Apron on and spatula in hand, I've been cooking a lot lately. My mom said last night "Dad's proud of you for being so domestic". Oh Dad!
This pasta was pretty easy. I baked some broccoli, sugar snap peas, cauliflower with some garlic sea salt and olive oil. The sauce was olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and something else that I can't think of at the moment... anyway, it was delicious with some sweet potato fries. A perfect healthy meal when served with whole wheat penne pasta!
Ross and Stacey's wedding was May 25th in Barga, Italy. It was amazing! I liked the idea of having a small, simple wedding in a foreign country, but honestly wasn't sure how it would turn out. I was worried about some of the details, but Stacey was very laid back and definitely NOT a bridezilla.
She named me her "Wedding Consultant" of the day because I did little Maid of Honor-ish errands for her like steaming her dress and helping her get ready. However, I was really honored when she and Ross asked me a few days before the wedding to be their photographer. I've been doing a lot more photography lately and I really do love it. I like photographing everyday things at interesting angles and hadn't done very much with people as subjects. But, I think the pictures turned out well for my first time. I also made Stacey's bouquet (Team Flower! haha) with Janine. It was definitely a reminder of my Robert's Greenhouse days.
All in all I really loved helping. It is definitely making me consider if I'd like to do something with wedding planning when I grow up. I'm definitely into romance, decorations, dresses, flowers, and cake... so, it makes sense, right?
Italy was great though. I'm very glad that they decided to get married there. Barga was up in the mountains in Tuscany and was definitely not like Florence, Rome, or Venice that I visited two summers ago. It was very... Italian! There was no American influence and very few "tourist-y" things about it. Most people spoke only Italian and went about their routines oblivious to our presence.
However, the people that we did meet were really cool! At Casa Fontana, the bed and breakfast that we all stayed at, we sat in the garden every afternoon and chatted with other guests. We met people from Ireland, Scotland, San Franciso, New York City, and Houston! I really liked the homey feel of the B and B compared to normal hotels. From now on I'm definitely going to try and stay at one. It's almost the same price for a totally different experience.
I learned a lot about the Italian culture in the nine days that we were there. From coffee breaks to long lunches and scarves and skinny jeans, the Italians are definitely a breed of their own. I loved people watching!
One thing this trip taught me was to learn a language before you go to a foreign country. I can't tell you how many times there was a huge language gap goin' on between my dad and a waitress... oh well, we still got our pizzas!
