#7, #30 and # 41

I am finally feeling one hundred percent myself and I have some free time to post on my neglected blog!

I am happy to report that the list is a never-ending source of smiles, and that, of course, makes me really happy! November has been so far a very productive month for the list as we celebrated Fernando's birthday on the 8th, and I got inspired by a couple items on it.

We planned and schemed, we wanted to surprise our dear Fernando with something pretty special. What to do? Where to take him? What to cook? Circumstances decided for us on several fronts, as he arrived at 8:00 AM local time, after a 24 hour LONG trip from the States. We were not going anywhere, we were going to take it easy and just enjoy each other's company. I decided to cook a Spanish inspired meal: a great Paella (overflowing with seafood) and Galician Octopus (#41), with some wine and a crème caramel for dessert. Not bad, I tell you, not bad. The Octopus is easy to cook, as long as you buy it fresh and clean from the seafood vendor you don't have to worry about a thing. Just boil, boil, boil (2 hours) and then, cut, cut, cut into little pieces. Cool, season, and let sit for a while... delicious!

When it came down to what to give him for his birthday, we wanted something original and unexpected. You know, something that he doesn't need, something that he has not even imagined... Well, the idea came to me on one of those beautiful clear days of fall while watching glider planes lazily travel the wide blue sky. A ride on a glider plane! The Alps and the lakes from a birds-eye point of view! We had our gift! He was surprised, yes he was! #7 accomplished!

#30 is half done... my half, that is. I love dancing; it is in my blood. My boys? Not so much. I guess I am the true Colombian of the three. On Fernando's birthday I managed to get them to join in the fun, if only for a while. I think this one is going on the list again, I am not giving up on them and the fun that is dancing together.

42 things I will like to do before I turn 43

Inspired by the amazing Andrea and her love of lists, I have decided to make my own list.

These are things that I love to do, or that I wish I could do, or that I dream to do. This list is like a sketch of the year to come; it will change, and morphe, and deconstruct itself.

I am screaming my wishes into the wind, and by doing so, I am.


1. Finish "the painting" for Fernando. BTW the picture above is his.
2. Teach Nicolas some YO-YO tricks.
3. Read a Jane Austen book.
4. Send a handmade postcard a month. (If you want to be in the receiving end of this project, leave a comment on this post.)
5. Visit il Giardino dei Tarocchi, the monumental project by artist Niki de Saint Phalle in Tuscany.
6. Bake bread.
7. Surprise Fernando.
8. Handprint some pillow covers -inspired by the fantastic Lena Corwin and her book Printing by Hand.
9. Run a half marathon in Italy.
10. Print my "good" photos, on good paper, frame them and hang them.
11. Frame my friends' artwork, so we can enjoy it.
12. Read an unlikely book.
13. Wordpress my blog!!!
14. Make gnocci from scratch.
15. Go to Morocco.
16. Make another stop motion movie with Nicolas.
17. Plant sunflowers.
18. Write the storyline for a child's book.
19. Sketch daily.
20. Learn how to take pictures ttv.
21. Cook with Nicolas once a week.
22. Use Rosetta Stone to learn french.
23. Take another ceramics class.
24. Cook melcocha with Fernando and Nicolas.
25. Go hiking near Monte Rosa.
26. Cook rabbit.
27. Organize my music library.
28. Cronicle a day in our life with pictures.
29. Organize my art lessons in a notebook.
30. Dance often with my boys.
31. Watch La Dolce Vita
32. Learn how to knit.
33. Go to La Scala.
34. Grow a herb garden.
35. Give Yoga a try, once more.
36. Declutter.
37. Reconnect with friends.
38. Perfect my mojito recipe.
39. Solve the bathroom window "problem."
40. Teach Nicolas about his ancesters.
41. Cook pulpo a la Gallega (Galician octopus.)
42. Visit ROME.

Happy Birthday to me!

Look at my snow inspired cake! Beautiful, isn't it? Colombians (from Bogotá) will recognize this cake, known all over the city as a milky-way cake from Tortas y tartas Angelita.

I am proud to say that ours is very close to the original: tasty, moist, with arequipe in the middle, and those gorgeous chocolate curls on top!

You are welcome to stop by and have a taste. I love birthdays!

Happy Birthday Nicolas!

We have been busy, really busy! We had a marathon of a celebration for Nicolas' birthday. He is eleven years old now, but he likes to think that he is sixteen...

My son likes to play the electric guitar, he is not alone in this as many of his classmates play the drums, or the bass, or the electric guitar. They have bands (one band with different members each time) and they love to play together. He and his friends had been practicing for his birthday concert for a while, talking about it for ages... this concert was meant to be the centerpiece of the celebration! What is a mother to do? Well, in my case, I cleaned out the garage for the performance, arranged for husband to go pick up a drum set, and held a general practice on Saturday morning. Then on Saturday afternoon all the guests (eleven of them, including three girls) arrived for a day of fun.


First, they had to go down to the nearby farm, to look at the animals, hide around the buildings, and feel completely independent... the farm is down the road from the house, and to hear them talk about it you would think that Disney missed out on something... They love the fact that they can go on their own to the place, and they can explore, and roll on the hay, and chase the chickens, and pet the horses, and who knows what else. After the farm, it is time to explore the nearby trail, as it is quite isolated, and surrounded by forests...


Tired from the walk we headed down to the town for the best gelato around, and then we went back home. It was concert time -but it was not to happen- as Nicolas' guitar broke a string! Nick decided to sit with everyone else and watch his friends play... but wait, his good friend Sam's dad gave him the best gift of the day, as he found out what had happened and came to the house with a brand new set of strings!!! What kindness!

The concert went on for a while, until they took a break to dance the night away after eating... and dance they did... the whole house danced with the beat! Just loud, delicious fun.

They settled for a while to watch a movie, some left at eleven or so, and some others stayed the night. I wouldn't dare call this a sleep over, because we did not sleep much. Pancakes for breakfast gave a sweet end to our all around celebration.

Auguri, tanti auguri.

Today is my husband's birthday. He is 41. We have been together for 18 years and I am still in love with him, let me tell you just 10 reasons why:
1) He is a good person. True good, "not talking bad about anyone" good, "looking for the best in people" good. That kind of good!
2) He is a great dad. He loves our Nicolas with all his heart.
3) He is very good at what he does. He works hard and likes his job, and the same can be said about his running, or biking, or cooking.
4) He is my harshest critic and my most fervent supporter.
5) He has a smart sense of humor. After all this time he still makes me laugh -often.
6) He eats everything I cook, from a simple soup to a fancy multiple course meal (and any disasters in between)
7) He has beautiful eyes: intense, bright, and full of life. Beautiful hands too.
8) He is grounded, while I am a dreamer. Good combo ah?
9) He whistles while he gets ready in the morning, and he smiles while he sleeps.
10) He doesn't stress out, for any reason. I don't know how he does it! I, on the other hand...

All about Nicolas

Here we are again, at the Internet cafe in Varese. We haven't received our modem, hence we find ourselves with no Internet yet. I am learning to write only what is important, and I am not even spellchecking anything... please forgive my mistakes. There are also no new pictures (sometime soon).

We had a special weekend as Saturday was Nicolas' birthday. We have planned to go camping nearby, just the 3 of us and the dog. We were not planning a big adventure, just something different to celebrate our boy's tenth birthday. I made him his favorite breakfast of nutella and banana crepes accompanied by fresh squeezed orange juice. Our first mishap of the day was our gift: we have purchased an electronic gadget thinking that it would work with his American bought game, but it did not work!!!

Later we decided to go to the local library (which has Internet access) to check his e-mail and see who had written to him. We got to the library as it was closing, so we explained the reason why we were there; the librarian not only let us in, but found something to give Nicolas as a present! Isn't Italy nice?

After that we went to Nick's favorite restaurant (tons of pasta and great desserts) and after lunch we left for the camping area (15 to 20 minutes from home). As we arrived, we realized that the place was not as nice as we thought it was, and worst of all, it was very crowded. So we decided against staying the night, and we drove back with a car full of our camping gear, a bicycle rack with all our bikes, a very surprised dog and a little disappointed boy. What can I say? We like to improvise.

Our next big idea was to rent a movie and watch it at home with some good butter popcorn, and some other "gourmet" choices made by Nick (m&ms, Cheetos, etc.). Fernando assured us that the movie would work on our portable DVD player, and that we were going to be able to watch it on our big TV... We ended up watching the movie on our computer! We are not giving up yet! We will master all these little differences in schedules, electronic systems, and language. You will see!

On Sunday we had guests in the afternoon, since we had invited Nicolas' friends for some cake. We also invited our neighbors (our landlords). It was nice to have someone with whom to share a happy event. Nicolas was very excited, and he got some presents that he liked a lot. (I will post pictures later). After everyone left we went downtown, since this weekend is the beginning of the "festa del paese" or the town's celebration. We had dinner at a "gastronomic festival" -the name is much more impressive than the food- and we got to hang out with all the town's people. Luca and Paulo (Nick's friends) were there with their parents and grandfather; we all had dinner together, and the children played. Nicolas made some new friends, and he had a lot of fun.

After dinner we went to a special concert at the church; one in a series of concerts focused on baroque music played on antique organs. They have one every week in a different town. I can't describe how beautiful it was. The church is a small one but it has every single inch of its interior painted with some kind of ornamentation. The music was beautiful, and the organist was a master with a very impressive resume. Not a bad ending for our interesting weekend.