August 15th is Ferragosto, a bank holiday in Italy. …that’s if your workplace isn’t shut down for the entire month of August! Emperor Augustus declared this month a celebration back in ancient times. Italians go to the sea for a long vacation. Can you imagine? Anyway, this day is used to celebrate summer, but it also a feast day for the Assumption of the Virgin, the day her soul ascended into heaven. I highly recommend the Italy-related blogs on my blogroll. Many of these bloggers currently living in Italy wrote a post about this special day. Go and see how it is celebrated. And Buon Ferragosto!
After work, I personally celebrated with a couple glasses of red wine, Bolla brand Chianti which is my go to cheap Italian red, with a nice dinner. I made myself a shake ‘n bake pork chop with those Tuscan gold potatoes I love. You boil them first then roast them in olive oil and freshly-ground black pepper. They come out fluffy on the inside yet crunchy on the outside. Delicious. Squisito. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Additionally, I will take a week-long vacation in September, after my busy season.
August 15, 2012 would also be the 100th birthday of Julia Child. I love her for her joy for food, for France and for life. Another biography on her was recently released and I hope to get my hands on a copy soon. Happy Birthday Julia!
August 16, 2012 means that this beloved blog of mine is two years old. I want to sincerely thank all of my readers. Grazie. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I started this blog to write about the little things in life I love, in order to appreciate them, and maybe inspire others to do the same. Definitely with an Italian slant since I love all things Italian. Italians seem to elevate everything, even the ordinary, to a superlative. Even though I am pleased with the way this blog is turning out, I hope I make posting more often a habit nonetheless. I also need to take more pictures, on a regular basis, in order to enrich these posts.
Anyway, it all started here with my first post.
Here’s to another year!
I love photos of glasses clinking in a toast, in order to celebrate. “Cheers” in Italian is “Cin cin” (the sound of clinking glasses) or “Salute” (“Health”).
Here is my favorite image using wine glasses…
I love the TV show How I Met Your Mother…
Here’s one with champagne…
Someone else who makes a nice meal and drinks wine by herself! We really should get together for wine at some point. 🙂 And congratulations on 2 years! This is one that I try and check daily.
I try my best to have a bottle of red wine around! Check your email for an invitation! Thank you so much! I will try to post more often! I know that I make that a habit too.