Vietri: No Cure For My Pottery Obsession

I didn't realize till living in Japan what an obsession I have with pottery! Partially it's my love of food, eating and sharing meals with friends and family that necessitates the collection of more earthenware. But it's also my way of taking home a useful--and literal--piece of the foreign countries I've visited.



So, it is only fitting that one of the first places I visited in Italy was the town of Vietri along the famous, breathtaking Amalfi coast. It's an easy highway drive to get there and I've been back 3 times so far.

The quaint walkable streets are lined with pottery shop after pottery shop, which are decorated with bright, bold tiles and samples of the pottery within.

Stacks of pottery line the shelves, and artists are usually hard at work, hand painting while you browse.

This was my first purchase--an egg plate. As Brian noted when I brought it home, I have never once made deviled eggs in the nearly eight years we've been married. But now that I have an egg plate (which I also thought would serve as a beautiful Easter decoration to display our colored eggs), who knows?! I may start.

These whimsical sea creatures were my second  purchase, for the baby's nursery. I saw them on my first visit, but since I am almost never an impulse shopper, I regretted not buying them and returned on a special mission to get them.

These beautiful Christmas ornaments were my third purchase. Like my mom did while I was young, I usually buy a couple ornaments each year for my girls, usually from significant places we've been, which I will eventually give to them for their own trees. Pink and purple are their two favorite colors.




I will definitely be back many more times! In fact, I already have a few more things on my mental list for Vietri, one of which is a bowl for keeping and draining fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese. The things I never knew I needed till I moved to Italy!

Homemade Spaghetti

I came to Italy expecting to love the food and hoping to learn how to cook it. Of course, I arrived with morning sickness and a temporary aversion to garlic and basil ensued. Not to mention, we also found many restaurants around Naples are not exactly noteworthy. Well, after seven months here, we have managed to seek out our share of delicious authentic Italian dishes. But up until now, the only thing we had attempted to master at home is the cappuccino. And man, have we (I can say that since it was Brian who mastered it)!  I would go so far as to say that it has improved our overall quality of life...no kidding. (Keep in mind, there's no Starbucks here.)

While I haven't tried my hand at many Italian dishes at home, I have been lucky enough to attend a couple cooking classes before the baby arrives. In my first of "Vera's cooking classes," we made homemade pumpkin ravioli's, which were out of this world. I realized how easy it is to make homemade pasta! I brought home some leftovers to Brian and I guess he was sold too, because he agreed we needed a pasta maker.

So the other day, we were tempted to buy an authentic Italian hand-crank pasta maker, but I'm so glad we opted for the Kitchen Aid attachment instead! It's so easy to use, we've had homemade spaghetti twice in the past 10 days! And both times Brian made it with the girls helping, meaning I had some quiet time. Ahhh!

Now, don't feel too jealous of me, the first time I DID stand over the stove for two hours earlier in the day making the meat sauce. But tonight, while Brian made spaghetti carbonara, I didn't do a thing except get the dishes and silverware ready for Miranda to set the table.

I think our "taste testers" ate more spaghetti while helping than they did at the dinner table!



Next, I'm excited to try out the fettuccine and ravioli options on the pasta maker attachment. But first things first. Today I went to another of Vera's classes--mainly to learn how to attempt the Sicilian cannoli from scratch!  Ah, la dolce vita!