haircut! food! love it!

As per usual, I have lots to write about and not so much time - that is, unless Hendrik decides to nap for three hours. Man, that would be amazing for me, for now... I could blog and nap and read and clean up the kitchen but hm... would that mean that he wouldn't go to bed until all hours? Possibly. Okay, so let's hope he naps for a solid hour, and let's hope I can find enough clarity to properly address all topics at hand.

First: We gave him his first haircut this afternoon! EEK! It's been weeks and weeks now that we've been eyeballing the straggly tufts behind his ears and reconsidering the whole baby mullet look that he sort of had going on, and we finally got around to doing something about it. After a fabulous fresh pasta lunch for all (and that includes the babe), we pulled out the scissors and Steve went to work. Hendrik was happily distracted by The Eye Book and his hairbrush, and thankfully there were no scissor pokes or uncomfortable snips. He was happy and we were happy with the results; he somehow looks older! And different. Okay, so not so so different, but a little bit. He just had to look top top for his birthday that is just around the corner. (YIKES!)

We're having an awesome time with the Shants visiting and I'm in the process of possibly providing some extra special entertainment for her while she's here. Since the Italian Men's league is on a break and the opportunity to see Steve play is not going to arise, I just though Well hey, maybe she can see me play. Say what? Yeah, exactly. It goes like this: the day we arrived I had to ask in the car on our way from Verona to Trento whether or not there were any women's teams in the city. Yes there are two - one in Serie D and one in National 1, divisions that respectively fall fifth and sixth in line from the top spot (I think). And since then I've emailed back and forth with different people about going to a practice, but nothing has ever worked out: their practice schedules conflict with Steve's and with no one to really watch Hendrik and put him to bed etc, it just hasn't happened. Until now! I finally went to a practice on Wednesday night from 8:00 - 10:00, with Super Shanti at home babysitting. I felt a bit awkward (hitting especially) but it all went well - hurray! And the team has a game on Monday and they asked me if I want to/can play in it - !! I said um yeah sure! let's see about getting everything done in time and if it works it works and hurray for that. SO... we'll see. I need a letter from the Canadian federation and a few other things and whether or not that will happen before Monday is unclear, but the bottom line is this: I had a ton of fun playing and being back in the gym, and it was amazing having something of my own for two hours. And too, that that something went down in Italian was grande. We shall see... fingers crossed that it can be something that can happen on a regular basis.

fresh pasta goodness

CLUB SANDWICH FACES:

Okay, so what else! Ak... Shanti is here and it's amazing having a friend around, but without the let's be tourists and go out and about and see this see that busy busy vibe. We're getting out and doing stuff, sure, but there's no pressure from anyone to hit all the tourist spots and/or fill all hours of the day with an agenda. So far we've had leisurely mornings, a few walks, downtown visits, some MAJORLY delicious meals and hmm... that's about it. I have to blog about the food because really, it's been top top notch in the most outstanding of ways. We've had two fresh pasta meals of a combination five or six different goodies; stuffed gnocchi rolls (pizza, cheese, spinach and ricotta), and four different kinds of ravioli: speck (prosciutto) and walnut, spinach and ricotta (again), pumpkin, and ham and parmesan, all from our favourite fresh pasta place. So so so so good. And last night we had homemade tomato soup and club sandwiches for dinner, and chocolate and pear cake for dessert - !!! The sandwiches took first place and the soup came a close second; the cake took the bronze medal because even though it was good, it didn't live up to my expectations (or critical comparisons to the insanely delicious pear cake we ate at the restaurant around the corner a few weeks ago). The recipe is here, but the next time I want a pear and chocolate infused cake, I'll either go to Maso Finisterre or add pear chunks to white cake batter. Anyways! The sandwiches were so good that we almost couldn't talk while we were eating them... the ridiculously sumptuous tastes of bacon, chicken, cheese, tomato, lettuce and mayo required such attention that any distractions were just, well, distractions - and that sure can't be tolerated! Ohhhhh too funny. Pizza is on the menu tonight and I'll just finish this food section by saying that of course we're putting on the ritz in the kitchen (not really) just for Shanti, seeing as how Italian food (and club sammies) is about a bazillion trizillion times better than Russian food; while she's here we've got to do it up.

9 minutes of egg beating, NINE!

oooooh yum, looking good!

the finished product!

I'm sure there's more but I've got to get some photos up and if I can squeeze in a few pages of my book before Hendrik wakes up that sure would make me happy. More coming soon - including notes on a day and half - Saturday afternoon and Sunday - in Vicenza and Venice, woop!

on the balcony this afternoon - warm November sun, yum!