Archive for 2008
time for some fun with flickr!
If you don’t already know, I enjoy Flickr *very* much. You can find me under the name “bleeding espresso” and always see my latest photos–I don’t post all my photos on the blog, so please feel free to add me as a friend to be kept up to date!
Before I got involved with Flickr, I didn’t realize it was a whole other community where you can make even more virtual friends; that’s certainly been a fun surprise.
I also thank Flickr for introducing me to MOO cards–tiny business cards, basically, but made with your own photos. I can’t wait to see them; I had them sent to my mom, and she and the cards will be here in a week!
The other day I found yet another way to have fun with Flickr via meme at Blogjem. Here is my mosaic:
Wanna play? Here are the rules:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.
Fun fun fun!
Special thanks to these Flickr folks for helping create my mosaic:
1. Art by Michelle Caplan, 2. i heart pizza margherita, 3. IMG_2745.JPG, 4. i can taste summer! a.k.a. childhood summer! a.k.a. childhood reminiscence! a.k.a. those were the good times!, 5. Picture of Andy Garcia (DSCN0193), 6. 9 coffe favorites, 7. ‘So what are you doing this Australia Day ?’, 8. Black Forest, 9. Happiness, 10. llibreria – bookstore – Amsterdam, 11. The Great Escape, 12. Cappuccino
Let me know if you play along!
1st of the Month Featured Blogger: June
Last week when I promised a Palermonday today, I forgot about the 1st of the Month Featured Blogger! We’ll return to Palermo next Monday though, so do come back!
This month’s featured blogger is Melissa from The Traveler’s Lunchbox. Melissa actually made her way to Calabria recently but we didn’t manage to hook up. Hopefully she’ll be back sometime soon, and I can report our meeting here. Blogger meetings are the best!
I’m not sure how I found Melissa, but I quickly fell in love with the way she combined her loves of food and travel. Yes, we have some things in common.
Melissa is an American living in Scotland with her German husband. In the course of writing her wonderful blog, she completed her doctorate in linguistics with the University of Edinburgh (woohoo!), and she kindly lets us tag along on her trips to exotic places like Croatia, Jamaica, Morocco, Spain, and Norway.
Other than writing fabulous posts and taking gorgeous photos, the girl definitely has a way with titles. Some of my favorite posts of Melissa’s include:
- Cinq Jours à Paris, or If You’ve Gotta Turn 30, You Might as Well Enjoy It
- What They Don’t Teach in Foodwriting 101 (and Finally, a Fruitcake to Love)
- Brownies, ala Nona
- Temptation Thy Name is Baklava
- 5 Things to Love about Calabria (yes, I’m kind of biased on this one)
So go visit Melissa (not on an empty stomach!), browse her archives,
& don’t forget to tell her I sent you!
hey where my girls at?! (and is rachael ray a terrorist?)
The answer to the first question is:
Soon to be in Warner Village Cinema in Lamezia Terme anxiously awaiting:
And that’s where I’ll be shortly too.
Wanna come?
Or are you having your own girls’ night out in celebration?
But before you answer, let’s move on to the second question in the post title.
Did you hear about the Dunkin’ Donuts ad with Rachael Ray that was pulled because of what she’s wearing?
Scantily clad, you’re thinking?
Rachael Ray of EVOO and the Garbage Bowl?
OUR Rachael?
Not exactly.
Here’s a still shot from MSNBC.com:
Can you spot the offensive article of clothing?
Michelle Malkin said Ray’s neck accessory resembles a kiffiyeh, a head scarf “popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.”
Um, is that what you thought when you saw that photo?
I mean, I’m not exactly lovin’ the scarf for fashion purposes, but personally
I just want some Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee, extra cream no sugar. YUM!
Buon weekend everyone!
And be sure to check out Ms Adventures in Italy for Sara’s
La Buona Cucina Americana recipe!
love thursday:
love at the beach
Visions of love from Catanzaro Lido:
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
And by the way, when is the last time *you* held someone’s hand?
what’s cooking wednesday: gluten-free banana pancakes with orange honey sauce
Before we get to the recipe, for those who are still wondering what the photo of the cheese-like substance was in yesterday’s post, Jeff in Puglia got it right–it’s homemade olive oil soap!
Now, the recipe. Remember when I made Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Muffins a few weeks ago? I had some almond flour left over so I went looking for recipes for another experimental installment of What’s Cooking Wednesday.
I also wanted to use a banana that was past its prime, and by searching for “almond flour” and “banana,” I found a recipe for Banana Hotcakes with Orange Honey Sauce. I made some adjustments to the recipe, including adding mashed banana to the batter rather than simply setting slices on top of the ‘cakes.
The pancakes *with* the orange honey sauce were really good, and I’ll definitely make them again when I’m in the mood for a breakfast healthier than white flour pancakes and maple syrup (yes I have the latter flown in). These definitely had a different consistency than “normal” pancakes (a bit more grainy and chewy) but that’s to be expected with the change in flour. I was used to it and even enjoying it within two bites.
Honestly though, when I tried one of these without the syrup–um, not so good, but then again, regular pancakes aren’t very tasty without anything added either (at least to me). If for some reason I were going to eat these without syrup, I’d definitely add some sugar to the batter.
Also note that this recipe didn’t make very many pancakes–about six small ones–but *a lot* of sauce. No worries for me on the pancakes as P wasn’t home when I made them. I had plenty for my breakfast.
And the leftover sauce? I used it that afternoon in my tea and then the next day for breakfast with fresh ricotta and more strawberries kind of like this. YUM!
Gluten-free Banana Pancakes with Orange Honey Sauce
Orange Honey Sauce
- 1 cup honey
- Juice and zest of one orange
Pancakes
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 overripe banana, mashed
- 1 small pinch baking soda
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1. Prepare sauce by combining honey, orange juice, and zest in a saucepan and simmer until it’s thickened to syrup consistency. Put through fine sieve before pouring over pancakes. Serve warm.
2. For pancakes, whisk together egg, oil, vanilla, and bananas. Add baking soda and then almond flour a bit at a time until it gets to the consistency of pancake batter. If it gets too thick, add a bit of water or milk.
3. Pour batter in (your preferred) pancake-sized circles onto hot, greased griddle.
4. Cook 2 minutes on first side until you see bubbles on top. Flip and cook another thirty seconds or minute more.
5. Serve warm with orange honey sauce on top.
Buon appetito!
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
