Welcome to Friday Y’all! (sorry, just had to throw some Southern at ya!)
I don’t know about you, but this has been one long week! I’m glad to be getting back into the blogging spirit, but this week has just been tough. Work is kicking my butt (as per the usual), social life is pretty hectic, and I have TONS of personal stuff going on that we can start talking about REALLY, REALLY soon!
Whether you’re traveling or staying put this weekend, I hope you have a great time with friends and family. Find a veteran and thank him or her, as I’m sure we can NEVER understand the individual sacrifices each serviceman and servicewoman has made to serve our country.
But most importantly, enjoy some time for yourself! A little alone time does the mind, body and soul some good…and if I could just figure this piece of advice out for myself, then who knows where I’d be!
So in the spirit of mindless activities, today I give you my favorite food/life/funny online stories from this past week. I hope you enjoy just as much as I did while reading!
As I’m planning to have some downtime this weekend, make sure to send me your favorite stories from this week so that I can stay fully abreast of all important national and world news! If you’re looking for cooking ideas, feel free to browse the recipe index or you can just make this, this and this!
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you guys next week!
When you think of Italian wine, many thoughts may pop into your head – a juicy and fruit-forward Chianti, a lush, rich Brunello di Montalcino, a powerful and structured Barolo. However, you probably don’t immediately think about Siciliy, the Italian island located in the central Mediterranean, which surprisingly is one of the biggest wine producing regions in Italy.
For many years, Sicily’s wine production revolved around a fortified dessert wine named Marsala and cheap blending wine sold to other parts of Europe. In the 1990s, producers began to focus on quality over quantity and reduced crop yields at many vineyards to help create more distinctive and structured wines.
By the 21st century, a pioneering wave of young winemakers were transforming the Sicilian wine industry, planting new grape varieties and adhering closely to the French concept of terroir – that the geography, geology and climate of a specific region give a wine its distinct character. Sicily’s numerous microclimates generated a great diversity of wines of increasingly high quality.
Although wine is now produced all throughout Sicily, the Etna region in particular is producing some of the most interesting and exciting wines in the world. This region is centered around Mount Etna, which stands as Europe’s largest active volcano at nearly 11,000 feet above sea level. The climate on Etna, with warm, sunny days and cool temperatures at night, is ideal for wine growing, provided that the winemakers avoid the relatively frequent volcanic eruptions.
This past Saturday, Eric and I headed deep into Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for New York’s first “The Great Googa Mooga” food festival. Despite the heat, long travel times, and EXTREMELY long lines for food, we did have a great time eating the food we were able to score (and drinking the wine we were able to drink!)!
I’m sure you guys (if you’re the least bit interested) may have already seen/heard the terrible reviews from this past weekend. People are mad, and I’m pretty sure NYC’s current rain storm captures the feelings of the festival’s organizers best.
So if you’re wondering why I put myself through all this, then I have answers for you!
My great friend, Katzie (aka, super-awesome-amazingly-successful pastry chef), had a stand where she made some of the best Dirt Cake I’ve ever eaten (see “dirt” pictures above). Eric and I are STILL talking about it!
So, I’ll quit blabbing and leave you with the pictures above. More on the festival to come tomorrow!
While we can probably all agree that Marie Antoinette’s “let them eat cake” phrase was somewhat politically polarizing, today’s inspiration post definitely shows that I agree with the logic behind her infamous statement!
Oh the beauty and wonder of cake. Endless possibilities, too much for one girl to eat in one sitting, and WAY too much sugar. But who the heck cares.
Especially when we’re talking cakes!
So today I present to you some of my favorite cakes from my Pinterest board:
