Roman Holiday and a Day in Paris

i'm back to the grind this week after a really dope two weeks spent throughout Italy and Paris with my Tony, my Vanny, my mom and my dad. tony and I spent a week and a half in Florence, Rome and Calabria in 2010 and it was pretty special to get to relive that with my parents and van for this trip.

the trip was a nice pace and we saw a lot in our time there, considering we were towing my almost two year old along the whole time. I have to say, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better internationally traveling twenty two month old than my son. I will give this kid props for the rest of my life for being such a rockstar on our trip. hours and hours and HOURS in a planes and trains and taxis with jet lag and luggage to lug and language barriers is never fun. it's hard enough for grown adults to keep their shit together under those circumstances and I knew that expecting my toddler to was insane. I also knew, however, that if any kid could do it, it would be my kid. were he not such an adaptable child, I would never have thought to bring him halfway across the world on vacation. somehow I just had a feeling that he could pull this off and he totally did. he is such a champ. he is the best.

our first five days were spent in FLORENCE. beautiful, beautiful Firenze. on our last trip I wanted to sob as our train departed Florence because I already missed it. I wonder if as I see more of the world if I'll still regard Florence as my favorite place. I really, really, really love it there.

highlights of our Florence stay:

• our old world, adorable rental apartment, with it's view of the duomo from the windows
• the food! including a new trattoria across from where we were staying. the owner was so sweet to van and gave him complimentary biscotti both times we ate there.
• taking a night walk with tony only to find the coolest cover band in the world was playing a small club right on our same street. I was lured in by their cover of "stay with me" by rod stewart and stayed long enough to hear them cover wilco! so crazy. they were adorable.
• watching van chase birds around the boboli gardens.
• our dinner at café academia on a recommendation from an old friend. van pinched his fingers between the table and his high chair and the whole restaurant about stopped functioning. the wait staff rushed to bring him ice and kiss his hand! they brought him a bowl of strawberries and a cookie, and later gave him a cup of juice with a little straw. as customers filed out after their dinners (and long after van had stopped crying) they came by to pet his head and make sure his hand was okay. it was the sweetest display I've ever seen. Italians LOVE babies.
• a day trip to pisa and lucca, where I had the best bruschetta of my life.
• david!

next up was ROME. my italian family lives 5-6 hours south (by train) from rome. if we didn't have to essentially pass it to get to my family i would not have chosen to visit there again. i liked rome last time, but once was enough for me. i feel like i saw everything there was to see there in 2010. it's a great city, but it's really big and really busy. it's the opposite of quaint.

highlights from rome:

• our beautiful apartment! it was located in a neighborhood pretty far from any tourist attractions, which is probably why it was so affordable. we didn't mind though, since it was literally only steps away from the metro station which takes you anywhere you need to get to. the apartment was decorated beautifully and the owner was so sweet and accommodating. we adored her and her little son silvestro, who is only a month older than van.
• the collosseum and the roman forum. it's such a trip to be somewhere so old!
• the capuchin crypt. just, wow. 
• the trevi fountain - van probably threw 5 euro in there.
• dinner at da mario. my cousin nicola's cousin works there with his brother. we had the best meal there on our last trip and knew we had to go back. marcello hooked it up once again with course after course of delicious food. my favorite part was the tempura battered zucchini flowers. 

after three busy days in rome we headed south to the region of calabria. my family hails from a rustic little village outside of cosenza called TORANO CASTELLO.

highlights from torano castello:

• the spectacular enormous moon that shined over the village the first nights we were there. it was gigantic! i've never seen anything like it. 
• getting to meet little angelo, my cousin's baby. van loved him too. he was a friendly little thing, and has the best head of thick black hair.
• speeding around the village streets in nic's tiny car, going from house to house to greet family members. every place we stopped a relative attempted to give us something...wine, beer, coca cola, cookies, cake...
• dinner at my granddad's cousin elena's house. we had salami, bread, olives and peppers first. next was the rigatoni in tomato sauce with short ribs. then out came the breaded cod, broccoli rabe, roasted potatoes and risotto balls. last was salad, followed by fruit and coffee. ridiculous! so much food, and everything was fresh and delicious.
• dinner at my granddad's cousin sante's house. getting to meet sante's grandson and namesake who is just a little older than van. his wife prepared a huge meal similar to Elena's, only with home made pasta and meatballs instead of ribs and cannolis for dessert. nic translated sante's wife's recipe for these really delicious pickled peppers everyone there makes. I can't wait to try do it myself! we ate and drank and passed around old letters, cards and photos that my great grandfather had sent to his Italian nieces and nephews that they saved all these years!
• on our last night in the village our family threw us a little pizza party at my granddad's cousin's bar/restaurant. a friend of the family came with his son and brought two accordions and a guitar! they all took turns passing the instruments around and playing songs.
• a vacuum packed sopressata my cousin sidaro handed me as we were leaving, for me to enjoy back home in California. :)

we left torano castello via a 5 hour train to rome. we boarded our plane that evening and arrived in PARIS!

while our apartment's location was fantastic, the actual dwelling left a lot to be desired. it was up four flights of stairs that smelled like the water from a carnival ride. the apartment was itty bitty - smaller than it appeared in the photos on air bnb, and with lots more clutter. oh well. we were only going to be there for two nights and one day. we'd survive.

here our my highlights from my day in Paris:

• literally turning the corner past our apartment and seeing the top of the Eiffel tower.
• the Eiffel tower! duh! we went and saw it first thing and it is amazing.
• the store fronts. Parisians take such care in making things look beautiful. the baked goods look so pretty lined up in the windows of the patisseries. the dry cleaner displayed a vintage dress form with a chic coat. the florists fill the windows and street outside the shop with flowers organized by color. the cafes and restaurants are each decorated in their unique way, with big signs out front in cool fonts. you can tell just by taking a quick jaunt around the neighborhood that beauty and style play a big part in Parisian culture. I appreciated that very much.
• our funny waiters at the café where we had our first French meal. I had bœuf bourguignon. the bread it came with was SO good. probably the best bread ever, and i'm a lover and eater of bread so I feel pretty qualified to make that judgment.
• taking a walk in the 9th and stumbling upon block after block after block of music stores! a store of guitars next to a store of recording equipment next to a store full of pedals next to a store of drums...it went on and on forever. tony was in heaven.
• dinner at chartier, on a recommendation from my boss. he goes there every time he is in paris, and i'm so glad he told me to make the trip out there. I guess it's a bit touristy and doesn't offer anything mind blowing, but the atmosphere is fun and the building that it's in is totally charming.
• taking van on the carousel at the Eiffel tower after dinner and watching it twinkle with lights for 5 minutes at the top of the hour. it was literally marvelous. I could stare at it forever.

we were there, and now we're here. things seem to different when you've been somewhere so far away. i'm glad to be home. as fun and wonderful as it all was, living out of a suitcase and relying on public transit and taxis it quite tiring and hectic, especially with a young toddler. I was sad to leave, but looking forward to a diversity of  meals, water pressure and a working hair straightener.

we arrived at SFO last Wednesday afternoon. my brother in law took us to get Mexican food on our way home. you can take the Stizzos out of California, but you can't take the California out of the Stizzos.

The Freakin' (Wedding, Birthday) Weekend

This year I got to spend my birthday in lovely Santa Barbara celebrating my oldest friend's wedding. despite my kid puking in the car on the way up and crapping on the floor of our rental home (seriously...and it wasn't totally his fault. i can explain later...) it was a really fantastic weekend.

we took my sister and brother in law along with us so they could watch van while we were at the wedding. it was so nice to have them not only to babysit the night of, but just to offer help throughout the weekend. i feel so lucky to be surrounded my family and friend/family that are always around and willing to help out with van. i think that's the best way to grow up. i digress....

we got into Santa Barbara and checked in to the really great house we rented from a vacation rental site. it was awesome and quiet had an incredible view of the city. after settling in, we had a few beers and headed out to dinner.

we combed State Street and landed on this place. it was really good! the ambiance was nice, and they gave us a bomb dessert because they felt bad about accidentally adding tomatoes to my brother in law's salad. hah! van was exhausted and stayed asleep pretty much the whole time.

the next day aja and shea took van out shopping and to the beach while tony and i attended the wedding. my friend Kaitlin and her husband Matt both have ties in the wedding/event industry. needless to say, their celebration was off the chain. i didn't take too many photos, but did manage to snap these two of their stunning table décor and the area where the dinner was held. the ceremony took place at the Santa Barbara mission, and the reception was at the Bacara Resort and Spa. both venues were so pretty.

                

 in addition to all the superficial aspects of the wedding, the toasts were great and the overall vibe was really loving and warm. it was one of the best weddings I've ever been a part of.

on sunday we packed up, went to lunch and took van to the ocean once more before we hit the road. this little bugger is so fearless, i tell you. he was all up in that water.

 the drive home was LONG. we needed to stop and get something to eat, but the only place for miles and miles was Pea Soup Andersen's. if it wasn't in the middle of freaking nowhere, no one would ever go there. this place could not exist anywhere else. their specialty is pea soup, for christ sakes. the waitress was old and mean and they gave tony two bottom buns on his hamburger.

we left for Italy three days after returning from our long Santa Barbara weekend because we are crazy like that. it's been an eventful month. chaotic, but worth it. i'd do it again in a heartbeat!

That Time Nels Cline Acknowledged My Presence

weekend highlights:

cooler weather (rain even!) and nels cline of wilco!

a couple weeks ago my dad told me that he read in the newspaper (thank god someone is still reading physical newspapers or else i'd totally have missed this) that the guitarist from wilco would be coming to sacramento with a group called unfold ordinary mind. it's comprised of a contra alto carinet player, a couple tenor saxophonists, a drummer and nels cline on the guitar. 

the venue is called antiquite, a place in sacramento that i'd driven by a million times without giving it a second thought. i overheard some guy there saying that the place used to house a stained glass repair shop, and is now purposed as an antique dealer/winery? i don't know. visit the web site.

anyways, the place was really cool for an intimate show. the vibe was really different - they only served wine and water and the median age of attendees was probably 50. lots of arty sophisticated older people were in attendance. not arty hippie boho types, but arty upper middle class college professor types. herringbone blazers and white ponytails. we were two of about seventy in attendance.

we went because we are wilco fans and love nels cline. when sky blue sky came out my friends and i were buzzing about impossible germany and it's guitar solo for weeks. literally. (check it out below, if you like. it starts at about 2:45)

it was cool to see him in this unique kind of hometown setting, without his tables full of guitar pedals in front of an audience of thousands and thousands. he was wearing thick functional eyeglasses and reading sheet music! hah! all the musicians were incredible. and the drummer is originally from sacramento! he was ridiculous. crazy good.

we milled around for a few minutes after their set because tony likes to meet people. i am notoriously horrified by meeting people i admire for fear that they will be mean and dismissive or act put out, causing me to be sad for the rest of my life. as the show ended, we watched nels buy a glass of red wine and head back to the little stage to break down his gear. he breaks down his own gear - just like a normal person! it was so weird. anyways, tony said hello and complimented him on his show. he was super, super, super sweet. he thanked us for coming and for complimenting him. he waved at me and smiled and wanted to know if the levels sounded right from where we were sitting. we told him it was great, and he told us to have a good weekend. it was rad. 

Jukebox Songs

I love being at a semi-empty bar with friends and having access to the jukebox. i'll even pay the extra however many cents to for the extra special songs (you know - on the digital touch screen new jukeboxes. there are no old school ones left in my town, I don't think. :( )

I am a really good jukebox song picker. I like to select my tunes, sit back and watch people react. I find the songs that people forgot they love.

I heard some old rod stewart on my way to work this morning and it reminded me of what a good song selector I am. here are some of my favorites.

STAY WITH ME is an awesome choice. I freaking love old Rod. don't even get me started on how boring he is now. it hurts me to think about it.

 

 

FAST AS YOU by Dwight Yoakam is such a cool, simple song. you don't have to be a cowboy or have tiny pencil legs to enjoy this one. that organ? get out of here. so good.

 



CAN I KICK IT by a tribe called quest. for all the people who can quest like a tribe does.

YOU'RE SO VAIN is the best because carly simon. who doesn't sing along with this one? vain assholes, probably. that think the song is about them. this song is the best. carly simon is the best.

selecting FAMILY TRADITION by hank Williams jr. inside the west house bar one sunday evening is one of my favorite jukebox memories. drunkards love hank Williams jr and any song that justifies alcoholism and drug abuse.

SLEDGEHAMMER by Peter Gabriel is just 5 minutes of eclectic layered dopeness.

NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME goes out to all The Cosby Show nerds in the house. and the Ray Charles fans of course. who doesn't love either or both? if you don't like Ray Charles or The Cosby Show, you pretty much have no business around me.

Freakin (long) Weekend.

we should get long weekends every weekend. or at least one weekend a month. it's nice to have two days to do fun things and still get one more day off to take care of laundry and groceries and other home chore type BS.

we spent our weekend at a wedding...

 

 

playing hungover wiffleball....

 

 

eating delicious meals with friends and letting the kids run around...

        

 

        

 

 and lounging....

Turkey Chorizo + Potato Tacos with Salsa Verde

one of my favorite things in life is chorizo. I like the delicious Mexican kind that you crumble up, and I like the more salami like kind that you chop and dice. I like it in my eggs, I like it with beans. I like it with chicken (i'll share that recipe someday) and I like it in a taco!

if you've ever made chorizo you know that stuff generates a crap ton of grease. as much as I love it, the sight of a cup of grease pooling in your skillet as you sauté your chorizo wigs me out a bit so I try not to eat it super often. turkey chorizo, on the other hand, is about 300% less greasy than regular chorizo and about 70% as good.  I use it most of the time, instead of the OG chorizo. it's very flavorful and quick to make. it definitely does the job.

the creaminess of the potatoes and the sweetness of the salsa verde compliment the spice of the turkey chorizo. here's how it's done:

For Tacos:
turkey chorizo
diced potato
corn tortillas (or small flour ones, if you prefer)
cheese (optional - i'll put cheese on anything)
avocado (optional - i'll put avocado on anything)

Salsa Verde:
8-12 tomatillos
one red onion
a few garlic cloves
one jalapeno (half if you're a weenie)
a handful of cilantro
salt

first make the salsa. remove the husks from your tomatillos and cut them through the middle. chop the red onion into wedges. roast the tomatillos (flat side down),  the onion pieces and garlic cloves at 400 for 10-15 minutes. once your kitchen is smelling spicy and your tomatillos are beginning to blister and brown, remove and set aside to cool. then combine your roasted stuff with a handful of cilantro and some salt and process to your desired salsa consistency using a food processor or blender.

next, Parboil the potatoes and set aside.

Cook chorizo in a stovetop skillet, breaking it up into pieces as it heats. add diced potatoes and mix together.

heat your corn tortillas over the flame until warm. spoon the chorizo/potato mixture into the tortilla. top with salsa verde, avocado and cheese.

La La How The Life Goes On: Outside Lands (with a toddler!)

tony, van and I went to the outside lands music festival in SF a couple weekends ago. tony and I had been twice before, but this was our first major festival style outing since having van and we knew it was going to be kind nuts of us. but we did it anyways. all three days!

I thought to myself as I bought the tickets that while I didn't remember seeing many (if any) kids during previous years that there must have been a bunch there. what do music loving people do when they have kids? they bring them, right? well, I guess not because van was one of about six littles I saw all weekend long.

we had such a good time, our little family of three. van was a really, really good boy. he ate his snacks and listened to the tunes. he let us hold him through all the sets, and we took him to run around in between bands. he made tons of friends. TONS. people thought it was awesome that there was a baby at a music festival. he high-fived and low-fived people all over the place. festival goers asked if they could take pictures of him. vendors have him little treats and buttons and stickers every time he passed a booth (see his anchor tattoo in the watermelon pic below). we heard "oh my god, look at that baby!" about 500 times over the three days that we were there.

the first day we saw band of horses, the national (with bob weir!) and paul mccartney! this was my third time seeing paul, tony's second and vanny's first. he was badass as ever. the three hour set just flew by. we made friends with this really funny, older gay couple and danced and sang all night. van took a little snooze toward the end, but woke back up in time to see the fireworks go off during live and let die. while I will go to any paul show within a 500 mile radius and love every second of it, I must say that I was pretty annoyed with his commentary. his stories and banter in between songs have literally been word for word the same since 2003. I think that's pretty absurd. tells us some new stuff, man! he's gotta have some other stories!

van and paul!

the second day was mostly spent meandering around and checking out the vendors and art and food. there weren't a ton of bands we absolutely needed to see that day, which was nice because we weren't rushing to walk miles from stage to stage all day long. we ended up checking out the mother hips (we are such hips loyalists!) and grizzly bear. I would have loved to also see the yeah yeah yeahs, but they played at the same time as grizzly bear and I didn't want to pull myself away from their set. they are incredible.
                      

          

we arrived early on day three - right after a sweet breakfast at a little café in Berkeley where we were staying. ( we stayed in the cutest little one bedroom apartment we found on air bnb, by the way. it was adorable and I would stay there again in a second.) we ate some eggrolls and got our last lemonade of the weekend. this one tent sold the most delicious lemonade I've ever had in my life. word. they made it right in front of you with these big lemons that they squeeze right into your cup. you can taste the little sugar granules when you drink it. or maybe the little crystals are really meth, because it was THAT good.  we drank a cup every day we were there, which means we spent about $20 on lemonade over the three days. whatever. it was vacation.

         

van loved fishbone! while he really took in all the bands we saw, i'd say fishbone was the only one that really moved him to his feet and got him super excited. it was pretty funny. we also checked out trombone shorty, hall and oates, vampire weekend and the red hot chili peppers on our last day.

               

hall and oates were so much fun. I didn't ever expect that they'd be a band i'd ever see live, so it was so cool getting to sing along to all their songs. there is so much greatness behind their stuff - so on point and soulful and melodic, but there is something else so cheesy and kinda funny about them too. I freaking love them. we'd seen vampire weekend before and wanted to check out willie nelson instead (he played at the same time) but van fell asleep during hall and oates so we were stuck at the main stage for the vampire weekend set, which wasn't bad at all. they sounded better than I remember them. the chili peppers were pretty magical for me - and probably most people my age who probably remember them as one of their first favorite bands. they kick so much ass and have so much energy. the only point during the weekend where I almost wished I didn't have a toddler to look after was when their set started. the tween inside me wanted very badly to just run up to the stage and whoop and dance through the encore!

           

 

all in all it was a surprisingly successful and memorable weekend. i'm glad we were able to enjoy it together. honestly, it's not my natural instinct to say, "hey! let's take our year and a half old to a huge and crazy music festival for three days." really, it isn't. i knew it would be logistically difficult and we'd be experiencing the festival differently than we'd had in past years. we had to find quieter areas to sit, further away from the stage. we had to pack healthy snacks. we didn't drink beer after beer all day or get to enjoy the huge Wine Lands area they have. there wasn't a ton of lounging on our part since we had a crazy on the move toddler we had to chase around. our MO has been modified, and we have a new kind of fun now. ob la di, ob la da.