When Nutmeg Met Basil

Well, there are only three days left until I leave for Italy.  I have a lot to be grateful for on this New Year’s Eve, and though I can’t believe how quickly 2010 has gone and how many landmarks it has had for me (graduating from college, travelling to Vegas, Seattle, San Antonio, and Miami; living in Vermont, Connecticut, upstate New York and spending a few nights here and there in New York City).  Last New Year’s Eve, I watched the numbers turn from 2009 to 2010 and realized that I have known since I was in middle school that 2010 is my college graduation year.  And I was terrified that I was no closer to knowing my career path at that moment than I had been in middle school.

I’m starting 2011 with a new attitude and a new adventurous, courageous spirit.  I’m going to go out there and do what I want to do.  If I don’t like it, if it doesn’t work out, fine.  I’ll come home.  But I am so glad that I took the risk of trying.

4 days until I leave for Italy!

Just a handful of days keeping me on this continent.

Here’s a Christmas market photo to brighten your day:

I’m happy to announce that I just purchased http://www.whennutmegmetbasil.com.

I’ll be chronicling all of my Italian adventures right here!  Stay tuned!

It’s right around the corner.

Exactly one week remains until I leave for Italy!

This is winter in Florence– a picture taken from San Miniato al Monte.

Only 8 days to go.  I guess I should start to pack!

Curious what an Italian Christmas dinner looks like?  This is from Christmas 2008:

I have a lot to be merry about this year!  In just a few days, I will be seeing places and people that I haven’t laid eyes on in almost 2 years.

Here’s some Parisian Christmas cheer!

And I’ll be back in Florence for a few days before I take the train over to Parma.

I grew up surrounded by Italian-Americans.  And most of them told me about the “Feast of the Seven Fishes.” On Christmas Eve, real Italians eat a meal with seven different fishes.

Part of my Italian dream was to partake in all of their food traditions.  I wanted to eat the cannoli, make the pasta, drink the wine.  I wanted to be a part of it all.

So on Christmas Eve, I excitedly asked my host mom if she would be cooking seven fishes for the Vigilia (Christmas Eve) meal.

ARE YOU CRAZY? she responded.

I can’t imagine a person in their right mind who would eat seven fishes in one meal, she said.

We may have sampled seven different wines in that meal, though. There was the aperitivo wine, probably Asti Spumanti, which we drank while munching on aperitivi snacks and playing with the grandkids before the meal. (Here we are with a special Christmas gift from a special granddaughter of our host parents:

Then a special bottle of white wine with the primo, pasta allo scoglio, a linguine with shellfish.  (Yes, my host mom said, of course the meal has some fish.  But SEVEN FISHES? ARE YOU CRAZY?)

Secondo was a whole salmon.  Then there were a few different dessert wines.

And then we went to church.

Merry Christmas!!

edited to include: If you’re curious what the Seven Fishes look like, go over to bellalimento, where Paula has prepared and photographed the feast!