Cherry Pie, American Thighs, etc...

I actually baked a cherry pie!  cannot believe it.  am a multi-talented genius.  FL will be so impressed, cannot wait for him to come home.  perhaps had better slip over to the store and grab a little tub of vanilla gelato to top it all off. 

Cooked down the cherries with sugar, brandy, ginger and cinnamon.

Last night I made tortellini soup, which is my no. 2 comfort food (white rice cooked in chicken broth and topped with a huge pat of butter being no. 1) and delicious even when it is sweltering hot outside.  FL had to take his shirt off halfway through the meal, we were both sweating bullets.  so yummy though.  we moved a giant rotating fan into our bedroom, and have been camped out there the past couple of nights, watching movies and chewing on ice cubes.  It keep threatening to storm, but alas- nothing gives.

the garden is lush and returning to it's naturally wild state, which i find romantic.  It takes so much energy and time just tending to the flower beds and the vegetable garden that we've neglected to mow the lawn or trim hedges for a couple of weeks now.  The sweet, gentle flowers like lillies and camillias have almost stopped blooming.  It's just too damned hot, but the roses are going strong.  also, FL bought me a lovely little gardenia bush which i cherish.  it has one pretty white flower right now, and the perfume fills the air.  I am keeping it moist in the sunshine, pamper pamper.

FLs mother presented me with a suitcase full of clothes for me to go through.  I was instructed to chose what I wanted and she said she'd give the rest to charity.  Really beautiful things from the 80's, nice italian designers, some simple house dresses, a lovely silk skirt, some bathing suits (80's bathingsuits are definitely time pieces).  was surprised they fit me, as she is the size of a pencil, but most of everything works very well.  perhaps clothes expand with age. 

am so very ready to part for sicily.  am going to bring a giant bag of cherries and a couple of bottles of wine for the ladies.

Throwing a little dinner party tomorrow for a few friends.  found a recipe for stuffed grilled squid on a wonderful blog from a lady in veneto (http://turosdolci.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/little-grilled-things-grilled-stuffed-calamaretti/), who has a collection of yummy italian recipes.  hopefully this relentless heat will let up and let in some oft breezes.  garden dining is so much more pleasant that way.