Big dinner!

Last night I entered a long post about this dinner but Blogger kicked me out!!! So I'll make it short now.
Yesterday I started cooking aroun 2pm and went to bed at 1.30am. Andrea helped me a lot and we had fun althought I was dead tired by the time I reached the bed.
We cooked for 9 (the 2 of us included) and it's something I am not very fond in. I usually cook well for 4-6 persons but for more I am not so comfortable. I'm always afraid the pasta overcooks or the portions are not enough.
By the way, all went perfectly.

Here's the menu:

• Hors d'oevre: diced cheese, tortilla chips with hummus, spicy olives, and spicy nuts... all accompanied with white Prosecco di Valdobbiadene.
• First course: spaghettoni with porcini mushrooms, tomatoes, fried eggplants, sage and basils. Accompanied with red wine Rosso di Montalcino;
• Second course: roast veal with celery, carrots and onion sauce and roasted potatoes accompanied with red Vino Nobile di Montepulciano;
• Dessert: chocolate tenderness cake with wipped cream and Spumante wine.

The dinner was good after all... but a lot of work... considering also the fact that the night before I woke up at 5.30 read until 8, at 9 I went to collect part of my Spice Friends' b-day gift at the beautician by having a manicure (they gave me a gift card to spend at this beautician!!!!)... than came home, eat and cleaned and then started cooking.

Everything else is pretty fine. Gilda moves slowly now that is getting bigger... my belly leavens everyday... I have the feeling I am going to explode. Last night, after dinner I had this feeling that my button-belly was going to uncork!!! But still no signs...

It rains! Again....

Longing for a definition...

Hanging on a dream
Originally uploaded by margiana.

My life is calm lately... I enjoy my job, have lots of sewing, pictures-taking, home-decorating, lifestyle improvement, gardening/landscaping, and other more projects.
I feel at ease with me, with who I am.

I am practicing gratitude in the highest sense of the word. I notice a lot of lucky things around me and this attitude fills up my heart with unexpected joys.

But at the very bottom of my heart there's an annoying feeling.
It is a little black hole. It is where all the trash is.
I am not speaking of the worries for the future or of my concern for the world's sufference or for the environmental situation... no, no, those are all things that go together with the "gratitude-thing" or at least with the "hope-for-an-improvement-thing".
I am talking about all the things that are already trash but I feel incapable to bring to the garbage can.

Mostly I am talking about persons.
Persons who have been in my life and are truly not in it anymore.
Persons who I deeply loved and cared for, who I shared my life with, who cherished me and cuddled me in the moments of needs, and a lot more.

The thing is that I feel those persons are holograms in the meaning of "a flat surface that, under proper illumination, appears to contain a three-dimensional image. A hologram may also project a three-dimensional image into the air—a lifelike image that can be photographed although it cannot be touched".

"A flat surface that appears to contain a dimensional image into the air". This is exactly what I see when I meet these people.

I try to interact with them, to keep the conversation going, to suggest topics, but.... I feel I speak to an hologram. I try to touch them and all I find is a flat surface.

That makes me debate on my own judgement capacity.
Have they always been like this? An hologram? Did my imagination worked so well? Did I interacted with so many imaginary friends?
What happened?
Did those persons changed?
Maybe they have always been real persons and only later, they have been contacted by aliens who sucked their personality and changed them into holograms?
Am I living for real?
........??????

I am not sure they are able to listen, I am not even sure they see me. Sometimes they are in my same room but I feel like a carpet or a shelf.
It's all about form, about ceremonies. It's all because of the past... of the past relationships. Of the fact that since we shared so much together we KNOW each other. It's because of the umbilical cord that hasn't been totally excised.

Affection, fondness, love.

But what when you miss the connection?

I lost the connection. That connection. And I still feel guilty for it.

Even if it's not my fault at all.

I feel guilty because I think I still have a lot of things to share... but not with the "flat surfaces".
I feel guilty because I am joyfull and active with my thoughts...
I feel guilty because I know there's so much to do for our society and they do not even live in it;
I feel guilty because I know there are so much to learn and to teach, to fight and to take care of... and maybe because I simply feel... and they don't!

Winter

Winter
Originally uploaded by margiana.

Had a week end in Val di Fassa, on the Dolomiti Mountains. One of my friend owns a small home in Moena and decided to take a break from work driving 3 hours to reach the snow.
We stopped in Bolzano for an Apfelgluehwein and a small visit to the Christkindlmarkt. On Sunday morning we woke up early, had breakfast at home and then went out for a 2 hours walk to Passo San Pellegrino. At the end of the beautiful walk we stopped at this small church. The nature of those places is OVERWHELMING!
The cold strengthened our spirits and the view 'enlarged' our inner visions. We have been silent most of the walk... not because of the physical effort but to respect the mountains. At the end of the walk we stopped at this small church and talked a little... we all had this need to thank God for what we had just done.
After this 'religious' experience we drowned into hot chocolates. Later on we walked back to the car... at that point we opened our mouths and started talking without interruptions until the monday lunch when we reached our homes to meet again at work in the afternoon.
The walk opened a path to a mutual life stories... It has been fun and encouraging to know that we all have black holes in our lives but at the same time we try to live better lives and to learn from our past mistakes :-)

Winter season is definitely here!

Strike a pose!

Strike a pose!
Originally uploaded by margiana.

I've got good Angels in my life!
I've got old friends with whom I share grudges and memories of a past life or acquaintances with whom I entertain small talks.
I've got new friends, people who wants to know me or are interested in my 'world', those who see me as a good girl, those who always criticize me, those who I listen to and those who patiently listen to me.
I've got friends who read me and those who I read or others who share a cup of tea every once in a while.
Those I never talk to but can read my heart no matter what the physical distances are... and those who facilitate my everyday life in a practical way! In this last category I can put my 'Spice-Friends' in the picture.
I just got back home from a Spice-Fondue-Bourguignonne-dinner they organized to celebrate my b-day. It was fun because you keep dipping those small meat bits into the boiling oil (with a potato inside to avoid the fried oil smell - I can tell you it works!) and then choose the right sauce to dip the cooked meat while chatting about pretty much everything and most of the time laughing!
I loved it. I also had my b-day cake with candles on it and I still have some breath to extinguish them all :-)
Patty cooked a supercake for me that never reached our palate because it fell on the ground of her kitchen and she had to buy one at the confectioner's shop. Poor girl!
I also had a b-day present... a Bread Making Machine that will help me reduce the expenses to buy the bread sold in this italian region and that I don't like... and last but not least... a free entrance to a spa, included infusion drinks, thalassotherapeutic and thermal baths, relaxing room and musictherapy plus a cranium-sacral massage called Oriental Kerara that sounds so relaxing!
What can I ask more? My life is wonderful and I've got plenty of Angels who support me.
My everyday thoughts, prayers and thanks go to you all my FRIENDS who smooth the path of this special journey which is my life!

P.S. :35. This journey keep adding numbers... did anyone found a way to stop it?

Colpa delle balene arancioni

Last night we attended the reading of a book written by Davide, a friend of ours..
The reading was organized into a restoration laboratory and the environment was pretty charming.
What a pity my camera did not worked, I would have taken a lot of pics.
By the way, we drank and eat a lot and enjoyed the reading of this funny romance...
Of course we bought the book 'Colpa delle balene arancioni' and enjoyed the company of good friends.
We went home late but happy.
It's so nice to observe the face of a person whose dream comes true!

Eat and drink in company

Marciana Marina
Originally uploaded by margiana.

My Spice-Girl-friends and I got back from our 'girls vacation' yesterday.
It has been perfect... like all our vacations. We enjoyed the driving to Piombino and then the ferryboat to Portoferraio. We ate a lot of 'schiaccine' and drank a lot of water, enjoyed the beach and the swimming pool but the key-words of this trip was 'eat and relax'.
We ate good dinner and light lunch, and snacked with tons of peaches and cherries and apricots that we carried in our thermos bags. We went to sleep so early at night that the hotel concierge laughed at us.
Of course we were all awake at 6.30am ready to enjoy big breakfasts on the terrace.
Too bad we had to come back so early! And of course today I was too relaxed to work again.... but I have my week end off and can exercise in sleeping and relaxing a little more...

Engine number 1 clear to start up...... or not?

Engine number 1 clear to start up...... or not?
Originally uploaded by margiana.

There's not a lot going on in my life in these days if not... working, getting soaked to the bones because of the constant rain, cleaning and trying to survive a confused schedule to manage 2 different jobs, an house, a garden, a cat and an husband... plus friends.
I'm looking forward a 3 day vacation with my Spice-Girl-Friends to Isola d'Elba... hopefully also a 3 days of sun!

Spoiled!

This morning I had to go to work at 4am since there were a couple of special charter flights to Athens because of the Football Champions League Final fans.

I woke up at 3 and while riding the bike to work it also rained a little so to raise the percentage of humidity in the air...

By the way, at 11.15 I was already home. I had a shower and then had lunch by friend Patty.

After lunch Patty, Fabiola and I headed to the beautician for a beauty-treatment!

Yes! To award Patty and me for the support in a difficult moment of her life, Fabiola gave us as a gift a beauty treatment on our choice!

I just got home from this super-special-relaxing-exfoliating-scrub made with a some special kind of salt and essential oils! I feel brand-new...except that I am so relaxed I wish I could just lay on the beach and sleep until tomorrow... when I should be ready for another hot day at work!

I am happy!

Be a blood donor but don't go to Mexico!

My Spice-friend and I decided to become donors of blood. There are several reasons for this:

1. in Italy blood supplies are really scarse;
2. we can get blood tests for free;
3. they give a coupon for a free-breakfast;
4. you can stay home from work and being payed anyway;

It all started because of the good cause; then we all found out that we needed a blood test for one reason or another; we love to have breakfast together but above all it never happen that we have a day off all together (we work in shifts).

But it isn't working right:

• one is pregnant;
• another had her period;
• the third had to undergo a small surgery;

Patrizia and I decided to go!

To tell you the truth I am not really brave when it comes to blood, so the day before I really put myself in the preparation for a 'special' day. I drank some 3 liters of water (it is very important to drink), I relaxed and tried to do, read and listen to only good things so to be in a good mood. We reached the place and filled up a survey, then somebody stung my third finger of the left hand to test the glucose, then I had to go for the last visit (preamble: I already did all those things the first time I went there and after a tons of blood tests and visits and surveys they declared I was suitable to donate my blood)...by the way I went in for the visit and the doctor examined the survey and I answered to the question if I travelled in the last 4 months I answered yes. The doctor asked me where exactly I travelled and showed me a map so that I could pin the trip.... I thought she was interested in my trip but... she prohibits me to donate for the next 6 months since that area is at risk for malaria and some dozen other illness. I was really frustrated. I went to assist my friend in her generous act and was almost fainting for that. But we had our free breakfast and our day off.

My question is why they don't tell those things in first place?

Sunny day!

Yesterday Andrea had a small car accident. A guy hit our car on Andrea's side, but the most important thing is that nobody was hurt.
So this morning I had to go to the garage to see how much it will be... but the guy's insurance will pay everything (since it was all his fault) and I hope everything will be solved soon.

Since Fabiola is on vacation in NYC, she lended me her car and I am 'free' to go wherever I want.
So I went to visit Zita and together we had a good lunch and chats at the Trattoria del Rosso S. Martino where you can eat a complete meal (primo first-course, second course, sweet or coffe, 1/2lt water, 1/4 lt wine) all for 10 euros.
After that I got my coffe at Terzi (I got the sweet, a small ricotta cream with amaretto), and then we had a long walk to Zita's home where we finished our chats.
I took the car and went to buy some food since tomorrow the shops are closed because it's a national holiday.
Did I told you I bought a beautiful pair of sandals. I really love those! Are super comfortable and really good looking to me.
Well after those spending money (but not useless, since I provided food and shoes) I went to the nursery to buy some aromatics and cherry tomatoes, strawberries and a couple of flower plants.
Back home I did some gardening and then cooked some vegetables.
Andrea is out with a friend and I enjoy the silence of the house and a good book.
It has been a good day after all.