Today, it’s The XX

I get sucked into things. I get hooked, until I ruin the fun out of it. I felt this way about La Roux, Janet Jackson, and to a lesser extend, Deadmau5.  Today, it’s The XX.

It’s sunday night. Time to share.

Tasty Thursday!

Bucket List: 30 Before 30 UPDATE

Another update on my 30 Before 30 list. If you want to help me with any of these, let me know. I’m open to help. In fact, I’d prefer it. 🙂

The big 3-0 is coming up. Less than three months. I am excited. Aren’t you?

Run a marathon
Go camping
Learn how to gamble.
Begin writing a cookbook
Tell someone I like, how I feel about them, regardless of the outcome
Begin writing a book.
Watch a movie I’ve never heard of before.
Make someone feel special.
Sleep in until Noon for once
Figure out a system for managing my socks.
Write a song
Surprise an old friend.
Learn how to properly swim
Get to under 200 lbs.
Change someone’s life for good.
Attempt to grow a plant
Roadtrip through California by myself..visiting friends, breweries, wineries.
Make someone laugh till they cry.
Cook a complete meal for someone other than myself.
Do a real pullup or ten.
Properly cook an artichoke.
Learn to dance
Learn to skate (ice or rollerblade)
Show someone the Grand Canyon
Go to Moab and visit Arches National Park
Brew beer at home.
Buy a new computer (PC)
Use my job skills to help someone outside the workplace.
Ride in a helicopter
Skydive

Memories of Italy

I’m not going to re-hash the memoirs from my 2007 trip to Italy, but today I was going through some old belongings, and I found a card file. Full of business cards that I have collected over the last 10-15 years. Old credit cards, my student ID from the University of Utah. You name it, and it’s in there.

I stumbled upon the business card of “Il Vecchio Dado”. IVD is a restaurant in Pisa, Italy. I kept the business card, because it’s easy to forget the name of a local joint, in a country, far, far away.

When I went to Italy with my parents, I had this mission. A mission to find the best Italian food in the world. Seems pretty simple, right? Well, it was a bit more challenging than I thought. I started off my culinary adventure in Venice, and then ventured into Rome.

Now, if there is anything to know about me, it’s that I LOVE FOOD. I know where to look for good food. It’s not a mystery to me. Not even in foreign countries. I struck out in Venice and Rome. I figure, food in two very well-known cities should be amazing, but since I didn’t find it, I had given up. Before my trip ended, I did venture out to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Pisa seemed like one of those cities at first. You know the type. An economy that revolves around one or two tourist attractions, with nothing left outside of what you “know”.

Down on my food luck, I did the unthinkable. I asked the hotel for some restaurant suggestions. The only name that came up, was IVD. I reluctantly walked in with my folks, and enjoyed the best Italian meals of my life. We actually ate here twice.

I remember eating “Pizza Frutta De Mare”. A lovely pizza that shattered any notion of a typical pizza. I ate the toppings first, and I was treated to an array of clams, mussels, shrimps and calamari–all atop a crust that had the most subtle hint of garlic. It was to die for!

On my second trip, I had a gnocchi that was beautifully paired with a porcini mushroom sauce, and much to my liking, red pepper flakes adorned the top.

Upon my own research, I’ve come to find out that this restaurant is over 200 years old. I have no doubt in my mind, that I will return to Italy, and the very first place I will go, is Il Vecchio Dado.

Turkey Noodle Soup

First off, I’d like to wish all of you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope this year brings all of you all of life’s good things.

Today, I’m making Turkey Noodle Soup. It’s almost done…another 45 minutes of simmering to go. In a large stock pot, I filled with water–I put in one turkey thigh, one leftover thigh bone from last night, loosely chopped celery, garlic, onions, carrots, peppercorns, a lemon slice, salt, and let it simmer for one hour. Then I took the meat off the bones and put it back into the soup. Since then, it’s been simmering for an hour.  A few minutes ago, I quartered up some whole wheat spaghetti noodles, and threw it in.

I can’t wait to see how this turns out!