a couple for any season...

Even though the weather has been warm(er) and (partly) sunny lately, I just wanted to share a cute winter pic we snapped in Brussels the day before we hopped on the plane for Minnesota for Christmas.

Thank God summer is on it's way... but winter's not so bad with a boyfriend like this : )

Way back in November... this thing will forever be out of actual chronological order

Every year, for the 6 years that I've been living in Europe, I've refused to miss out on my favorite American holiday, Thanksgiving. I first introduced my two Italian roommates and a couple friends to this mega stuff-your-face extravaganza in 2003. Back then we were no more than 6 people and turkey breast which I expertly cut a hole in, stuffed with dressing made from my grandmother's recipe, and sewed shut with a needle and thread. Since then, the party has grown, although we still aren't always able to find a whole turkey.

Thanksgiving 2009 was the 2nd year in a row in which a did not 1, but 2 thanksgiving meals. Even though I don't live in Milan anymore, we keep the tradition alive, throwing the party at Alberto's house every year. This year we had about 30 guests, and they picked the bird clean, right to the bone!

The second Thanksgiving came one week later at my apartment in Brussels. We also had about 30 guests there, but we hit a snafu with the bird. Even though we had ordered the turkey 2 weeks in advance, there was no turkey come turkey day. Luckily, my friend Meike and her boyfriend Luca came over early, with a car, and Luca and went searching for something to feed our 30 guests while Meike got started on the deserts.

Here are some photos of the Brussels Thanksgiving 2009

 

a bacon wrapped turkey breast. The Irish butcher charged us a f***ing fortune for 2 of these, but at least we 

had something to feed the masses. 

And the masses...

They seemed happy...

Although that may have had more to do with the massive amounts of alcohol, but we'll just say the cooking was good too.

 

The deserts were awesome, mostly thanks to my friends Ola and Meike

When enough drinks had been consumed, somebody busted out a pair of antlers that got passed around...

 Luca

              Jose           

 Thomas

  Henryk

 

Jenny

 Renaud

 

Ola

Delphine

 Fang

                                          

 

And the hostess, of course

Later, Jose tried to teach Meike and I a line dance he had recently learned....

But neither of us really seemed to be getting it.













Maybe I should have put down the beer...

 

Anne (my roommie), myself and Ola were the last girls still going. 

Nacho and Jose were the only guys still around

 

We made a motley crue that finally called it a night at 4am. 

Gotta love Thanksgiving!

New year's resolution number 856...

Update this thing more often.

I've never been a fan of resolutions.

Alberto and I had a blast in Minnesota this winter. It was everything I could have wanted for him on his first winter visit... snow, snow, SNOW and F'ING COLD! And he handled it all like an old pro (with long johns, 2 pairs of wool socks and a sweater over a long-sleeved shirt, over a t-shirt, with a down jacket, hat, scarf and mittens).

 

Just a bit of snow here...

 

...and a little more the next day!

Even though we were snowed in with Mom and Dad, we had plenty of stuff to do. We played about 193 hand of pinochle while we were there, and Mom had a project for us. She bought us a gingerbread house making kit! 

     

This is what the house was supposed to look like when finished. I know, I know, having a kit is cheating, but you'll see that we really needed it. 

Alberto is hard at work on our house.

 

The finished product. I think we need more than just a kit and picture to help us out! Do they having "special" gingerbread house making classes?

There was a lot of snow.... 

 

So much snow...

 

and icicles!

We did get out and go sledding once, but I have those pics saved on a disk I left in the office, so I'll have to post them another time. But, for the majority of the time, we just lounged around in the house, where it was warm.