This past week has been a little slow, a little lazy. Damiano has been sick and the weather has been well… winter, so I’ve spent most of my time being a mother, indoors. And I’m starting to hate it! I’ve been daydreaming much, googling for trips to Montreal, Melbourne or Tokyo. It serves much as consolation that even if I weren’t completely broke, I couldn’t afford to do such travels: currently I’m a housewife full of children. Anyway, this reclusion has taken its toll and my dear husband has noticed that I’m feeling a bit like Paris Hilton in jail, so this weekend will b he and I in Munich. Yay!! Sushi @ Tokami and some shopping in the Altstadt?
Some dates are indelebly marked into my brain, like August 28th 1998, when I moved to Italy, or like September 29th 2004 when Michele and I first kissed, or like January 26th 2007, when Damiano had heart surgery when he was 32 gestational weeks old. I realized that is just 2 years ago. So I went to dig up a photo of those days… I sometimes find it hard to believe that he’s the same boy now as in the photo back then.
I took this photo of the main street in my town tonight, as we came back from having a luscious dinner with my in-law’s to celebrate my MIL’s birthday. We had a lovely time, and as we came out of the restaurant we found the streets covered with a thin layer of powdery snow. So much for a herald of Spring, hee. Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out how my new camera works, and I tried the bulb exposure, without a tripod or anything, and I got this lucky shot.
Winter is slowly surrendering and we the last few days have been nice. I almost can’t believe my meteo station when it marks temperatures above 0°C. What makes this first herald of spring even nicer is the thought of the birth of my baby! Our family will be soon complete (unless something unlikely happens, like we winning the lottery – in such a case I would love to have two more children. Oh if only we could afford a butler!)
I finished a roman shade for our living room in record time, and it isn’t half bad. Will post about that soon. My sewing skills are improving consistently: I don’t curse at the machine as much as I used to.
The puff pastry found at german discount stores LIDL is made with only butter and 24% of it. And it is amazing. Tonight, in order to justify the fact that I turned on the oven to cook Damiano’s 3 fishsticks, I made a very delicious quiche. I used a leftover courgette I had in the fridge, 2 slices of bacon, 2 eggs, grated cheese and since I didn’t have any cream, I used a pot of goat milk yogurt. It was lovely. And trans-fat free.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately, too much probably, about my grandmother, and why she used to be such a bitch with me when I was little, and it occured to me that maybe she was treated the same way by her mother, and suddenly I felt less contempt for her and a little more pity. I swear to myself that I’ll never treat my children that way.
My friend Katie is playing a private concert for Ratzinger on Saturday.
Damiano is saying new words: mouth, eyes, onion, Achtung, bread, Lego™, and other words that only I understand, like “mixel” (music), “beda” (bread), “oggut” (yogurt)… and finally says Acqua instead of acca. Time goes so fast and on Monday we’re signing him in for Kindergarden. I almost can’t believe that only two years ago I was lying on a hospital bed with a swollen face while the nurses decided to give me a diuretic to fill the empty pee sack.
This year I decided to make a train cake once again, but this time I had more time to think about it, and let’s face it, cakes don’t come very nice when you’re depressed.
This time the cake was absolutely lovely thanks to this recipe from Bakerella. The two wooden trains on top of it were our birthday present to Damiano, and he even tasted the cake without spitting it. For a tough guy like Damiano, to swallow such a sweet bite, means the cake was indeed delicious. The traffic lights are made of M&M’s and the railroad is made of chocolate. My cake decoration skills leave a lot to be desired, but I will have many occasions to practice. By the time my boys are 18 my cakes will look more like Bakerella’s, I hope.
I didn’t use food coloring for the buttercream, nor butter flavoring for the cake. And instead of vanilla extract, I used 100% pure bourbon vanilla powder, so there are tiny black flecks in it. Also, I put several drops of almond flavoring into the syrup I used to moisten the cake, so there’s a slight almond perfume that goes almost unnoticed but gives the cake a deeper flavor altogether. Mmmmm.
To make the railroad shape I removed the center from the both layers of cake, then cut into sections that I then disposed to create the curvy road:
Two years ago was a day I thought would be the worst of my life. The infinitely desired son I was carrying was taken from my body. I was left there empty. The sorrow of that day lasted for many many days, even after finally I could have him again and be finally his mother. Today, though, I reckon that was the best day of my life. Call it luck or providence, that day Damiano was saved from a certain stillbirth. Thanks to caring nurses, capable doctors and amazing technology, he survived.
Every time I see his smile, hear his voice and wipe his tears, I think about my little miracle and how much he’s taught me in these 24 months.
You’ve made us so happy and the joy you bring to our lives is unlimited. Happy birthday sweetie-pie!
The photos are up at Michele’s site. I hope he’ll fix the orientation problem soon. Anyway, the photos rock. Click on the one below to go to the gallery.
Nothing says Acapulco more than a chilled bottle of Yoli lemonade.
(Santiago’s due date is in 4 months time: talk about time flying)
