United.

I had a moment today.  I was sitting at the kitchen table with my beautiful, too smart for her own good, little girl this morning, eating strawberries and toast for breakfast.  I clicked on cnn.com to do a quick check of the news (something I've found myself doing infinitely more since my family and I moved to Firenze 6 months ago), and I saw that one of the victims of the Boston tragedy was an 8 year old boy.  I couldn't help the tears from escaping as I thought of that poor child's family, of the numerous families that are crushed by these events, of the millions of Americans worldwide that are being shocked to the core at yet one more horrific even in which innocent people are harmed.

My sweet daughter asked me why I was crying.  I'll be honest, I don't make it a practice of being upset in front of my child.  I try to make things sunshine and roses as much as possible.  But when she asked me this, I didn't pause.  I said "some people did a very bad thing and they hurt a lot of people."  Do you know what my 3 year old's reply was?  "They shouldn't have done that Mommy.  No one should hurt anyone."  From the mouths of babes.

I studied Political Science in college.  I have a best friend who is a high ranking military man.  I like to think that I have a decent grasp on war, terrorism, and the effects that it has on society. What never occurred to me was how it would feel for people within my home country to attack one another, or for our country to be attacked from within.

I'm of the 9-11 generation.  I went to college in a big city where our bridges were cut off, our subways shut down for our own safety.  We huddled in our homes and cried together for our fellow countrymen.  Wars were fought.  No one won.

We can't get back the people that we lost.  Not the children that were needlessly murdered earlier in the year, not those lost during the marathon, and during the countless other "events" that have happened over the last few months.  Maybe because I am not currently living in my home country I should feel less upset.  Perhaps my world should feel a bit less rocked- but it's not.  I'm an American.  I love my country, my home.  I don't have one state that I feel tied to.  I feel tied to many.

We are moving home in a few months, and there is a part of me, as a mother, as a wife with husband that travels all over the world regularly, that feels like I should be afraid, but all I can think of is this: we shall overcome.  We're Americans dammit.  And one of the quintessential things that Americans do, come hell or high water, is we band the hell together and fight.  We fight for our independence, we fight for the right to run marathons, send our innocent children to school, to go to work without harm, but most of all, at the end of the day- we fight for each other.  United we stand.  So don't let the evil take over.  Send your kids to school, run your marathons, practice your politics and religions how you choose, because that's your right!  The day that we all stop living in the world, and start cowering afraid is the day that "they" win. 

If we can learn anything from the Italians, it's to keep on keepin' on.  Italians don't quit on themselves.  They don't quit on their country.  They've been bombed, sieged, overtaken, broken down, you name it, it's happened to these poor people.  But they cherish their culture, and they keep moving forward.  Isn't that all any of us can do?  Move forward, stay brave, and be strong?

Yes, I know I'm just a young woman who blogs about food and her family, but writing about my family and what we're having for dinner tonight just didn't feel right to me today.

Sugar Cookielicious!

 

It's cookie time!  Ky came home from work the other day seeming a bit "American treat" homesick, so I surprised him with some nummy yummy sugar cookies.  It also made my little girl who was pleading to make Santa some cookies pretty darn happy.  (Not sure how Santa's going to get any cookies since my little love and big love keep asking me to bake more of the dough that I froze for the big guy!)

 

Now I've got to give it to you straight, these cookies are AWESOME.  Full disclosure though, the recipe with the Crisco is just a bit better.  The cookies puff up nice and pretty with the Crisco, and if you're not a butter enthusiast, these are just a touch more buttery than they would be with Crisco.

 

This nice thing about these cookies, is that they make about 50 per batch (awesome, right?), and whenever I've been in a "baking pinch", these have saved me from having to devote hours that I don't have to making tons of cookies for that party/event/school lunch that my exhausted, semi-brain dead self may have forgotten about.  Whew.  Also, since I usually do these as 2 inch balls, if you shrink the balls down to 1 inch, you'll have twice as many cookies, and barely any extra work.

 

First, here is the recipe as I would make it in the States:

 

Sugar Cookies

 

You'll need:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees Farenheit.
• Whip the butter and shortening for 20 seconds.
• Add the sugar and vanilla.  Whip until creamy.
• Whip in the egg yolks.
• Beat in the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  Scraping the sides occasionally.
• Gradually beat in the flour. 
• When the dough is well mixed, shape it into 1 or 2 inch balls.
• Place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet, and pop them in the oven!
• Bake for 6 minutes.
• Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. 
• Transfer to an air tight container.
• Make sure your container is air tight so that your cookies stay chewy!

Enjoy!!

American Sugar Cookies Italian Style

 

You'll need

• 250 grams butter, softened (I could only find salted)
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 125 degrees Celsius.  (I tried it at a higher temperature and it made the cookies spread too much).
• If you're kickin' it old school like me and don't have a mixer in your beautiful new abode, here's what you do: 
• Put your softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs into a nice big bowl.  Wash your hands thoroughly.  Dry them thoroughly.  Dive those hands in and cream that sugar baby!  Squish until it's mixed!  You'll know it's ready when everything is feeling very thoroughly mixed.
• Next, work the cream of tartar and baking soda into the creamed sugar.
• Add the flour, and work that in until it's a nice, sticky-smooth dough.
• Create 1-2 inch balls.
• Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
• Bake for 5-7 minutes.
• Allow to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet.
• Place the cookies in an air tight container.

Enjoy!!

 

 

 

Laela wouldn't share!

 

Thanksgiving in Italy

Thanksgiving is in a few days, and here I am, kitchenless, living in a hotel in a foreign country.  I have to say, I've gone back and forth about how we'll celebrate.  Should we go to an Italian restaurant claiming to make classic "American Thanksgiving fare"?  Should I take a cooking class that one of the local cooking schools is hosting to learn a way to "fuse" the Italian idea of Thanksgiving with American Thanksgiving?

Maybe this is me having a moment where I don't want to change my culture.  Thanksgiving is not an Italian holiday.  It's American.  I'm American.  So me, with my crazy American, individualist, marching to the beat of my own drummer mindset, will be celebrating Thanksgiving late this year- when I can cook it, and celebrate it, in a way that makes me and my family feel at home.  Until then, I'll just continue to enjoy Italian culture and their culinary expertise.

The truth is, I'm a thankful person.  I was raised by a small village of people (particulary my parents) who taught me that thankfulness and family are not something you celebrate on single days.  You should celebrate them and appreciate them often. 

I'll never forget our first Thanksgiving with Laela.  I was so exhausted (she was barely three months old), that there was no way this milk machine was going to throw a dinner together.  My parents, my husband, and our baby daughter got ourselves together for a simple Thanksgiving dinner that Abner's (the best bbq you could get in the Northeast until they so sadly closed) gloriously threw together for us.  It was a great Thanksgiving- in my Daddy's words: "We should be spending time together...not hiding in the kitchen."

That's what Thanksgiving is.  It's about your family.  It doesn't matter if you're risking your lives frying a turkey, baking pies, having pizza, or gorging on pizza.  It matters if you're being together.  So this year, be present.  Put down the damn phones.  Turn off the computers.  Spend time together.  I'm not giving advice on how to get everything out of the oven in time, or how to get it all hot simultaneously.  I'm telling you to genuinely be thankful for the gifts you have been given.