Happy Holidays

This year, in the midst of all of the holiday madness, I'm feeling especially blessed. There are so many reasons to celebrate and be thankful. Allow me to list them, please!

Great company of both old friends and new friends alike. We had a great Thanksgiving with Michelle,  my friend from High School, her husband Jay, and their friends. Supporting roles also include: 22 pounds of turkey, the best green bean casserole I've ever made (recipe can be found here), 3 homemade pies, and countless bottles of wine.

Sfogliatelle

While in Rome we made a friend who is from Naples. He kindly made us a list of all of the places to see and foods to eat while visiting his hometown. He'd told us specifically about a pastry that was a breakfast favorite. We weren't checked into our Naples hotel for ten minutes before Bryce walked into our room holding one. I had my lens on it in seconds and my crumby fingers on it a moment later! They're called sfogliatelle and they're the most memorable thing I'd eaten throughout our entire trip.  

Great Pumpkin Muffins [with Cream Cheese and Chocolate Chips]

This photo pretty much sums up fall for me - leggings, pumpkins, glitter Toms. If Toms and/or Uggs aren't acceptable anymore please mark me on the list of people who just don't care!

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta

I've wanted to go to Italy for as long as I can remember. To say that our recent visit there lived up to my expectations is truly an understatement! The country was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, the people were so caring and friendly, and the food was delightful. 

In the little imaginary Italy in my head, I'd drink a lot of coffee + wine, enjoy plenty of pasta, and do most of my dining outdoors. Reality was very, very accurate to my little dream! What I wasn't expecting was that each and every meal would be spectacular, regardless of price, city, or restaurant location. I'm excited to relive them and share them with you through this little blog. 

Get ready because this is a photo heavy post! It's actually quite like Green Eggs and Ham as I'll be showing you all the times we ate pasta and where.

Bryce and I had lunch on the streets of Roma at an adorable little spot called Di Qua. Your first option is Italy's restaurants is always acqua (water) with or without gas (carbonation), to which we vote NO. On this particular day Bryce was up for some day-drinking!

Pizza in Napoli

[Get ready for another post beginning with my singing!]

In Napoli, where love is King, where boy meets girl, here's what they sayyyyy...

...When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie - that's amore!

That's Amore is one of my favorite songs. In college I worked at a bar that was owned by an Italian guy named Tony. We'd play that song during last call while turning the lights on, letting the drunkards know it was time to go. The next year I was a patron of that same bar and the sound of That's Amore somehow became an unnwelcomed burden rather than a call to rejoyce in tip money and freedom! 

Last year at our wedding we played That's Amore as one of the very last songs at our reception and we all sang along. Now I'm sure not everyone knows or loves the song and that's OK. I know there's something we can all agree upon and that's pizza. Do you know where the college kids and all of the bartenders all went after That's Amore played and the bar closed? That's right, they all went to get pizza.

True Neopolitan pizza (although it was our second favorite, see below for photos of our actual favorite!)