Italian Autumn

The seasons are passing quickly and with Christmas around the corner autumn as already flown by and it's now already late to be posting about our fall adventures. However because I've been so incredibly busy with work, and life in general, the blog has been on hold and so better late than never will have to do. 

Luca and I totally fell for the TV show Bake Off Italia. Every Friday night we would plan to be at home at 9 pm so we could catch the latest episode of Bake Off waiting to be inspired to try something new in the kitchen. Luca took on a whole new interest in baking and is starting to become my competition. So we attempted eclairs, bagels, and for Luca's birthday he wanted a play on the rainbow cake so I made a 5 layer pistachio cake.

Spring

As I've mentioned a few times now, Spring is in full swing! The weather has taken a turn for the better and next week it'll even get up to 75º! It's been so beautiful with all the trees blossoming. I've tried to take some pictures, but it never really captures the beauty all around. 

A couple weeks ago we drove on up to Villa Ghigi up Zona San Mamolo. We brought macchia with us and it was nice just meandering around the large park and macchia really liked it because there were a whole bunch of other dogs to meet! 

Luca found an organic, local fruit and vegetable delivery service. It's called Il Biologico Bologna. In Italian biologico means organic. You can see what produce they're offering and which farm it comes from. It's not all necessarily local from Bologna or the Emilia Romagna region, but it comes from Italy. You can choose how many kilos you want to order and if you want 1/4 fruit and 3/4 vegetables or any combination. They give you the option to leave out 3 items that you don't like or want and you request a few too. 

We asked for 4 kilos worth of produce 1/3 fruit and 2/3 vegetables. If you become a member they deliver it to your house, otherwise you can pick it up at one of the delivery locations. It was 15 euros and once we picked up our order we decided that it's rather on the pricey side. The fruit was delicious but we received some leafy green vegetable that we can't identify and three fennel that we don't really like so that was unfortunate. We're not sure if we'll get more produce from this organization again. 

My birthday came and went and we decided to celebrate at a new restaurant/bar that recently opened. It's called BAGS and it's at the end of Via d'Azeglio. It used to be a bar that offered a great aperitivo because of its nice buffet but it closed down and this new american-style local opened instead. I celebrated with friends on a friday evening. Unfortunately there was mix up in reserving a table and so we had to stand at the bar, but it was alright. I was taken aback as I was also showered with gifts which was completely unexpected. 

 Then on the morning of my birthday Luca took me back there to have their american breakfast! It was hard to choose between eggs and bacon, french toast, or pancakes but I decided to go with the pancakes!

Luca was going to make me a cake, but I had wanted an american style birthday cake, but he claims he only knows how to make italian style cakes and so instead he got an amazingly delicious mille foglie from the famous bakery Regina dei Quadri. 

I had a wonderful long birthday weekend and I felt very loved! 

I haven't able to add to the blog as much since I've started working more. I also started and after school activity for 3-5 year olds. It was expected that around 20 children would enroll so we'd have just an hour. It turned out that 62 students enrolled! 

"It's Not Quite Over Yet"

There is a very exciting piece of news which I haven't written about yet, but I think now is just the perfect time to share the good news! During my trip to Malta, on my birthday Luca got down on one knee and asked me one of the most important questions that can be asked in life " mi vuoi sposare?" translated " Do you want to marry me?" I responded with many "si, si, si!" yes' before he barely even finished his question. 

It had been a beautiful, relaxing day starting out right with pecan pie and coffee, walking around the historical city of Valletta. Luca took me out for a nice dinner and we were absolutely stuffed to the brim. We headed back to our hotel. I was in the bathroom and when I came out I couldn't find Luca. The only logical place left was the terrace. 

I stepped out onto the terrace and sure enough, there he was. The city of Sliema light up the night sky and across the way we could also see the city lights of Valletta. As we looked out into the night sky and over the island, he held me and kissed my forehead and asked if I had had a good birthday. I responded "yes" and around 11:55 pm he says "Well it's not quite over yet and there is still one thing left..." He pulled out a little dark blue, white stitched box and got down his left knee and uttered the words that girls wait and hope to hear at just the right time. And in fact it's not quite over yet at all, it's just the beginning of a very beautiful story. 

We have set the wedding date in July in Italy, and August in Minnesota.