Gelato.....mmm

So the one thing I was really looking forward to in Italy was gelato. Yes, I know there are many other interesting things to do, see and eat, but what can I say, gelato makes me happy :)

When we visited Florence, the hometown of Gelato, I heard that there was a Gelato Festival in town that week and I was happier than a kid on Christmas day. We HAD TO GO visit it. It was in a Church piazza (open courtyard) and tastings were only 10 euros! You received 5 tasting cups, a gelato shake, and a gelato reusable bag. We chose to have an alcoholic(of course) ginger mango gelato shake which was absolutely delicious. Then Al and I walked around and tasted all the flavours before we redeemed our 5 tickets. There were a lot more experimental flavours (see Gelato Laboratory photo) than traditional but all delicious nonetheless. We got to taste a pecorino cheese flavor, several coffee flavors, one made with the Brazilian liquor Cachaça and lots of citrusy ones too.

Forza Roma!

Visiting Europe was only one part being a tourist, eating and drinking. While we were in Rome, Al was on a mission to watch a soccer game and be a soccer fan. We both grew up watching soccer and even though, I'm not big on the Italian league, I was still quite excited to go see my first real European futbol game. Al was more than happy to learn that there was an AS Roma vs. Napoli game during the few days we were there and we even managed to get awesome tickets the day before, along with a Roma team jersey for Al :)

It was a little bit of a trek to the stadium but fortunately Rome has good public transport and it's a lot of fun to be traveling with so many fans! The game was at the Stadio Olimpico and it had these cool sports statues outside plus this amazing mosaic walkway from the road to the stadium entrance. Since we were out-of-towners, we were put in the middle ground and the section was not as packed as the section with true die-hard Roma fans. The atmosphere was still lively and there were lots of chanting, fireworks and people running with Roma flags (see picture). We had amazing seats and could see the player's faces including our own Americano, Michael Bradley.

The first half of the game was pretty blah in my opinion because there were no goals, but after I complained to Al, he told me to hang in there. And sure enough, Roma scored a goal within the first 2 minutes after half-time! Yay! Then the game got even more exciting when Rome scored the 2nd goal and we didn't really have too much hope for Naples but they managed to redeem themselves with one goal at 84th minute. All in all, super fun and Forza Roma!

Happy Mother's day!

She's obviously put up with a lot, so make sure you treat her to some relaxation, good food and yes, she does want alcohol too. And if you do get her a cake, make sure you don't make any of these booboos, seen on one of my favorite sites/books - Cake Wrecks. Enjoy!

What were they thinking?

So to some of you, it's no surprise that I subscribe to Groupon. But it's really quite surprising to see what people are (1) thinking (2) selling (3) buying? Really!? 

Banana bunkers

This may not seem that ridiculous because no one likes a bruised banana; at least I don't think so. But it's one of those items you add to your kitchen that is exclusive to one purpose and I'm more of a multi-use kinda gal.  Worse than a single use product is all the sexual innuendo you'll have to deal with, when your friends see you using one of these.

 




Finger food utensils 


There is a reason certain foods are called 'finger foods' or 'finger-licking good'. It's to EAT with your FINGERS! Can you imagine using this dinosaur teeth clamp looking thing to pick up your burger or fries?  I don't think so. And if you are you that lazy to go wash your hands after eating,  there is this miraculous invention called wet wipes, that mind you, is multipurpose.

Dog face masks

Seriously, who invented this? Dogs and all canines have been around forever without the need for human beauty products, much less a face mask. Whoever can have their dog sit still while they apply a face mask on them has either tranquilized their dog or their dog doesn't deserve to be called one. Just my POV.

We got a yard...

...and a house to go along with it too!

So we had to move all of a sudden because our apartment complex, Riata was not as enthused with Watson as we were. We put on our extremely motivated hats and have been looking ever since Riata asked us to get rid of Watson! I have to give lots of credit to Ms. Patti Simon too who went above and beyond to help us find our new home.

Pictures here are of the wonderful home we were able to find with such short notice. We love it and are happy to be here minus all the drama in the past 2 weeks. Best of all, we still have Watson and he loves the yard too.

YAY for us all finding good homes!