Ravello

We took Gerri, Lilly, and Jake to Ravello. It was a gorgeous, albeit hot, day with dozens of boats dotting the ocean and clusters of grapes dangling from vines. Here are some pictures...

Cooking Lesson

This morning I met up with some girlfriends for a cooking class in honor of my friend Kristin's birthday. The class was held in a little restaurant in Monte di Procida, a part of Naples that is right on the water, and known as a clean and safe (and upscale) area of the city. The views are beautiful and there is no trash anywhere! We met up with Mariella, the wonderful and kind owner of the ristorante, La Taverna Dei Sapori. She shared with us some traditional Italian recipes and we had a great day of fun, friendship, and of course, amazing food!

Pasta Nerano con Pancetta

Eggplant Parmigiana

Toasting with homemade Limoncello

Puglia

This week, our friend Geri is visiting us with her two little ones, Jake and Lily. The kids are having a ball together, having not seen each other in over a year! We decided to take a "Mommy and Me" trip to the east coast of Southern Italy, to the region of Puglia. Puglia (the heel of the boot) is known for little stone-roofed houses called Trulli, which are located throughout the region. The origins of the trulli houses are not fully known, but they are only found in this region of Italy. Our group of 4 moms and 8 children (all under 5!) had a great 2 days in the area. We stayed in 2 adjoining trulli houses at a property called "Non Solo Trulli".
The first afternoon we played in the pool and relaxed. Then, we woke up early and headed out to the ZooSafari in Fasano. What a cool experience! We drove through the animal park with the doors open and the kids had a ball seeing all sorts of animals up close. They even got to feed some deer, giraffes, and a zebra!
That afternoon, we headed to the Trulli capital of Alberobello and walked around the historic city center. It was so neat to see so many trulli houses in one place. It was like something out of "Lord of the Rings".

Ceramics Heaven.....Nove

Last weekend a few friends and I left the kids with their dads and headed north. About an hour outside Venice, our destination was the little-known town of Nove (pronounced Nove-ay). Nove is a ceramic lover's heaven and this is mostly because of La Ceramica VBC. This store makes lines for Tiffany & Co., Williams-Sonoma, Banana Republic Home, Lenox, and Crate & Barrel, among others. It was amazing! Aisle after aisle of platters, cake plates, bowls....anything and everything. And at an amazing discount! For example, a platter on Tiffany's website that is selling for $125....only 17 euro ($25)!!! It was so overwhelming, we had to go twice- once to "case the place" and again to actually buy. But, buy we did, stuffing the back of the SUV so high there were only inches of visibility for the drive home!

interior of La Ceramica VBC

After our shopping was finished, we spent a few hours relaxing by our hotel pool and headed otu for the evening to the small nearby town of Bassano Del Grappa (grappa is a potent liquor made from the leftovers (seeds, stems, skins, etc.) of winemaking). We had a wonderful evening exploring the ancient streets, the Ponte degli Alpini (wooden pontoon bridge), and the wonderful food! It was a great weekend, made possible by our amazing husbands who stayed behind with the kids so we could get some time off.

Bassano del Grappa


Kody, Lisa, Margaret, and Amy on the Ponte degli Alipini.

Sunflower field we saw on the way home. Bellissima!


Pictures courtesy Kody Reynolds