Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!!!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to everyone!! Unfortunately, Katie and I had a "stage" or training all day Thursday so we didn't get to celebrate on Thanksgiving Day, but Katie and I got up early the next morning to start cooking everything from scratch. This was our first attempt at making a Thanksgiving dinner.

Here's Katie working on some homemade cream of mushroom soup for the green bean casserole. I made a homemade apple pie - a true American dessert.
mmmmmmmmmm

Post-feast Pics - Katie was very proud of her fresh, not from a can- green bean casserole and used her sister Betsy's recipe for cornbread stuffing. We also made one of my favorites: mashed potatoes and homemade gravy.

so the only thing that we burned was the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. (We were a little busy trying to get everything warm at once) I got my momma's sweet p0tato and marshmallow recipe and even with burnt marshmallows it was a smash hit! The apple pie turned out perfect.

The menu - Betsy's cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, turkey breast with herbes de Provence and butter. Not pictured - mashed potatoes and homemade gravy

We are very thankful for our friends!! Our flat mates were able to join us as well as a couple that we had met at the dinner at the Fronsac wineries open door weekend. Think this picture might have caught everyone except for us by surprise.

Sunday: on our way home...Nice, France

we had a "layover" in Nice so we headed down to the Promenade des Anglais...or the English Walkway built so they didn't have to get their feet wet as they walked along the ocean.

next we were back to the train station to catch our night train back to Bordeaux. we arrived Monday morning, and it was off to work that afternoon for me, while ben took it easy and enjoyed his day off...what a fabulous trip!!

Friday/Saturday: Nizza

Friday we didn't take many pics...but we walked around the market and took it easy, as well as ate some fresh, warm fococcia bread that changed my life for sure.
Saturday Rachel and Giuliano took us to his parents' vineyard where we were able to taste some (yummy!) grapes leftover from the harvest.

sooo gorgeous!

then they took us to the local wine coop where the grapes are crushed and aged to make some tasty table wine!

it's for real dispensed out of what look like gas station pumps. people can bring in there own containers or buy one there and fill up for uber-inexpensive/liter.

Giuliano serving up some moscato- a local sweet wine which impressed us dry red fans!

next we went to Acqui Terme which has thermal water springs coming up out of fountains. unfortunately we forgot our water bottles and couldn't taste it, but the locals say it's very good for a detox/system cleanser.

Thursday: Genova

We met up with American friend Rachel Stowe-Scarci Thursday afternoon and she showed us around the port town of Genoa before heading back to her home in Nizza Monferrato.

me and rach!

Christopher Columbus' house.

the man himself. or maybe just a statue of him.

that evening in Nizza, rach and her husband Giuliano took us to a sweet wine bar that serves excellent food. we tried what the french call "steak-tartare" which is raw beef, the italian bagna couda-finely chopped anchovies, garlic and oil, which was out of this world. we had a great time hanging out with our friends and trying new foods as well as a fabulous red wine, grappa, and a spiced wine.

Wed. night: Pisa

our trip to Pisa was cut short thanks to the great time we were having in Florence, so we arrived late but were able to swing by the tower to take a few shots of this sinking sensation...

it was actually MORE impressive than i expected! really cool.

we are standing up relatively straight...those packs will mess with your homosapian trait of walking upright...

cheesy, but oh, so classic.

unfortunately, Italy has a bad habit of NOT marking there busstops, and with our lack of Italian, things got a little messy on our trip out to the Bed and Breakfast we were treating ourselves to... we got a bit lost, hence the walking around in the dark as seen above. we ended up "asking" (as in saying "dove"--where--and pointing to an address) to a stranger and he took major pity on us, ushered us into his car, and drove us there!! we were waayyy off... we felt as if God had sent us another angel.

the lady who owned the b and b called a nearby restaurant for us and got us a major hook-up on our dinner. BEST pizza of our life! mine: vegetarian with olives, artichoke hearts, red pepper (peperonni) in Italian- that was funny to see on a vegi pizza. ben: ham, spinach, fresh parmesian, and white truffle oil.

Wednesday Nov. 5th

we awoke wednesday morning to the incredible news that the United States of America had elected its first African American President. we were in excited awe that such an amazing barrier had been broken down for our country.

gorgeous morning view from our hostel.

at the market!! so many mushrooms, so little time.

many interesting things to choose from. pigsnout, anyone?

or brains?

fresh pasta sounds best!

ben and i hiked up a hill to check out the view. here you see the Medici castle far left, Duomo from the middle to far right. we bought a picnic lunch of sundried tomatoes, fococcia bread, pecorino (sheep cheese), parmasian, prosciutto, candied dried fruits, and a demi-bottle of tuscan wine and ate with a stellar view.

the most exciting purchase from the market....an Italian leather jacket!!!

ben's favorite pic so far!