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.

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.

Summer Pasta with Breaded Chicken

If breaded chicken and pasta are not the most toddler friendly- no forget that, everyone friendly foods on the face of the earth, I simply don't know what is.  We don't eat breaded chicken and pasta everyday, but I don't think Laela and Kyle would complain if we did. 

Breaded chicken is easy to make- and easy to ruin.  If you cook it on too high of a temperature, you wind up with burnt chicken on the outside, and oftentimes the chicken will be raw in the center.  If you put chicken in a cold pan that has cold oil in it, the breading will soak up all the oil and won't get the right amount of crunch to it, so you can wind up with a greasy, not-so-delicious mess.  The trick is heating it to medium and not a degree higher, letting the oil get hot in the pan, and putting the breaded chicken in the hot pan, ready to cook itself to perfection.

This particular dish sprung to mind one day when Laela was begging for pasta, Kyle wanted breaded chicken, and all I wanted were some veggies.  It's a happy compromise with a nice, light sauce for a hot summer day.

Summer Pasta with Breaded Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (If your butcher has cutlets, make your life easier and pick those up)
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Pasta of your choosing (we use Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti- which by the way, they really do use this kind in Italy!  We were just there and it was the only brand in their grocery stores that I'd ever heard of!)
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 heads of broccoli or broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup white cooking wine (or dry white wine)
• 2 sprigs thyme, leaves only
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 stalk of rosemary, leaves chopped
• 1Tb butter
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

• Put a pot of water on to boil with a few tablespoons of salt.
• Cook according to instructions.
• In a medium sized bowl, whisk the egg and milk together.  I sometimes add a dash of salt and pepper to the egg wash for extra flavor.  The salt also helps mix the egg and milk together more efficiently.
• In another medium bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
• Make sure that all fat is cut from your chicken.  You can make this easier on yourself by using some really sharp scissors rather than using a knife.
• Heat a large sized skillet to medium heat.
• Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan.  Your objective is to cover the bottom of the pan with oil. 
• After about a minute, begin the process of "dredging" the chicken.  First, dip it in the egg wash, then dip it in the breading.  The trick is to keep one hand wet- for dipping in the egg wash, and one hand dry- for dipping in the breading. 
• Once the chicken has been breaded, place it in the frying pan.  If the chicken is sliced into thin cutlets, cook for 3 minutes per side.  If it is not pounded or sliced thin, it should cook for about 5 minutes per side.  (You will see the chicken begin to looked more "cooked"  up the sides of the chicken.  When you see this, it is time to flip the chicken.  Once you have flipped it, a trick of knowing it is done is pressing on it with a spatula or your finger.  If it is firm, it is done.  Try not to slice into it right away.  You don't want to lose all the yummy juices that make it so delicious!)  Continue this process with the chicken until all of the chicken is cooked.  You can place the chicken on a plate that is lined with paper towel if you would like to soak up some of the oil from the pan.
• **Make sure to keep an eye on the oil level in the pan.  You want to make sure that there is always a bit of oil to cook the chicken in so that the breading does not burn, so that the breading gets an adequate crisp, and so that the chicken doesn't stick to the pan.
• Heat a medium sized skillet to medium heat.
• Add the chopped pepper, garlic, chicken broth, herbs, peas, butter, and broccoli to the pan.
• Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Raise the heat to medium high. 
• Add the wine.
• Keep an eye on the veggies.  Stir regularly to prevent burning.  The wine and broth will bubble violently. 
• After about two minutes, or when the wine and broth have reduced and thickened, remove from heat.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the pasta to the sauce.  Cook on low heat to mix it all together for one to two minutes.
• Top with the chicken and a fresh grating of parmesan cheese.
• Enjoy!