August 15 + 16

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...