of mind, and a bowl of fruit that included two donut peaches on the verge of going bad. A quick trip to the liquor store to procure a bottle of prosecco, peaches squeezed through a strainer, and I was, for just a quick moment, back in Venice.

Babycello

One Sunday, back in mid-April, an early morning phone call came from my sister, saying that this would be the day Nephew number Two would be making his appearance. Breakfast and a shower happened, my bag was packed in preparation for a possible long night with Nephew number One, and then.....

I'm not very good at waiting. I paced a bit, fluffed some pillows, stared at the phone.

I needed a project. A small one, one that could be quickly abandoned, but something meaty enough to really get involved in.

I decided it was the perfect afternoon to make limoncello. Zesting a half a dozen lemons would kill a nice chunk of time. And, since it was baby day, I'd call it babycello, and we would toast his tiny self with it once it was ready.

So I gathered together my lemons and sugar and vodka, grabbed the zester, and the phone rang. Baby time!

My little project would have to wait for another day.

I picked up where I left off a few days later.

Lemons were zested and drowned in vodka, and the little jar was placed on a cool dark shelf in the basement.

Every morning for the next six weeks, right after turning the coffee maker on, I went down and shook my little jar.

After six weeks in the dark, I brought the little jar up into the bright daylight of the kitchen, drained my zest, added some simple syrup, and back to the basement it went for a two week rest (apparently, it's very taxing turning into a delicious Italian digestivo!).

Once my little cocktail had finished its rest, into the freezer it went.

If you've never had it, there's nothing quite like fresh made limoncello.

I first had it (very early in the morning) in a ceramic tile studio in southern Italy.

I'd had limoncello before, but never like that.

And from then on, I only wanted to have it like that:

fresh, smooth, and perfectly lemony.

So thank you, Nephew number Two,

for providing me with the need for a simple project while I waited for you to be born.

Cin cin!

xo

Weekend Discoveries

Hello and Happy Monday, my sweets! Did you have a good weekend?

Mine was full of discoveries. Discoveries so fabulous, that I'm sharing them with you today (lucky ducks!).

The first discovery is a musical one.

I kept hearing this really great song on the radio. Everytime I heard it, I turned it up a little louder.

The song is called "You Were Never There", and it's from the fabulous Diego Garcia's equally fabulous album, Laura. I procured it for my listening pleasure, which I have been doing all weekend. I highly reccomened it. It will make your ears happy.

The second discovery was that I can make hummus. It seems simple enough. I mean, I have friends who make it, and my mom makes it, so why can't I? Well the answer to that one is simple: I'm a measurer. Everyone I talked to about it said you just "use some of this and add a bit of that." Yes yes, but how much, exactly?

A conversation with a friend finally convinced me to just dump stuff in a food processor and hope for the best. "You just take some perfectly good stuff and mix it together until something wonderful comes together. After all, isn't that what you do?"

Yep. That's what I do.

The third, and possibly best discovery, are these mojitos.

There is always a bottle of Italian blood orange soda in the house (for just such a cocktail occassion). There's usually rum and limes, too. And in the summer, there's mint in the garden.

Bottoms up, Dear Readers!

Wishing you a week full of fabulous discoveries.

xo