View from the road

The final stop on our Italy trip was the Amalfi Coast. A driver picked us up in Pompeii and drove us to Sorrento. The drive to get there is stunning, along high cliffs, with sheer drops to the gorgeous Bay of Naples on the Mediterranean Sea. The road twists and turns a bit.

Sorrento

Sorrento is a very compact little town, also situated on the cliffs. The main section of town is the Piazza Tasso, around which shops and restaurants are clustered. You cannot see the water from the main part of town (except from one tiny viewing area). You can however walk to a park with a beautiful view.

Sorrento was a shopper’s heaven. Lots of interesting shops clustered in a small area. The

Piazza Tasso

shopping area is pedestrian only on narrow cobblestone streets. They sell lemon products (including limoncello), custom-made sandals, lots of leather bags, and souvenirs. The town feels very quaint and comfortable. I felt very comfortable here. It’s nice to have everything within walking distance.

Teatro Tasso

One evening we went to see Teatro Tasso, a musical revue that highlights the songs and dances of the region. It ended up being rather bad community theater, but we thoroughly enjoyed watching one of the guitar players on stage who rolled his eyes, talked to his fellow musicians, laughed at

Teatro Tasso

the dancers, and made faces at the tech crew. He was the highlight of the night.

I had Rick Steve’s book, which promised a discount if you showed the book when you bought tickets. The woman at the desk informed us they limited that discount to two people (the book did not say this). My husband was able to convince her to give us the discount for all four! They serve complimentary drinks on the terrace beforehand (and you can see the water from here, which is beautiful at night). It was something to do in the evening, but honestly it was a bit cheesy.

Swimming in the Mediterranean

Narrow streets of Sorrento

The highlight of our stay in Sorrento was our morning at the beach. We took a taxi down the cliffs to Marina Grande (it wasn’t too far distance-wise, but the cliffs are very steep and it would have been many, many stairs), a tiny little harbor area with a miniscule sand beach. We rented chairs and umbrellas and swam in the Mediterranean, with Mount Vesuvius behind us. The water was warm, the sun was hot, and it was a wonderful interlude.

The Blue Grotto

We took a guided tour to the island of Capri. We were picked up by bus at our hotel and driven to the ferry station (which is again, down the cliffs at the edge of the water). We took the ferry to the island of Capri. Upon arriving on Capri, we spent a few brief moments in the harbor area (where there are a handful of fairly junky souvenir shops) before getting on a small boat with our group to go to the Blue Grotto.

Swimming with Vesuvius

The Blue Grotto was on my list of top sights in Italy, so we were thrilled to go. Our boat drove us around the coast of the beautiful island with its soaring cliffs. Even more stunning though was the water. It was an incredible deep, sapphire blue and very, very clear. I later read that there are no phytoplantkton in the Mediterranean, giving it this color and clarity.

Our boat took us to a grouping of boats just waiting offshore. Through the crowd of boats, you could see a tiny little opening in the rock. This was the entrance to the Blue Grotto. You wait your turn (we waited about half an hour) and a rowboat comes next to your boat. 4 people climb in and you sit on the bottom of the boat. You are rowed over to the opening and then you all lie down or at least bend forward with your head down. The driver waits in front of the opening until there is a break between waves and he grabs hold of some chains that are strung along the top of the opening and pulls the boat through the incredibly tiny hole.

It is absolutely terrifying for a couple of seconds. As you are waiting to go in,you think the

Capri

boat can never fit through the hole, you will surely be decapitated, and I was also getting a bit claustrophobic, thinking about going through that tiny hole into a cave.

Let me assure you, it is absolutely worth it and if you are there, you must go. The opening is not deep (width-wise) at all and you are through it in a second. The boat is pulled through and you enter this magical circular cave with a high roof and magical, glowing blue water. I have never seen water this color in my entire life. The boat captain told us it is because of the minerals in the rocks under the water.

The entrance to the Blue Grotto

You are rowed around the cave twice, and the rowers are singing the entire time (we were treated to “Volare”). There is a little staircase carved into the rocks on one side, made by the Romans apparently, which is no longer used. The moments you are inside are like something on another planet. The cave glows, the water is alive, and you are a part of it.

Exiting is not nearly as scary as entering since you know you will fit and before you know it,you are back on your boat. But first, your row boat captain will hit you up for a huge tip. Our tour had already paid our boat fare and our guide warned us they would ask for a tip. My husband gave him 5 Euros and he complained it was not enough for a bottle of wine. We heard other people having the same problem. They are pushy and rude, so be prepared to deal with this if you go.

The magic of the Blue Grotto

Anacapri

Our tour then took us back to the harbor then by van up to the town of Anacapri at the top of the island. You go up terrifyingly winding roads on the very edge of the cliff, certain that you are inches away from falling all the way down (our guide told us this is called the Mama Mia Parkway).There are buses coming up and going down and they pass within millimeters of each other on this incredibly narrow road. At some points, they cannot pass, so one bus must back up.

Anacapri has a small shopping area and a beautiful sccenic viewing area (unfortunately it was a bit misty when we were there). There was not a lot to do and I’m told the town of Capri (farther down the island) is much better for shopping. There is a chair lift from Anacapri that will take you up to the

The view from Anacapri

very top of the island, but we didn’t do that. Other members of our group did and reported that it was very, very hot on the unshaded chair lift, but once you got to the top, the view was spectacular. There is also an old church in town which can be toured.

I would have loved to have seen more of the Amalfi Coast, but enjoyed the parts we did see very much.

The final stop on our Italy trip was the Amalfi Coast. A driver picked us up in Pompeii and drove us to Sorrento. The drive to get there is stunning, along high cliffs, with sheer drops to the gorgeous Bay of Naples on the Mediterranean Sea. The road twists and turns a bit. Sorrento Sorrento … Read more →

Photo courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Laundry stains are something I spend far too much time on. Yes, there are the usual kid stains, but I also manage to spill everything all over myself, all the time. Whatever I am eating, cooking, working on, or touching invariably ends up on my clothes.  I am also guilty of putting away clothes I wore briefly, only to take them out months later and find those yellow stains on them. I have developed a huge stain fighting arsenal to deal with it all.

Cold water and soap: This is the best way to get out blood, chocolate, and tomatoes, as long as you work on the stain as soon as it happens. You have to do this by hand and scrub hard and continue to rinse and scrub until it disappears.

Alcohol, soap, and cold water: This will get out ink stains, but is another process you need to do by hand over the sink, continuing to reapply and scrub until it comes out.

StainStick: This is now called Resolve, but is the same product. It’s a gel stick that you rub on stains when you take the clothes off. It helps prevent them from setting in so they will come out in the wash. I take this with us whenever we travel and keep one next to the laundry hamper. It really cuts down on stain removal work.

Shout: This is my first line defense against stains. It never ruins clothes so it’s always safe to try first. I spray it on and let it set for half an hour, then wash the stained clothes.

Shout gel: This is a more concentrated Shout which also will not ruin clothes. I also let this sit for a while before washing.

Biz: This is a powdered color safe booster you are supposed to add to the wash, but I make it into a paste and put it on tough stains. I let this get almost dry then wash. Sometimes it can bleach out clothes, so it’s always best to test it first.

OxyClean spray: This is also good on tough stains and I like that it comes in a spray bottle.

OxyClean powder: I buy this in a tub and make it into a paste to apply to tough stains. I let it get almost dry before washing. This has also ruined some items, so always test it first.

Chlorox Bleach pen: I use this only on whites and only on stains I can’t get out any other way. It allows you to apply bleach directly to one single spot without getting it everywhere. I usually apply, then immediately rinse with cold water so the bleach does not spread.

Grandma’s Secret Stain Remover: My mother-in-law bought this for me and it sometimes works when other stainlifters will not. It comes in a tiny little squeeze bottle and can be hard to use, but I’ve had success with it.

DL Hand Automotive Hand Cleaner: This looks a little out of place on the list, but it works! This is a pink no-water needed hand cleaner that cleans grease. It’s marketed to mechanics. My husband and father-in-law used to repair office furniture and used this to clean grease off their hands. It is spectacular for tough, greasy stains. Rub it on. Let it sit a while, then wash.

Chlorox 2: This is my newest stainfighter and it got stains out of a shirt that nothing else on this list could touch. I was ready to throw the shirt out and had a free sample packet of this so I decided to try it. It’s a thick liquid, so I poured a little on and let it sit for about half an hour and then washed it. It was magic.

Some other tips about stain-fighting:

• If at all possible, work on the stains before sending the clothes through the wash. The dryer seems to set tough stains in.
• Sometimes if you scrub at a stain with a toothbrush this will help to remove it.
• If you have a piece of clothing with a lot of stains, instead of targeting each one separately, try soaking the garment in a tub with Oxyclean or Biz. I use about a cup of powder to a gallon of water and let it soak.
• Always check your stained item after you pull it out of the washer and before you put it in the dryer. As mentioned earlier, the dryer will set it and you won’t have as good a chance to get it out.
• Washing your clothes in cold water will help prevent stains from setting as well.
• Avoid detergent stains on clothes by always starting the washer, putting in the soap, then putting in the clothes. If you pour detergent over the clothes, sometimes it will stain them.

Do you have any stain-fighting tips?

Laundry stains are something I spend far too much time on. Yes, there are the usual kid stains, but I also manage to spill everything all over myself, all the time. Whatever I am eating, cooking, working on, or touching invariably ends up on my clothes.  I am also guilty of putting away clothes I … Read more →

This is an incredibly simple recipe that packs a lot of flavor, and helps use up some of those summer veggies. I served this with brown rice and steamed green beans.

Salmon with Summer Vegetables

4 large leaves Swiss chard, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 shallot, peeled and chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 salmon fillets (about 6 oz each)

Heat your grill. Put the chard in boiling water and cook until tender. Drain and allow to cool, then squeeze most of the water out. Mix in a small bowl with the tomato, shallot, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. Grill the salmon. Place half the veggies and juice on each fillet and serve.

This is an incredibly simple recipe that packs a lot of flavor, and helps use up some of those summer veggies. I served this with brown rice and steamed green beans. Salmon with Summer Vegetables 4 large leaves Swiss chard, chopped 1 medium tomato, chopped 1 shallot, peeled and chopped salt and pepper to taste … Read more →

I’ve been telling you all about the amazing things we ate and did in Italy. Now it’s time that I come clean and tell you about the things I didn’t like.

Water

Water everywhere, but none in restaurants!

Italian cities are filled with beautiful fountains that dispense clean, fresh, cool, drinking water. You carry a water bottle with you and fill it up as you go through the city. This is a lovely benefit. But if water is so fresh, clean, and accessible why couldn’t we get a glass of tap water in a single restaurant? They claim not to have any available. Which is a lie. They just plan on your $3 bottle of mineral water as part of the meal. And we always had to order 2-3 per meal.

When you do order water, they will pour no more than 2 inches in each glass. I think they assume you’ll be hydrating with wine.

Ice

Water and drinks are served without ice. There are no ice buckets or ice machines in hotels. I was so tired of drinking lukewarm beverages. Even the water sold in stores is not cold. One day we bought a bottle of water from a street vendor before heading into the Roman Forum and it had been frozen, so it was blissfully cold. I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life. This was the only cold beverage we had.

The Heat

Yes, we went in late July-early August. We didn’t have a choice with our kids’ school and activity schedules, so we ended up there in the hottest time of the year. It was 99 degrees. The coolest it got was 92 I think. It was uncomfortably hot every single day. There was never a cloud in the sky. There was not a drop of rain. There was no wind, but a few breezes when we were lucky.  I don’t think I’ve ever sweat so much in my life. When we got to Sorrento, it was 86% humidity.

The Air Conditioning

I insisted on hotels with air conditioning. We were able to get the rooms just about comfortable by putting the AC on high all day, every day. The AC in stores and restaurants was a joke. Many places had signs up saying they had it, but they leave the doors open! So even if you dined or shopped somewhere that was air conditioned, you were always in a light sweat. I wore a money belt and when I took it off at the end of the day, the Euros in it were sopping wet.

The Pushiness

While the people in Italy were overwhelmingly friendly and kind to us, once we got south of Rome, it changed. Here everyone was trying to upsell us. My daughter ordered a glass of wine and the waiter wanted her to buy a half bottle. We took a cab to a nearby beach and the driver wanted to take us to a town half an hour away then on a tour down the coast. I ordered a fish dish and the waiter wanted me to order it for two people. I picked out a few things in a shop and the saleswoman took me downstairs and tried to sell me $3000 pieces of furniture. It was constant and unrelenting and tiring.

When we went to the Blue Grotto, we knew the rowboat man would expect a tip, so we gave him one and then he told us it was not enough and demanded more.

Bathrooms

Once you figure out that you can walk into any bar (which is really a cafe) and use their bathroom, you aren’t so reliant on public bathrooms, which are few and far between. Most public bathrooms are not free and some even require exact change. There were some very unpleasant bathrooms. One restaurant on Murano had what was really a hole in the ground with a very low bowl over it. If you needed to sit, you squatted with your knees in your face. None of the toilets had the same flushing mechanism. Many had a push button on the wall. One had a foot pedal. I was always hunting around, looking for the button and it was always in a different shape or location.

It also seemed that the bathrooms in museums and other attractions were always in the basement!

Airports

We did not enjoy our airport experiences! At the Naples airport, after going through security I still had to show a boarding pass to be allowed to buy a pack of gum. When it was time to board our plane, they had us get on a standing only bus which literally drove 20 feet to the steps to the plane. Then they told half of us to board from the back, but didn’t do so by seating assignment, so the aisles were full of people trying to get past each other. The Rome airport was insanity. There was a holding area for our gate with 8 seats and 300 people. They roped everyone inside the area, then told them to come out and line up. There was no line, just people pushing. It took an hour to board the plane and they did so in no order at all.

Seating

There’s nowhere to sit in Italy. I kid you not. They do not have benches in piazzas, museums, churches, towns, at train stations, in airports, at ferry stations or ANYWHERE.  If you spend the day walking around the city, you end up sitting on tiny little shop window sills or dirty curbs because you are so completely desperate to get off your feet.

Getting the Bill

I understand that meals are very different in Italy, but we got so tired of trying to get the bill every night. You have to ask for it because it is never brought to you. And then you wait and wait and wait for it to come. Most restaurants in Italy have handheld credit card swipe machines they bring to the table, so that makes paying easier, however tipping is another issue. Many places, particularly in the north, add a service charge to the bill, so tip is included. In the south though, they do not. And you cannot add a tip to the bill when you charge. So you have to plan to be able to tip in cash.

Bread

Here at home, we think of Italian bread as quite delicious. We found that each city we went to seemed to serve one kind of bread with dinner no matter where we ate. In Venice, it was rolls. Elsewhere it was sliced bread. None of it excited me – the bread I’ve had at home is much better. And none of it was served with butter or olive oil. Once only we had a bottle of olive oil and a plate for dipping come with it, but that was it.

The Wardrobe

Before we went, I read everything and talked to a lot of people. EVERYONE told me women do not wear shorts in Italy. NEVER EVER EVER. Men don’t either, I was told. Everyone told me to bring capri pants and skirts, and pants for the men. This advice was completely 100% wrong. Most of our female guides wore shorts. Most of the people (Italians and tourists I saw on the streets were wearing shorts. We were so, so HOT and knowing we could have been in shorts made us very cranky! Yes, there is a requirement that shoulders and knees be covered in churches, but honestly, I found it was not enforced most of the time and certainly not at all for men! There were men in shorts in the Vatican, the Duomo, and San Marco. No one cared. Women in tank tops were told to buy scarves to cover their shoulders, but I saw many women in short skirts in churches and no one had a problem with this. Next time, I would bring shorts and only wear capris for the churches to be safe. I can certainly believe that when it is not 99 degrees Italian women are not wearing shorts, but at the height of the summer, we were the ones sticking out like sore thumbs in our long clothing. Next time, I will pack what makes me comfortable and not worry about trying to fit in.

No Tourism Info

Anywhere you go in the US or Canada, you will find tons of tourism brochures, maps, and flyers in restaurants, shops, hotels, airports, etc. And you will frequently find tourism booths in busy areas. Italy has none of this. The only map we got for free was the one our hotel gave us in each city. If you didn’t know what you wanted to see and do before you got there, there were no helpful brochures to give you ideas. I think you could literally drop out of the sky into any major US area without a lick of planning and be able to get your hands on all the info you needed within 10 minutes. Maybe the Italians assume people are using the internet for info? I don’t know, but I missed having all those great suggestions. I almost always find something I didn’t know about when I pick up free brochures.

Now that you’ve read my list of complaints, I have to tell you they are minor ones and although the heat made the trip difficult and some of the way things were done are not what we are accustomed to, we really had the time of our lives!

I’ve been telling you all about the amazing things we ate and did in Italy. Now it’s time that I come clean and tell you about the things I didn’t like. Water Italian cities are filled with beautiful fountains that dispense clean, fresh, cool, drinking water. You carry a water bottle with you and fill … Read more →

I had never heard of this until this summer, when my aunt mentioned it to me. We then visited a Mennonite shop in the Finger Lakes and when I noticed it in the case, I had to buy some. I didn’t know what it was and did some research when I got home. What I’ve learned is that rolled butter is made from whey cream instead of sweet cream, which is a byproduct of cheesemaking. I also learned that nearly all the rolled butter sold in the US is made in a factory in Wisconsin (Alcam Creamery). The butter is made in a (mechanical) churn, then it is handrolled into logs and wrapped in waxed paper for sale. You can see a video here.

The thing that mattered to me was the taste. Would it be better? I think it does have a slightly deeper flavor than store-bought butter, but it wasn’t enough to knock me off my feet and start ordering this by mail. My next butter adventure is going to be sampling some European butters from the grocery store, because I noticed that the butter in Italy was much better than what we have here, so I want to try some at home.

I had never heard of this until this summer, when my aunt mentioned it to me. We then visited a Mennonite shop in the Finger Lakes and when I noticed it in the case, I had to buy some. I didn’t know what it was and did some research when I got home. What I’ve … Read more →

Inside the villa

During our trip to Italy, we spent a few hours in Pompeii. If you’re in Italy, this is a must-see. I took Latin in high school, so I knew a lot about Pompeii, but this is definitely one of those places that must be seen to be understood and appreciated. Pompeii was a Roman city that was buried when Mount Vesuvius exploded in 79 AD. The city was completely taken by surprise and the citizens died from the poison gas. The city was literally buried in ash, which completely preserved it in an intact state in the middle of daily life. Excavations are still taking place and there is still much of the city that has not been uncovered.

You will not believe the size of the city. This was a large, independent,

Stepping stones across the road

metropolis. It is a huge area. We were there for two hours and saw only a fraction of it.

The Highlights

I was blown away by how real this made the Romans feel to me. You walk their streets, peer into their shops and walk through their homes. We had a private guide for our visit, who was able to point things out and show us details we would have missed. You are walking through a city that is just missing most of its roofs. For me, there were three highlights:

• The Baths. We visited a carefully preserved spa that had men’s and women’s locker
  

  Inside the baths

  rooms, baths, and steam rooms. The women’s side is preserved intact, so you can see the mosaics and finish work. The men’s side is taken apart so that you can see the clever duct work that moved the hot water and created steam. The baths were an important part of Roman life and until you walk through them and feel how carefully designed they were, you don’t really understand the lifestyle.

• The whorehouse. This was completely legal and considered necessary.
  

  The menu

  Pompeii was a seaport so many sailors came into town seeking company. The whorehouse has stone beds and the walls have frescoes that are a menu of sorts, depicting the different acts available so that sailors could select their services even if there was a language barrier. Along the streets, there are carvings of male genitalia pointing the way so sailors could easily find their way to the house. This was one of the busiest spots on the tour and our private guide was able to get us in past the crowds. Before we went, she took me aside and asked if I was ok with going there, since our 14 year old son was along. I appreciated her asking, but had no problem with it.

• The villa. In recent years a beautiful villa has been excavated and left open to the public so you can walk through the home and see the frescoes and mosaics and really feel what it is like to be inside a Roman home, which is very different from our homes. This made the Romans come to life and was an experience of a lifetime.

Gladiator practice field

Other Sights

We also enjoyed seeing the gladiator training school. The gladiators lived in dorms and practiced on a practice field and in a small arena here before being sent to the Colosseum in Rome. It was fascinating to see the Colosseum in Rome then come here and see where they learned their skills.

I also loved the streets themselves. There is something amazing about walking down a street where Roman carts went before you. They also have stepping stones across the street to allow pedestrians to cross without getting wet or muddy. It was all very thought out and the streets were laid out like a grid.

We were also struck by the suburban strip mall feel to the main streets, where shop after

One of the residents who perished

shop is lined up. Our guide told us they had pocket doors on the shops, since the city was so tight. Those clever Romans.

I wish we had had time to go to the museum in Naples where most of the artifacts have been taken. Unfortunately, Pompeii is mostly just empty shells of buildings. We did see a few casts of people (my son was fascinated, I found them slightly horrifying). The actual body was essentially vaporized, leaving a cast behind.

Preparing for Your Visit

If you go:

• Wear sneakers. The streets are cobblestone and there are hills.
• Bring water. There are fountains throughout the city, but when we were there, they were not functioning.
• Wear a hat. There is NO shade anywhere inside Pompeii.
• Plan out your walk. If you are on your own, get a map and choose the highlights you want to see. You cannot see it all without dropping dead from exhaustion, so choose the highlights.
• Allow lots of time. We were there for 2 hours and I wish we had had more time.

A Shopping Tip

I have one last tip for you about the area. Outside the gates of Pompeii there are tons of

The cameo-maker at work

tacky souvenir stalls (and they are really bad), but our guide steered us into a cameo shop. I would never have seen it.  If you are facing the entrance gate, it is on your right hand side in the building behind the outdoor restaurants. They claim to be a place where cameos are handmade and you are walked past an old man who is working, but it’s hard to believe he alone produces all the product they have there (I’m not questioning the handmade nature of the cameos, just that it is unlikely that one older man is making them all when they are selling many every day). There is a short video you can watch about how cameos are made (they are carved from shell commonly today, but used to be from stone and glass) if you’d like some history. Downstairs is the actual shop, with cases and cases of cameos. If you select a cameo they will not only size rings on the spot, but the artisan will sign the back of it and inscribe your initials onto the back. I thought the prices were reasonable and the quality was excellent.

During our trip to Italy, we spent a few hours in Pompeii. If you’re in Italy, this is a must-see. I took Latin in high school, so I knew a lot about Pompeii, but this is definitely one of those places that must be seen to be understood and appreciated. Pompeii was a Roman city … Read more →

Fall is always when I make time to work on projects around the house. Our summers are very busy with a vacation and spending almost every weekend at my parents’ lake house, so I feel like I’m never really here, and I feel as though I let it all go to hell in a handbasket around here. Once school starts and we are on a normal schedule, I get down to brass tacks, getting things into shape and re-organizing.

Managing Meds

This week I tackled the kitchen medicine cabinet. I have a pull out cabinet in my kitchen where I keep all of the prescriptions and supplements we take. I use a lot of herbal supplements and I have a pretty high turnover in what I use, depending on what’s going on. When we were in the cycle of going to the lake every Friday night through Sunday, I just left a bag of meds on the counter, since there was no sense in unpacking and packing them every 4 days. I’ve finally put them away and cleaned out the cabinet, putting away herbals we aren’t using in a closet, and making room for new ones. Having that off my counter has made my kitchen feel bigger and better organized.

Bathroom Closet

Next on my organizing list is my bathroom closet. I was looking for something in it this week and became so frustrated I just took everything out and put it in a laundry basket. I need to go through it, toss things I’m not using, and reorganize it. I have a big container of travel sized items that needs to be purged and I would really love it if I could get the closet to the point where things do not fall off the shelves every time I reach in.

Freezer

We have a side by side fridge in the kitchen and an upright freezer in the basement. The upstairs freezer was a disaster. We emptied it out and organized it and now I can actually find things. Note to self: stop putting meat in there. I just forget about it and it gets freezer burned!

Household Catch Up Weekend

We took a weekend and made a huge list of all the little things that needed to get done around here and just worked out way down the list: installing a new toilet seat, self-cleaning the oven, cleaning  up piles of stuff, cleaning out the dryer vent, oiling squeaky hinges and more. Making a list of little things and then methodically working through it helps us get a lot done!

Hanging It All Up

An ongoing project that is on the list is dealing with the artwork and photos from our trip to Italy. We took some things for framing, have a few more to go and I bought frames for photos. Now I have to figure out what to do with them!

Wastebasket Clean Up

On my list is to take all of the wastebaskets outside and scrub the insides with soap. This is one of those once a year jobs that I need to remember to get to.

Artificial Plant Day

I am planning a day to bring all of my artificial plants and silk flowers into the kitchen and clean them thoroughly with a soapy cloth. They attract dust and never really get clean when they’re lightly dusted.

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em

Getting back into the school routine isn’t always easy. In the past I have sounded like a broken record, telling my son how important it is to eat breakfast before school. Some mornings he just can’t seem to find anything. Everyone here agrees that eating protein in the mornings helps us get through the days and keeps our hunger in check, so I try to encourage that (I even agreed he could eat leftover sesame chicken a couple of mornings ago). He loves, loves, loves breakfast sandwiches from places like Dunkin’ Donuts. However, he does not like cheese. There are no frozen breakfast sandwiches without cheese (and I really hate buying premade frozen things like that). So I bought bagels and frozen sausage patties (I would much rather buy fresh organic patties, but we’re working up to that! He’s pretty particular). Then I scrambled a dozen eggs and cooked them up in a giant pan, breaking it up into 7 bagel-sized pieces. I froze each egg item in a ziploc bag. Now when he gets up he can throw the egg and sausage into the microwave and toast a bagel and he has an instant breakfast sandwich.

Fall is always when I make time to work on projects around the house. Our summers are very busy with a vacation and spending almost every weekend at my parents’ lake house, so I feel like I’m never really here, and I feel as though I let it all go to hell in a handbasket … Read more →

Since we got home from Italy, I’ve been focusing on making a lot of American food, mostly because everyone has been tired of anything even slightly Italian! My latest foray is the Philly cheesesteak, which I’ve redesigned to make a little more highbrow.

Crazy Philly Cheesesteak

1/2 large sweet onion, thinly sliced

6 Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced

6 cups fresh spinach

1 lb flank steak, sliced paper thin against the grain

1 tbsp Worchestershire

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tbsp A1 steak sauce

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 tomato, thinly sliced

6 slices provolone cheese

4 ounces goat cheese

6 small sub rolls (about 5 inches)

Cook the onion in 1 tbsp butter in a skillet over medium heat until partially caramelized (about 15 minutes). Remove from skillet.

While this is cooking, mix the steak with the Worchestershire, olive oil, garlic, A1 and salt and pepper, and allow to rest.

Cook mushrooms in a teaspoon of olive oil until cooked through. Remove from skillet. Cook spinach in 1 tsp olive oil until completely wilted. Remove from skillet.

Cook the beef in the skillet until cooked through, about 5-7 minutes on medium high.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the sub rolls. Cut them in half and scoop out some of the bread from the bottom half (use to make breadcrumbs or stuffing for another recipe). Spread goat cheese on the bottom half of the rolls. Place one slice of provolone cheese on the top part of each roll, and place under the broiler until melted.

Assemble the sandwiches by placing onion, mushroom, spinach, and tomato on the bottom half of the roll. Top with the beef and place the top of the roll on it.

Serves 6.

This was a huge hit. I served it with sweet potato fries and green beans. My preference would be for whole grain sub rolls, but I couldn’t find them. It’s very important that you cut the beef paper thin or it will not be tender. If you’re having trouble, pop the meat in the freezer for about 15 minutes and slice it after removing.

Since we got home from Italy, I’ve been focusing on making a lot of American food, mostly because everyone has been tired of anything even slightly Italian! My latest foray is the Philly cheesesteak, which I’ve redesigned to make a little more highbrow. Crazy Philly Cheesesteak 1/2 large sweet onion, thinly sliced 6 Baby Bella … Read more →

I want to be Donna Hull when I grow up. Donna writes the amazing travel blog MyItchyTravelFeet, which I have been following for several years. Donna’s target audience is active baby boomers, but I’m not a boomer and I find her posts to be dead-on about what I want to know. Not only do I want to be Donna, but I want to be married to her husband Alan. Donna writes the posts and Alan takes the most amazing photos. My husband and I try to take decent photos on our trips, but somehow we never take enough, some are blurry, the colors are funny, or we just somehow didn’t capture everything we remembered. Alan has no problem with any of that.

Now that you understand my couple crush, let me tell you about Donna’s ebook, My Itchy Travel Feet: Breathtaking Travel Adventure Ideas. Although I have followed Donna’s blog for a long time and she is a friend, I bought her ebook because I simply had to have it . The book takes lots of information from her blog and puts it all together in ebook format, and for a very reasonable $3.95, you get tons and tons of details on trips you will want to take and get to gorge yourself on Alan’s photos.

The book is divided into several sections and every single one of them spell a big, fat expensive trip I’ve added to my bucket list. Donna takes us on trips through northern Italy, coastal California, Hawaii, Asia, and New Zealand. There are also sections about cruising, nature adventures (lots of info on National Parks here) and a traveler’s toolkit and resources. There are great tips from Alan about how to take good photos (I will be studying these). Donna writes not only about what you should see, but she talks about the people she talked to and what they told her. Her adventures are for active people (a five-mile hike is not for someone who likes to sit on a tour bus) and she brings a wealth of experience to her recommendations for things such as small luxury cruise lines and how to locate a vacation rental online. As I was reading the ebook, I had to beat my jealousy down with a stick over all the destinations Donna has been to.

I wish this was available as a print book because this is the kind of book I could happily sit down with and flip through to while away an afternoon. Alas it is not, so you’ll have to click around. Use this book in one of two ways: for very detailed and carefully thought-out information about a location you will be visiting, or as an idea book to find a place for your next great adventure. Either way you will be impressed with the depth of Donna’s knowledge.

I want to be Donna Hull when I grow up. Donna writes the amazing travel blog MyItchyTravelFeet, which I have been following for several years. Donna’s target audience is active baby boomers, but I’m not a boomer and I find her posts to be dead-on about what I want to know. Not only do I … Read more →

I spent summers in Maine as a kid and have been back several times as an adult (my daughter’s middle name is Camden, a town in Maine, so we’re pretty attached to Maine around here). I love everything about Maine and when I learned about the Maine Classics cookbook by Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier (owners of Arrows in Ogunquit), I had to get a copy. You can read my review at A Traveler’s Library, where I’ve been reviewing one destination cookbook each month.

I spent summers in Maine as a kid and have been back several times as an adult (my daughter’s middle name is Camden, a town in Maine, so we’re pretty attached to Maine around here). I love everything about Maine and when I learned about the Maine Classics cookbook by Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier (owners of … Read more →