Gia-Gina Across the Pond: September 2007

Look What I Found

Demetrio's half brother is named Alessandro. We Googled him last night and found him here.

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Blood Oranges

A friend of ours who works a company that sells blood orange juice, asked me to take some photos for an ad campaign. I really could not do a good job as most of our camera and photography equipment is still in boxes. These however are a couple of the best images.

Blood oranges with lemons and limes.

Blood oranges with blackberries. We were trying to show how dark the flesh of the oranges are compared to the berries.

All contents copyright 2004-2007.
All rights reserved.

Remodel Updates!

More and more work is being completed, the new closets are in, the painting is done, the floors are done. We still have to finish the kitchen but the majority of the work is complete. Once by one we will complete each of the three bathrooms as well; one bathroom a month is our goal right now. We planned to move in the weekend of the 15th and 16th but without a kitchen we have postponed moving in until the end of the month.

Old closet 1 of 4

Old closet 2 of 4

New hallway closet 1

New master closet

New carpet to MIL apartment

Old fireplace

New fireplace with slate tiles. All the wires are Deme's entertainment center project in progress.

All contents copyright 2004-2007.
All rights reserved.

The Fruits of My Labor 2

I won't be able to garden for much longer. Deme, V and I spent about an hour yesterday harvesting and cleaning up my garden patch. Thank you Deme!

This is my third cavolo nero harvest. Most of the time I just saute the greens over low heat and add chopped onion, garlic and oil. Other times I stew the greens with a bit of tomato and we eat it as a side dish. I plan to freeze a batch for ribolitta this winter.

We picked about 15 pounds of tomatoes yesterday and after Veronica went to bed last night I went into full sugo production. The tomatoes were nice a sweet since they had not been watered for over a week. They were also nice and ripe so I did not have to add sugar to my sauce.

Onions and garlic are the only other ingredients in my sugo. Other additions are oregano and tomato paste (if needed.)

It takes me about 2 hours from start to finish to make my sugo. I start by sauteing onion, garlic in good olive oil. When the onions are soft and golden, I add the tomatoes, skin and all to the pot and let it all cook and meld together. Add your herbs and season with salt and pepper. If your tomatoes are on the watery side, leave the cover off during the last hour to concentrate the sauce. When the sauce is finished I pass the sauce through a sieve to remove all the seeds and skins (this takes just a minute or two) and I am left with a very flavorful sauce that has a million uses. Try it today!

All contents copyright 2004-2007.
All rights reserved.

The Fruits of My Labor

My mom tells me not to garden since the bending over and the strain might hurt me. I have gotten some help from friends with the weeding but I still water my garden once a week and try to get out there once or twice a week to pick tomatoes, artichokes, lettuce and salad greens and herbs. I have started planting my fall and winter crops but with the baby arriving soon I really have to cut back.

Baby zucchini and fresh salad and sauce tomatoes. The variety called "Mamma Mia" is very similar to San Marzano. Can you believe I have been picking 10+ pounds a week? Next year I will have to plant fewer plants.

I love misticanza and so does Deme. It is a great accompaniment to meaty dishes. When the salad greens go wild and bolt, I end up picking just the hearts of the escarole, endive, frisee, radicchio, chicoria and other greens.

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All rights reserved.

Bamboo Mishap or Disaster?

We love the look of bamboo flooring. I like the fact it is a renewable resource and it is cheap. This summer we did our research and visited quite a few design centers and model homes. The bamboo is a really great choice for us since it is hard, strong and very durable. With the environmental sensibilities of people the live in the Northwest, we think this is a great selling point for us in the future.

Look to the gray area to the right of the flooring. When the nasty, old carpet was ripped up, it revealed that the concrete sub-floor below was cracked and not level. The floor installer will try to level out the floor with various concrete leveling products and we are keeping our fingers crossed.

All contents copyright 2004-2007.
All rights reserved.

Some Before's and After's

The work on the condo is progressing slowly but surely. We have painted and updated all the electrical as well as begun work on the floors. Here are a few before and after photos on the ongoing remodel.

The back porch/balcony was pressure washed, we painted the entire area, I removed all the old soil from the herb box and planted new herbs for our kitchen. The old flooring (industrial outdoor carpet) was removed and we tiled the entire area. It looks great. Now we just have to set up our outdoor bistro set and BBQ.

These are the strairs to the front door, we removed the carpet and pressure washed the area.

I chose a dark tile since the building is a blah and boring mustard yellow. Deme liked my choice and we think it turned out great!

We had to change the drain cover and totally clean the area before we tiled it. We also plan to refresh the area with a new coat of paint but it is not a priority right now.