Archive for the ‘love thursday’ Category
puppies in residence
Back by popular demand–puppies!
Well the little ones aren’t so little anymore. Indeed, they’ll be seven weeks old on Saturday, which means they are only a week away from being adopted out.
Sniff sniff.
We have found homes for five of the six, at least on the future caretakers’ words. One of these is so excited that she’s been asking me for a couple weeks already when she can come and take hers (one of the two that look like Stella). I’m staying firm on the eight-week mark though, so she’ll just have to wait until next weekend.
I haven’t posted photos, but the pups have been staying in what P calls their “residence” (seriously, in English but with an Italian accent) that I whipped up for them one afternoon. They have specified places to eat, sleep, play, and do the other stuff they need to do, and they’re getting increasingly better at understanding which are which. This helps with housebreaking in their new homes, they say, so I thought it was worth a try.
Here are five of them (the fifth is a blur behind the two up on the mini-wall) wondering why I chose the sixth to let out of the residence to play with Mamma and me. They all get their turns, of course, but not all at once. That’d be crazy.
And here is the chosen one of the moment in an intimate scene with Stella. Yes I played with this a bit in Photoshop. Could’ve played for a lot longer, but alas, life calls.
Wouldn’t you love a painting like this?
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
And hug a puppy if you can. If not, I’ve got it covered.
P.S. Don’t forget to head over to Shelley’s place for today’s Dolce Italiano Contest recipe, Chocolate and Tangerine Semifreddo. Looks *fabulous*!
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[tags] puppies, love thursday[/tags]
mio amore and me
Lately I’ve gotten a few requests for photos of P from friends and family, so I figured it was time to post another. You can also see another photo of him in my post Amore Mio in case you missed it.
Now here’s the thing. I’m not very good at the holding out the camera in front of us and getting a good photo thing, so nine times out of ten P loses part of his head. And he didn’t help things this time either as he thought the photo was already taken and turned his head before the click.
But I still kind of like it anyway.
This was taken last Saturday at the Feast of Santa Caterina di Alessandria. Why yes, I do have more photos. Stay tuned!
Today I’m thankful for:
P.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
P.S. Remember to check out the posts in the Dolce Italiano Contest and comment to enter the drawing to win a personalized, signed copy of Dolce Italiano by Gina DePalma:
Mosaic Biscotti, Sara’s Ms Adventures in Italy
Chocolate Kisses, Ilva’s Lucullian Delights
Ricotta Pound Cake, Here!
Chestnut Brownies, Shelley’s At Home in Rome
And tomorrow head over to Jenn’s The Leftover Queen to see what she has baking!
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[tags]love, amore, love thursday, nablopomo, 30 days of thanks[/tags]
love thursday: a mamma’s love
Stella Bella and the babies:
Just the babies:
Luna Balloona, always my baby:
Happy Love Thursday,
and now go see some more great photos at Phoctober!
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[tags] dogs, puppies, love thursday[/tags]
Birthday Carrot Cake Recipe
Perhaps some of you thought I was off tending puppies yesterday or maybe even early birthday celebrating. Don’t I wish.
What I was really doing was nearly pulling my hair out over the inexplicable continued crap Internet connection I have. Ever since it went out about 10 days ago, it’s been on and off — and yesterday was completely off. Right now it’s touch and go (can’t access many pages), but I’m keeping positive.
And aside from causing me stress regarding work, it’s *completely* thrown off my blogging schedule. Argh.
Guess you’ll have to wait another year for today’s originally planned post. Or I’ll just save it for NaBloPoMo . . . with which I sincerely hope Telecom Italia cooperates.
So here is What’s Cooking Wednesday: the Birthday Edition — a day late for Wednesday, but just in time for my birthday! Woohoo!
For anyone who’s curious, I’m 31 today. So send any e-cards in large font please. Hah!
Now, back to the originally scheduled post:
For my birthday, I always have this chocolate cake. It’s my absolute favorite cake in the whole world — especially when my mom makes it.
But I’ve been feeling a little daring lately, in the mood for something different. And that, for me, means carrot cake.
I love carrot cake, haven’t had it in at least four years, and besides, isn’t it just a great autumn cake, spicy and orange and brown and cream cheese icing and yum?
I have never made a carrot cake before, and I’m not entirely sure why not. Probably because my mom isn’t particularly fond of it, so she never passed on a recipe, and goodness knows I stick to the recipes of experts around these parts.
So I turned to these Internets and went for the first recipe that came up. I know. Really selective right? Well you see, I had been going over what I thought would go into a carrot cake in my head, and this recipe fit that, especially with the adjustments listed in the comments. So I made my own tweaks, and below is what I came up with.
This cake is delicious. It’s a subtle carrot cake, and by that I mean it’s not at all like some store- or restaurant-produced cakes that make me feel like I’m eating a scented candle. I like my spices subtle, so if you like them stronger, you might want to adjust. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if you think you don’t like carrot cake, you should give this one a go.
Also, the original recipe had pecans. Some people in the comment section switched to walnuts, but I didn’t add any nuts at all; I’m not a fan of nuts in my cakes in general. But this would’ve been *fabulous* with raisins so I’ll make an effort to find them before I make this again.
My Birthday Carrot Cake
4 eggs
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 ¼ c vegetable oil
3 tsp vanilla 2 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp nutmeg
3 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
3 c grated carrots
1. Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Grease and flour 9 x 13 inch pan (or, as I did a 6 muffin/cupcake pan and a small loaf pan).
2. Blend together eggs, sugars, oil, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt and add to mixing bowl a little at a time. At this point, the mixture will be really thick, almost pasty. Now you’re ready to stir in the carrots.
4. Pour into pan(s), and put in the oven. The original recipe says 40-50 minutes for a full-sized cake. My muffins took about 20 minutes, and the loaf pan about 40. Just make sure to always test with a toothpick in the center—if it comes out with no batter, you’re good.
For amateur bakers, the other trick is the “spring back to the touch test,” which says, not surprisingly, that the cake should spring back to your touch. I find this one a big dangerous though as you can sink the top of your cakes and muffins/cupcakes pretty easily, so I always use a toothpick.
5. Remove from oven and let cool before icing.
Cream Cheese Icing
The measurements in the original recipe looked really off to me so I used a tried and true cream cheese icing recipe that I’ve made before. You might want to play with this too according to your tastes and how much icing you like (I don’t use much). In fact, on the cake, I just sprinkled some confectioner’s sugar on top. Look it’s snowing in October in southern Italy!
8 oz softened cream cheese
4 tbl butter
1 ½ c powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
Beat everything together until smooth and to your desired consistency.
Grating the carrots makes this one a little labor intensive, but it’s worth it, especially if you’re making it for someone special — like for yourself. Come on, show yourself a little love this Love Thursday!
Happy Love Thursday and buon appetito!
Edited to add a request:
If you leave birthday wishes for me,
please leave the date of your birthday too (no year required!)
so I can return the wish.
doggies in a box
If you’ve been paying attention, you know that the most recent addition to our household, Stella, is about to give us even more additions to the household.
Well the other day, Stella was acting a little funny, so I thought maybe the time was approaching when the puppies would be joining us. We have no idea when she was sperminated, other than that it was before August 31 when she came to stay with us. The gestation period of dogs is between 60-63 days, so for sure by the end of the month, there will be some action around here.
Stella’s anxiety turned out to be a false alarm, but it did inspire me to whip together a whelping box for her. I swear that’s what it’s called!
Since I thought this was an emergency, I grabbed got a good-sized cardboard box and did it up with some old sheets and whatnot–whatever I could grab was going in just in case this was the real deal.
Just as I put the last sheet in, this happened: 
And that turned into this:
I think she likes it.
And I couldn’t help but sing “Don’t be fooled by the nips that she’s got–she’s still (she’s still) Stella in the box.” Needless to say, P didn’t get it. You get it right? (Notice I’m not asking whether it’s actually funny.)
And then, a couple hours later–after the immediacy of the situation had passed and it became clear that there wouldn’t be any little Stellas that day–I looked over and saw this:
For those who can’t tell, this is Luna (who is *not* pregnant–see why here).
So the new plan is that when P and I finally move house (we should be starting work on the new place within the month!), Luna and Stella will have new homes too–because P has been commissioned to build some doggie boxes.*
And that’s love right there.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
*Very different from the type of box Justin Timberlake has made famous.
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[tags]dogs, puppies, whelping boxes, love thursday[/tags]
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.
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