Getting Ready For Halloween

Less than a week for Halloween and we are all super excited...

Sam and I started already decorating the house. We put lots of stickers at the windows and got our inflatable bat ready!!!

Conor got our decorations from the attic and we also carved two pumpkins...

... It was such a great fun! We all helped. I draw the face, Conor carved it and Sam scooped the seeds out the pumpkin. Shannon was, of course, our supervisor...At the end, we got an amazing result, actually two! Two 'beautiful' Jack-o-Lanterns!

We are so proud of our Team work. We decided to start a new tradition in our family, pumpkin carving. Hopefully we'll get more creative each year...

The Birthday Boy

Sam turned 3 last Sunday...

I cannot believe he is already so big. Time flies too fast!

Awwww...

To celebrate his birthday, Sam had 2 parties, one in school with all his mates, and one at home with our Irish-Italian friends. So, mamma was very busy in the last few days cooking and baking for his parties.

I asked Sam what cake would he like for his school party. He said:" ... a Spiderman cake, mamma! ... and an airplane cake... and a chocolate cake..."... he couldn't make his mind up... so, I went for a Spiderman cake...

... and he loved it. When he saw it, he said :"Wow mamma!"...and my heart burst with love! It took me a whole afternoon to make his cake. 

Shannon wasn't feel very good and she wanted to be hold all the time. It was 11pm when I finished to decorate the cake, and I felt really proud of my self...

Saturday night was a real tour de force. I went to bed very late, or should I say "very early"... it was 4am, when eventually I made to bed. I had to wait until Shannon was fast asleep to start baking. I made over 20 cupcakes and Spiderman-inspired cake...

... I also cooked my tabbouleh and did some clean and tidy up around the house. The radio was on and kept me company, and to be honest, I quite enjoyed spending time on my own.

Sam opened his present and card in the morning. He was so excited...

In the afternoon our friends arrived.

We all had a great time, especially the kids. They are all the same age, and it's great to see them growing up together...

Basil Basil Basil

Summer 2013 has been exceptionally sunny and warm here in Dublin...

It was so nice that we had so much fun spending our days in the garden. 

We had a few jobs done in our garden just at the beginning of July. 

New grass and two big flower/vegetable beds. I planted some Mediterranean herbs in the vegetable bed: mentha, rosemary, thyme, sage and of course peperocinis and basil.

... and now, that the 'glorious' Summer is over, it's time to harvest some of these beauties and make some tasty preserves for the Winter.

Well, on Saturday I cut some of my basil plants and decided to make a lovely and very tasty Italian sauce.

I made some real 'Pesto alla Genovese'. 

I washed the basil leaves in cold running water...

... and then I left them to dry overnight on a clean kitchen towel...

Now, for the Pesto sauce, I wanted to follow the traditional recipe.

And here it is:

INGREDIENTS:

• 50gr of fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 a glass of olive oil
• 6 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons of grated pecorino (Italian sheep cheese)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 table spoon of pine nuts
• a pinch of coarse sea salt

PREPARATION:

Traditionally the ingredients were combined and crushed together using a mortar and pestle. Nowadays, the easiest and quickest way to make this beautiful sauce is using a blender or a food processor.
I started with garlic and salt. Then I added my basil leaves to the paste, followed by pine nuts and grated cheeses. I poured the olive oil just at the end, little by little...

... and in no-time my beautiful Pesto alla Genovese was ready...

... the smell of basil, in my kitchen was amazing...

I put small portions of pesto in little food containers and saved them in the freezer. I will use them during the Winter to dress my pasta, or to warm up some tasty soups giving them a "touch of Summer"... Yummy!

Enjoy!!!

Benvenuti!!!

... Here we are, my first post...

I'm so excited to share a little bit of me and my busy life as a mum, an amateur cook and baker, a daydreamer, a craftswoman, and, of course, a fashion lover. 

I hope you will enjoy stopping by, from time to time, while you're drinking your nice cup of tea, and read about this "hyper-mum" and her beautiful smiley kids.

Together with my pictures, I will share a few of my recipes and craft-sewing projects. I won't annoy you to much with my crazy love for Leonard Cohen and his art... and I hope you would enjoy my stories about our (not frequent enough) trips around the Globe...

ps...I apologise now if my English is not up to scratch!!!