Archive for the ‘love thursday’ Category
Love Thursday: Helping Hands
In case you hadn’t guessed by now, I like my P an awful lot. He’s quite thoughtful and sweet and handsome and lovable, and yes, I think I’ll keep him.
But I’m not going to lie to you. He’s not the hugest help around the house.
Now even that’s an unfair statement because he does cook half the time, but see, I don’t mind cooking, so if he didn’t do that, it probably wouldn’t bother me. Cleaning though? I *hate* cleaning of any kind (except organizing — me likey organization!), and unfortunately, apparently so does he.
Sometimes I get overwhelmed, particularly during the middle of the week when I’m out of the house for two full (10 a.m.-8 p.m.) days — especially if, heaven forbid, it has been raining, which means the laundry has piled up.
But I really hate doing the dishes. A lot. So the other day I casually mentioned that maybe when I cook, he could do the dishes. I’m not even sure the sentiment successfully traveled the short distance between my mouth and his ears — a new record for the Things P Didn’t Want To Hear Game.
[Such a fun game, by the way, fully adaptable to any partner and free to play!]
Or at least I thought he didn’t hear me.
Last night when I came home from teaching, I gave LuLu some LuLove, and then I went to the sink to wash my hands. When I reached for a tea towel to dry them, I was greeted by this:
This scene may not mean a lot to you, but let’s just say that when P uses hand towels, they never end up Martha Stewart pretty back on the rack. But this time? I was duly impressed.
And then I grabbed a yogurt from the fridge and a spoon from the silverware drawer. I noticed that the spoon I picked up was one of our oddball ones with a design unlike the others — not strange until I realized I had used the same one in the morning for my coffee and had left it in the sink.
I flipped around to see this:
This had been half-full of dirty dishes when I left the house, and surely P had eaten something when he got home from work and added to the pile.
But then…he…washed them? And dried them? And put them away?
I kid you not, my eyes swelled with tears. And I didn’t even mind that some of the silverware was out of place.
Who needs a big fancy ring when you’ve got an empty sink and folded dish towels?
I love my P.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
love thursday: an illicit affair
I love strawberries. And I know I’m not the only one.
Last week at the Friday market, I bought a case of them (I have no idea how much they actually weighed) for 5 euros, and believe me, it was a deal. Just two little containers of them can run you 2 whole euros, whereas the case holds 10 containers.
And if you’re unsure of my love of strawberries, let’s make this clear–P doesn’t eat them, so that entire case was for me, and was gone by Monday afternoon.
My strategy is to clean two containers at a time, stir in some sugar, and let them sit until they are in a gooey, teeth-curling sweet syrup. Don’t worry, I eat some sans sweetener along the way as well.
On Friday afternoon, when I was elbow-deep in strawberries, P rescued this one (yes, it’s just one) from the line of fire, providing me with a perfect Love Thursday photo:
I didn’t end up eating the entire 10 containers of strawberries myself, though, as I shared a few with neighbors. My Aussie friend and neighbor returned the favor by inviting me over Sunday morning for breakfast, and this was the main dish:
Strawberries with fresh ricotta cheese drizzled with honey.
The flavors mixed together amazingly, and since my friend is also a restaurant pro, she even threw in a sprig of basil once she saw I was pulling out the camera. And yet again, we have a dish with the colors of the Italian flag; anyone else, expats or otherwise, find it odd how often that happens? All we ever had in America was that Fourth of July blueberry and strawberry flag cake, I think, which for the record, I’ve never made or eaten.
I really do love strawberries, but I appreciate them even more because here we eat everything only when in season. Sure, maybe an odd strawberry would’ve been nice in January, but that’s not even an option, and I’m glad it’s not.
My body is adjusting to seasonal eating, and I like it–it starts knowing what it needs just about the time it’s coming into season. I found it this past year with artichokes, chicory, and, of course, my beloved strawberries, and it will soon happen with figs, peaches, cucumbers, and fresh, juicy tomatoes.
The mouth-watering anticipation makes everything I like just a little more special when I can finally have it. Or, absence apparently does make the heart grow fonder.
And so my illicit affair with strawberries will be in full force for a little while longer until all the 5 euro crates slowly disappear, and my obsession is put on hiatus once again.
Until next year.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
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[tags]strawberries, ricotta, ricotta cheese, honey, love thursday[/tags]
love thursday: too many flowers are never enough
It’s spring, and flowers are most definitely in bloom in the blogosphere.
Cherrye and Christina recently posted lovely photos of flowers they received; Alexandra shared a photo of gorgeous tulips that were waiting for her when she arrived in Holland. I’m sure there are many more floating around out there that I’m neglecting to link to–if you know of some, do share them in the comments. I love flower photos!
Turns out that not even my doggie is left out. You remember Helen, the flower-giving girl I’ve written about before?
Here’s Helen giving Luna a wonderful bouquet:
FYI, because Helen is so dedicated to her flower delivery, it took her 15 minutes to scour the piazza to find all different colors of flowers.
As always, click to enlarge the photos for a better view.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
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[tags]love thursday, flowers, dogs[/tags]
love thursday: lending a hand
A paw will work too.
Photo inspired by the story of Toby, a dog that saved his owner with the Heimlich.
Happy Love Thursday!
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[tags]love thursday, helping hands, dogs, paws[/tags]
love thursday: love in the olive oil
Sounds kinky and maybe it can be, but what I’m referring to is what I noticed a few evenings ago.
When it’s time to serve dinner, instead of dirtying yet another dish we (I) usually just take the pan full of whatever from the stove to the table. After a major sit-down with the other night’s lovingly prepared delicious rabbit and potatoes, I was just about to grab the pan to take to the sink when I saw this:
Love really is all around if you pay attention–
and what were we saying about the kitchen being a place full of love?
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
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[tags]love thursday, olive oil, hearts, love, amore[/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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