Hey everyone! After 10 wonderful days in beautiful Italy, Ryan and I are back home. We had an amazing trip. The scenery was beautiful, the history intriguing and the food fantastic. It was exactly the way we remembered it. I decided to write this post to give you just a little glimpse into our adventure.

Ryan and I are headed to ITALY!! More specifically Milan, Bellagio, Siena and Rome. And it should not be surprising that the food and history geek in me is proudly showing itself.  After all we’ll be seeing ancient buildings, churches and maybe even George Clooney. We’ll walk where Julius Caesar walked and stay in a walled city.  There will be shopping and of course we’ll be enjoying plenty of wine, mozzarella, pasta, gelato and did I say mozzarella? You can guarantee that Ryan will be taking tons of pictures of the sights and food and I will be sure to share them when we get back.

But I couldn’t leave without making sure you all would continue to get recipes.  So I worked on and scheduled some posts to go up for the two weeks that we will be gone. You should expect a new post every other day.

I’m not sure if we’ll have any internet access while we’re away so if you have any questions about any of the recipes, leave them in the comments or shoot me an email and I will respond as soon as we get back. Ciao!

A few months ago I wrote a very optimistic post about My Little Garden.  I started out with oregano, basil, chives, tomatoes, habaneros, parsley and jalapenos.  I was dreaming of caprese salads, fresh salsa and fresh herbs in my pastas. Well lets just say, my little garden is now a lot littler than I had originally anticipated.

I just wanted to write a quick note to talk about a some changes you may have noticed on the blog today. When this blog was started last September, I really didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted. What I did have was a picture that Ryan took on our honeymoon in Italy that I thought would work perfectly for the theme so we picked colors that complimented that photo and used them in the blog. However, over the last few months, as the blog has evolved I realized that I wanted a different look. I was looking for something a little brighter and a little cleaner than we originally designed. I wanted something that would compliment my husbands lovely photography a bit better. So after a couple weeks of brainstorming and a lot of hard work from my wonderful and very talented husband, we launched a redesign of the blog late last night. Don’t worry, you will still get the same content and I will still be updating everyday. It is just going to look a little bit different and I hope you all enjoy it. – Des

Well it is the last weekend in June which means that the 4th of July is just around the corner.  4th of July for me has always been about fireworks, family and food. Since I have moved away to a place where fireworks are illegal and my family is a couple hundred miles away, our 4th of July celebrations have changed slightly but one thing remains the same; we always have a wonderful array of food. To me, no 4th of July celebration is complete without food, whether we’re serving burgers, grilled steaks, dips or salads you will usually find me hovering over the food table.  Since many of you will also be throwing your own parties this upcoming 3 day (yay!) weekend, I have put together a list of some of my recipes that would be a great addition to any 4th of July celebration.  Enjoy!

View my 4th of July Recipes »

I can’t believe that May is already over, it seems like only last week it was pouring down rain and it seemed like the sun would never shine in Seattle again. Now here we are starting June and the sun has finally started to shine. It is amazing what a little sunshine can do for your mood. For me it makes me want to get out of the house, explore the city, take the dog for a walk, head to the farmer’s market and of course enjoy a picnic outside with my husband.

I thought that Spring would never ever get here, but it sure did feel like it was here this weekend. We had sunny skies and it was about 70 degrees which is quite a pleasant experience after a Seattle winter. I especially love this time of year because of all of the beautiful, fresh produce that starts to pop up. Right now there are plenty of bunches of asparagus around and before you know it beautiful red tomatoes and fresh spicy peppers will be popping up everywhere. I can’t wait! Every year around this time I always say, you know I should start a little garden. And every year I would put it off. Well not this year! This weekend I decided to head to my local grocery store and pick up all that I needed to start my own little garden.

I have a love hate relationship with rain. For example, I hate when it rains on Sunday because it makes me want to do nothing. However, I also love when it rains on Sunday because it makes me want to do nothing. Confusing? I know, but let me explain.