My Mommy and Daddy Are Here!

And so are my aunt Donna, family friend Toni, and her friend, Janet.

Just a quick side note on Donna: every year for Easter, she gives me, my brother, my sister, and my cousin an Easter Egg from Aunt Charlotte's, the greatest chocolate store in the world.

And guess what! She brought me one all the way from New Jersey!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was beyond excited.

Anyways, for our first meal, we headed to Stallo del Pomodoro for lunch--a restaurant that used to be a horse stable.

We got some salumi and prosciutto to start of course.

I got cheese tortelli with cinghiali ragu--more of that wild boar meat!

The next morning, we headed to one of my favorite cafes for a late breakfast.

Tiny espresso cups!

I LOVE the pastries at this place. This croissant is filled with a lemon cream and topped with fruits of the forrest.

Then I took my parents to Mercato Albinelli. They are in love.

They got to meet my salami guy (who first thought we were from England, and then, when I said we were American, thought we were from Minnesota. Interesting).

We got a bunch of food and had a delicious lunch of cheese, meat, and bread.

That night we went out for aperitivo. The sky was looking pretty cool.

Yesterday, we went to Genova.

Mostly because I wanted pesto.

Alright, we went there for the sole reason of getting me some pesto.

We had a fabulous lunch with prosciutto and melon...

and pasta with PESTO! It was incredible. Definitely worth the four-hour train ride.

However, if you can tell from this picture, it was pouring for a majority of the five hours we were there.

Luckily, we found an Eataly to pass the time in.

I could live in this place and never get bored.

An hour before we had to leave it finally stopped raining.

And now I really want to go back to Genova because it's a really cool town.

I just have to convince someone to go with me...

So I picked out four kinds of pesto while at Eataly. I find it much easier to get things when my parents are paying.

One is traditional Genovese pesto (basil and pine nuts), another is sun-dried tomato, another is pistachio, and the last is fennel.

Of course I got the giant jar of the Genovese and realized this morning that it has to be consumed within three days after opening.

This will be an interesting challenge.

-Meri

Easter at the Steinfelds'

I didn't get to go home for Easter this year. I actually didn't get to go last year either. This means that I miss out on making Easter Pies (a story for another post), waking up to an Easter basket from the Easter Bunny, and having a delicious meal with my family.

Not to sound all doom and gloom, but I get really upset when I miss family events like this. As I said in my last post, my mom and dad are awesome-just so you know, the rest of my family is as well.

BUT. Sam and her wonderful family were able to save me from a horrible fate this Easter Sunday as they happily gave me (and our neighbors Amelia and Michelle) the chance to celebrate the holiday with them.

I could not have imagined a better Easter (away from my family of course, I could never diminish the value of a Medoway-family affair).

We woke up. I peeled some apples with an awesome apple-peeler. We watched food network. Mrs. Steinfeld made us eggs-in-a-basket-yum! And then she gave us each an Easter basket (delivered by the Easter Bunny of course).



I'll be in a sugar coma for the next couple of days (each egg is individually filled with candy).

And, my basket had little egg salt and pepper shakers. They might be the cutest things I've ever seen.



And then we dyed about 6 dozen eggs.









Then we had dinner. It was a rough day.

Here was my contribution to the party: m&m cookies.



I just took the recipe for Nestle Chocolate Chip cookies and replaced the chocolate chips with the spring-themed m&ms to make them Easter-appropriate.

I also attempted to make a few look like bunny heads.



Well, it was worth a try.

So a big thank you to the Steinfelds for a fabulous Easter weekend! It was fabulous!

-Meri

Why My Mommy and Daddy are Awesome

Enough said.

-Meri