We had a chance to Fall B’ACK in love with Nantucket this weekend

With Pumpkins a plentyThat gorgeous October lightMontauk Daisies still dancing in the sunPlanters that make you swoon

Sunsets from another world

Vignettes to die for

Autumnal colors and textures to delightCabbage patch kids

Dune berriesCranberry HarvestSensational Sedums

Cool coleus’Elegantly composed boxes

Simply putNantucket’s Bounty

While little acorns do grow mighty oaks, our yard is pretty densely wooded as it is.  So may as well get our fall craft on!

Hand paint acorns?  Can’t think of a good reason not to…

Simply gather some friends, pull out acrylic paints and brushes have the kids forage for fallen acorns!

The caps act like little handles for painting.  The brighter the better!

Voila, a fun way to freshen up the fall decor!

Happy Friday!

We can all feel it, that change in the air, as fall greets us.

In the morning now, before I wake up and the fall madness takes hold; with new routines, back packs to fill and lunches to pack, I find myself enjoying those cool fall breezes coming in through the window.  While holding onto some of my favorite summer memories including a trip to Italy.

One of the many images that have stayed with me are the windows.  I was fascinated with the Tuscan shutters and Italian windows

In the summer, Italians know that windows and shutters must be closed by 9am to hold in the night’s coolness and then at sunset they must be opened throughout the house to cambiare l’aria (change the air) throughout the night. Of course, the window in the bedroom will be closed as the occupants retire to prevent the dreaded draft (colpo d’aria) from striking the exposed necks of unwary sleepers. In the morning the process starts again.

A pretty metaphoric cycle for life and the seasons, eh?

Windows overlooking beautiful Piazza’s and the bustling life below

Sometimes the world gets shut out

And then welcomed back in again.

Windows to freshly dry clothes, but never to air dirty laundry:)

Windows to take in the aromas of pizzas and pastas and all sorts of cafe life.

Perhaps in this moment, the window of summer is now closing– but that window of fall is wide open.

Enjoy your Fall Friday.

Home now from an amazing family adventure to Italy.

Processing all the wonderfulness that transpired, it seems fitting for an initial post to break down our initial Italian experience by the numbers.  So here we go!

(#6) The number of hours ahead of E.S.T. Italy is.

Sure a wee bit of jet lag is involved, and yah our whole household wakes up around 3:00 a.m. now, but totally worth it!

(20,000,000) Numbers of sunflowers we encountered

The best fields we saw were on the way to Cortona, which was the town that inspired the book/movie Under the Tuscan Sun.

(#40) The amount of years Brunello wines produced in the best years can be stored up to.

We toured the Fattoria Del Barbi Winery in Montalcino and tasted their delicious wine.  This winery has been a family business for over 200 years

(#800) The number of olive trees on the property where we stayed in amazingly charming village of Lucignano

This isn’t an estimation (unlike the sunflower figure above), it’s an actual number.  They weren’t quite ripe/big yet.  Olives in Tuscany get harvested in November.

(#8) The average number of courses we would have for dinner

(#8) A typical dinner would last hours and may start with a “gift from the chef” a.k.a. amuse buche; then bread with olive oil, panzenella salad, prosciutto with melon, a pecorino course, one or two pasta dishes (such as this wild boar 2 inch thick tagliatelle we enjoyed one night), a protein such as tuscan beef,  and dessert.  No wonder my pants got tight on this trip–though I wouldn’t sacrifice a single bite.

(#3) Daily minimum number of Aperol Spritz’ I consumed.

They are simple to make: 3 parts Prosecco, 1 part Aperol and a splash of soda.  They are fairly light with about(#120) calories in them a pop, and provide lovely refreshment for a hot day (see below…)

(#36) The Average Celsius temp. while there.  P.S. That is about 99 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Thank gosh we had a pool to cool off after our daily touring.

(#9) The number of passengers that could fit in our rented Renault Trafic van

Including a middle seat in the front.  Safe?  Not really. Thrill ride and good access to really the only a.c. we could access while in Italy, yes.  Oh and yeah, Italian drivers are a bit crazy.  Sorry in advance to any Italians who are reading this.

(#5) Numbers of Duomos we saw

We caught them in Rome, Cortona, Siena, Pienza, Florence. 85% of the country is Catholic.  After a while, we couldn’t help ourselves and busted into STYX lyrics, “Domo arigato…” Where there were no Duomos, there would surely be churches.  There are plenty of opportunities to confess while in Italy.

(#7) Pizzas we consumed.  Considering we were in Pizza’s homeland for 9 days, I think this is a modest #, perhaps in hindsight we underperformed in this area, should have eaten more.  Our best was a quattro formaggi in Lucignano, still dreaming about it.

Alrighty, I’m hungry now.  It’s almost lunchtime and after that as a final number accounting from 1:00-4:00 will be Siesta. 

Ciao!

Every summer, for the past 5 years or so we’ve hosted a summer-themed dinner party, partly planned to keep our hosting/chef’ing skills sharp and also for the timing of our favorite season of the year to entertain.

The parties have ranged from a lobster boil for 25 that frankly almost broke us…to the simplest one yet, this past weekend.

Come check it out!

In preparation, we took out a bunch of books from the library. I was inspired by an old book by the Barefoot Contessa and her admission that the worst dinner party she ever hosted was one of her first, where she fussed way too much (for like a week in advance) and was exhausted by the time the guests arrived.

So we aimed to keep it “simple.”   We wanted to host the group in our sunken garden.  Surrounded by raised beds of herbs, veggies and cutting flowers to set the tone for atmosphere.  And the sudden opportunity to install globe lights around the perimeter (see the final pic.) as we had been meaning to do!

We concluded that the distance from the garden to the kitchen and grill meant no game/guest-time cooking/plating.  So the meal would be served family style and cold or warm at the most.

A menu was determined.  We would be serving; Momofuko’s Pork Shoulder in lettuce cups with a bevy of sauces and pickled stuff…

A cold peanut noddle salad…

And a refreshing heap of watermelon, feta and mint.

A guest offered to bring something, so we happily took them up on the offer and asked to bring dessert.  In keeping with cas. I even said store bought would be cool, because even Barefoot Contessa cooks only part of the meal and buys the rest.

We also wanted to make sure that folks could get drinks readily, so we put them on wheels.  In hindsight, I wish we would have iced down the wheel barrel rather than wagon for larger capacity!

I do LOVE to set a pretty table, but this time–I was particularly proud of the fact that I bought nothing new for decor/serving.  I set table cloths that were old IKEA recycled drapery panels, brought out our Seattle Glassybaby’s, mismatched the dishes for added casualness, etc.  And, all the flowers were freshly cut from the garden.

  Our friend’s seem to love the fresh flavors.  There is just something about being outside on a summery night that puts everyone at ease.

And at the end of the day, there’s not much better satisfaction than knowing you pulled off a good night whether simple or elaborate as a team.

Cheers and happy summer dinner partying!