FuoriBorgo

just in time!

Winter came late this year, but when it arrived this weekend, it came in full force, bringing with it an army of stormy winds, copious snowfalls and icy temperatures.  Fortunately, I'd finished Rebecca's flannel pajamas just in time.

For the top, I used Anna Maria Horner's Loulou flannel and the Chemise de Nuit pattern I made last year, except this time I cropped it a bit.  I like the elasticized neckline and cuffs of this design: so easy for mamma to sew a perfect fit, so easy for girl to slip on and off!

To make the pants, I'd bought plain flannel in solid gray, and to liven it a little I did some rows of simple running stitching at the bottom, trying to match the color of the embrodery threads with the print of the top.  I really like how it came out - such a quick and fun handstitching job - and I'm thinking of getting some plain flannel to make PJs for myself, and just brighten the fabric up with the same trick.

Winter and its cold army is apparently going to linger on for the whole week, but my girl will have warm and comfy nights in her new flannel pajamas.

and then the snow came

I went to sleep worrying about the snow that had started to fall, and whether I'd made the right decision when I allowed the boys to sleep over at friends down on the coast, instead of picking them up while the roads were still clear.  I woke up in unusually white light for a winter morning, and knew it had snowed a lot.  Oddly, though, I felt relieved. 

We're snowed in, an event that I dread each and every winter.  However:

-    Rebecca is not sick
-    for once, I've just stocked up on groceries
-    we have a barn filled with firewood
-    we still have electricity and phone lines
-    the boys are certainly having a lot of fun on their prolonged sleep-over (thank goodness for nice and flexible friends!), and I'm sure I'll be able to pick them up long before springtime 

True, we're snowed in.  But there is not one thing I can do about it, so I'm going to stop worrying.  Instead, I'll try and relax, and have some fun with my girl!

just now

I just finished some sewing, and I'm planning a little embroidering.

-    my brother was in India
-    all natural in the bathroom, by Riana  

Happy weekend!

reluctant tourist

I had a sudden urge to go and see a particular church, but she only had eyes for the benches.  I could get a smile out of her only when I bought her a carnival pastry, and the icing sugar floated onto her red jacket as she took her first bite.  I too smiled.

Corner View ~ January

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane, where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme. If you'd like to join in, please leave a link to your Corner View post in the comments below, and be sure to visit other participants too.

Thank you so much Kelleyn for the theme this week!

As of January this year, there are two teenage boys in this house - and almost two full years into the teenage phase, I can report that so far the worst thing that has happened is the long morning wait for the bathroom: gone are the days when I had to remind the boys once or twice (or three times) to go brush their teeth and wash.  Now I have to ask them once or twice (or three times) to please hurry up, and leave the bathroom!

The theme next week is "light".  Debra, would you please choose a theme for the following week, and email me?  Thanks!

Happy Corner Viewing! 

best pizza

My friend had a skilled of peppers and lamb stewing on the wood stove, pizza with anchovies and capers baking in the oven, and a pot of coffee ready to go -  lunch cooked for me by a friend is just what I needed!

quiet

Under the gray sky, in the wintry light, it was very quiet at the market, and it matched my mood.  I strolled around aimlessly, then got back to the car, and drove away - the music from the radio a little too loud (no small people with me wondering why loud volume might irreversibly damage their hearing, like I always warn them, and not mine).  For the first time since I've started this blog almost three years ago, I've felt a little quiet recently.  The other night, as I was writing my daily note in the postcard calendar journal, I saw that Tom was away traveling last January too.  He's been traveling a lot this year, and almost incessantly since June.  And although I'm grateful that the interest in true olive oil is very high, some days I feel quiet because I miss him so.

with orange peels

No squid, octopus or any other sea creature in my kitchen and in this post today, I promise!  From the sound of it, I think many of you will find these images a little more soothing:)

The oranges our new wood cutter gifted us were large, plump and juicy, with fragrant peels that had never been treated with pesticides of any kind - a really precious gift that we put entirely to good use.  

Some of the peels we cut into thin strips, and I made chocolate-covered candied peels - as after-dinner treats for the kids (my big boy loves them).

Other peels, I put in a jar and covered them with acquavite (distilled spirit) to make an orange cordial similar to Limoncello (I shared our Limoncello recipe here), and which will be ready in a couple of weeks time - an after-dinner treat for Tom and me when he's finally back.

The rest, we just peeled, bent and squeezed onto the flames of our candelabrum to make flashes and flares - a timeless during-dinner at-fruit-time fun activity that had my siblings and me mesmerized at my kids' age too!

Corner View ~ black & white

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane, where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme. If you'd like to join in, please leave a link to your Corner View post in the comments below, and be sure to visit other participants too.

I bought a fresh-caught squid from the fishmonger by the beach, cleaned it (it's messy!), managed to carefully remove the ink sacs without making them burst (thank goodness it wasn't messy this time!), and made risotto al nero di seppia, ink-black risotto with white(ish) sauteed squid.  

The theme next week is "January", and comes from Kelleyn. 

Happy Corner Viewing! 

wood from the next village down

I was flabbergasted when our neighbor the wood cutter (and wild boar hunter) told me that he wasn't selling wood anymore.  What?!  And nobody consulted me on this?!  In fact, nobody had, and all I could do was ask if he knew anyone else in the area who'd sell us wood.  His answer was not encoraging: "Ahh," he said, shaking his head, "you'll never find anyone who sells wood as good as mine."

But I did find someone else, in the next village down.  The new wood cutter quoted a price per quintal that was slightly higher than what we've being paying so far, because, he pointed out: "My wood is so much better than your neighbor's!"

He delivered 13 quintals of wood, and this weekend we drove to the next village down to pay him.  He was chatty, showed us around his partly restructured house and garden, and insisted that we sit down to have coffee and the Genoa panettone that his wife had baked (though he didn't sit down himself, but went off to prune his peach trees).

We left two hours later, with heavy bags filled with fragrant lemons and oranges that his wife and Rebecca had picked in the orchard.