The Trayla Wedding!

Friday, December 26

No rest for the wicked! No sooner had the leftovers from Christmas dinner been picked over we were already transforming our home into a wedding chapel/reception venue for Trae & Kayla's wedding. The Rally Cry was heard and answered and by the time I returned from grocery shopping (for the wedding you know) our home did not seem to be ours any longer! We had Candi, Jeanne, Jill & Ruth all working on decorations, Bob, Ernie, Dad & Hollis working on the "Trayla Lounge", Mom and I working on the food. Patti stopped by later to put together beautiful flower arrangements and get the cake table ready. The results at the end of the day were amazing.

And, lets not forget the Bride & Groom - one of which was clearing snow so the guests could get to our house.....

Because of these wonderful people, we will be hosting a beautiful at home wedding.

Cheers!

Ahhh.... Christmas!

Thursday, December 25

What a week! Whew! Glad that was over with! The weather changed many plans for friends and family, but we managed to get together and have a wonderful time. Prime rib, roasted on our grill, with cracked Dungeness crab and some very fine wines - Ehlers 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Goosecross Syrah (cannot remember the year!) amongst some of them. The picture says it all, nothing more special than family and friends around one table.

It was absolutely beautiful.

Merry Christmas to all!

Still Snowing.....

Monday, December 22, 2008

It's still snowing. I'll let the photos speak for me.

Umm, Yeah, It's Still Snowing....

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The first day of Winter - snowed in, no power and no quick trip to Vancouver BC. What to do?

We walked about 3-4 miles to find power and a hot breakfast. The walk down Boones Ferry Road was eerily quiet. I don't think that road has ever been that deserted. We walked with Bob & Candi to Miller's Homestead Inn in Tualatin. They had power & a hot breakfast. And Yes, I did have the World Famous Chicken Fried Steak! We were joined by Ernie & Jill, their neighbor John and Candi's daughter Stephanie. It was so nice to be able to get together in spite of the weather and power outages.

We walked back home to find the power back on. Yes, we played dominoes again - but with the addition of Bloody Marys.

That is what to do when 'snowed in'.

Angels in the Front Yard

Saturday, December 20

It starting snowing, it came down all day long! For those of you not familiar with the Pacific Northwest, specifically Portland, this does not happen on a regular basis. We are having that storm of the decade sort of weather, where not a lot of people are able to get to work or get out and take care of general business. We stayed in, played dominoes and watched the snow fall all day long and into the evening. Bob & Candi hung out with us, stayed for dinner.

Candi and I decided to do snow angels. Cannot remember the last time I did that, but I am sure that I was quite a bit younger!

You know what? They're still fun to do!

The Rally Cry

Well, I sent out the "rally cry" for wedding help! We have such wonderful friends here and are so lucky that everyone is helping. Candi is running the creative side and we're putting decorations together to make the house into a "Winter Wonderland" complete with silver painted tree branches, silver snowflakes, yards of tuille & satin to finish it off. I am hosting a 'glitter party' to finish the snowflakes and tree branches. Jeanne & Ruth are coming in as reinforcements to help finish & put decorations in place. Patti is taking care of the cake while I have a hand in everything in addition to getting the food ready to go. We are less than two weeks away, but everything is coming together wonderfully. The rally cry was answered, and I have a great team of people in place to transform our house from ordinary to extraordinary.

Incidentally, we had snow today to inspire our decorating....

You want to get married where?

My younger brother came to me in November and told me that he was going to look at rings. I cannot tell you how much I was excited and happy for him. For those of you who don't know, he is 36 and never been married. He has met and dated very diverse and interesting women over the years, but none of whom inspired the idea of marriage. Until now. Trae met Kayla a year ago after he moved to Portland to work on the Max Line extension along I-205. She is beautiful, bright and a very kind individual. I was grateful that he met someone who made him so happy. I guess that I did expect him to decide to ask her to marry him, but I was still surprised and excited once I heard the words from him.

He asked her, she accepted and then they told me. Elation! When was the Date?

"The Saturday after Christmas." What?!

"Yeah, while Mom & Pop are here." Ok. Where?

"Your House." Are you kidding?!

So, how can I say no? Of course I'm happy to host my brother's wedding in my home. My husband, Hollis, had about the same reaction. I did tell him though, " Honey, you know that we can never sell this house now, because my brother will have been married here!"

Here we go, wedding plans, decorations, food, where do I seat everyone? A wedding at home, I am finding, is no easy feat. However, I will make this happen, it will be beautiful, there will be great food and everyone will have a memory to take home with them.

In the coming weeks, I will bore you with the details of what is going on. Including mine & Hollis' escape to Vancouver BC for a few days before Christmas. The nerve!

Crotto di Pina

July 5, 2008
Lake Como
Fiumilatte di Varenna

Crotto di Pina – are we there yet?

One is always reminded to veer off onto the road less traveled, away from where ‘everyone goes’. We took a long walk today, to a small hamlet on the shore of Lake Como. We weren’t sure what we would find, but what we found was one of those wonderful experiences that we’ll be talking about for a lifetime. It involved a small ristorante and grappa.
Bob found the place on the map, he was convinced there was a restaurant at the top of the hill. Some of us weren’t so sure, but oh well, we were going to at least see some sort of view. After a 15 minute walk, uphill, on a very narrow street, there is was, Ristorante Crotto. The name was painted on the concrete retaining wall framing the steps up to the restaurant. Finally! Water (no gas, please), food and Peroni’s awaited us. The proprietor, Favio, was excited we were there, all eight of us, as there was only one other table occupied with 4 locals.
Menus and Peroni’s around, we were just happy to have a moment to rest, relax and enjoy the view. Upon closer inspection of the menu, we were about to have a meal that could possibly rival the view. The view, being of Lake Como, the surrounding mountains, the town of Varenna and Casetello di Vezio. The restaurant specialized in greilled meats & fresh lake fish. Favio invited Ernie and myself into the kitchen (immaculately clean) to show us some of the specialty items and how they were prepared. I selected a fresh lake fish (similar to trout – but cannot remember the name) directly from the table where they were being filleted by one of the three women working in the kitchen.
Everyone had something different. Since the place specialized in grilled meats, Ernie, Bob and Hollis opted for the mixed grill platter, which had beef, chicken, pork, lamb & venison, with polenta and grilled vegetables. Dad had a wonderful chestnut pasta with gorgonzola cream sauce & shaved fresh truffles. Mom & Jill had the bresaola and rocket salad with shaved parmesan.
After lunch, we met the baker, David, whose bread we were enjoying during lunch. We met David, because Ernie introduced himself and struck up a conversation with the other table having lunch. David being one of them. Soon, we met the owner’s father (whose name we did not get), and very soon after, we were offered his grappa. Wonderful grappa. His was homemade with dried wine grapes. It was very strong, but had a similarity to cognac, in color and taste. The grappa was offered in a glass that was 70 years old. Ernie wanted to purchase some of the grappa, but was told it was not possible since it was such a small production and he only shared it amongst family and friends. We were honored. It was a lovely afternoon, everyone was so friendly and welcoming, that we did not care that we had missed our 1620 train to Milan. We stayed a bit long to enjoy the company before making our trek back down the hill and to Varenna, to the train station and back to Milan.

Varenna, Lake Como

July 4, 2008
Varenna, Lake Como
Castello di Vezia

Castle Vezia – May I have a View Please?

After a crazy thunder & lightening storm the night before, we were excited to have breakfast outside on the deck overlooking Lake Como. It was a beautiful day and we were looking forward to exploring more of what Lake Como had to offer.
We decided to hike up to Castello di Vezia to see the ruins of a castle built between the 10th and 11th centuries. The castle was a bit of a crazy, steep uphill hike on stone steps, above olive groves. Once we arrived at the top of the mountain, we were greeted by a small village that was the gateway to Castello di Vezia. Once we arrived at the castle, we were free to walk around all of the grounds and enjoy the spectacular views it offered. A winding staircase took us up to the tower for, yes, more views!!!
We took another walking path to Varenna down the south side of the mountain, which was paved in cobblestones all the way into town.
Once in town, we decided on gelato – there was a shop in town that made their own, and it was a treat after the long walk. I had the Melone – which was cantaloupe – and it was amazing – not like anything I’d ever had before.
We walked to the town of Fuimilatte di Varenna – Crotto di Pina story.

Italy... With no Baedeker - Milan & Lake Como

Wednesday, July 2, 2008
First Day in Italy
Milan Hilton
After a two hour delay in Los Angeles, due to improper cargo stowage, we finally transited London Heathrow and arrived into Milan Linate Airport. One crazy cab ride later, dodging other cars, mopeds and pedestrians, we finally arrived at our room for the night. The weather was overcast & muggy, 30C.
We made it out for dinner; Ernie had struck up a conversation with an Italian Attorney on our London-Milan flight, who gave us a recommendation for dinner that evening. We set reservations for 2220 at Da Ilia (Via Lecco 1). We found the place after walking down the wrong street, but once we arrived, we found a small neighborhood thriving with people out having dinner, caffe and cocktails. There were a number of places along this small side street across from a park. We found Da Ilia, and after every single person greeted us, we were seated at a table in the covered patio area. It was evident that a good meal was to come. Would it be great? Yeah, it would be. Everyone ordered something different; we had the house vino & plenty of grissini. I made a promise to myself to order items that I would not normally see in the US. I ordered Lardo with crostini. Everyone cringed at the table when I gave the waiter my order. It is pork fat that has been cured and seasoned with herbs, then sliced paper thin and served with crostini. All I got to say is, BUONA! (that means pretty damn good in Italian). I, being the maiale I am, ordered two more courses after that. The next being a bresaola, rocket & shaved parmesan salad. Again, it was good, some of the best arugula I’ve had. It was nutty and peppery at the same time. The bresaola was sliced paper thin and the parmesan was the real deal (of course!). My last course was a house made tortelloni stuffed with fresh ricotta & spinach in a brown butter sauce with parmesan and sage. (yeah, it was also good). All of the pasta at this restaurant was made fresh everyday. Other dishes were papparadelle with fresh porcini mushrooms, penne with melanzane and a pounded bistecca that was so tender and flavorful, presented by itself on a plate drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. What a great evening – the staff was so pleasant and so friendly. They spoke broken English to compliment our broken Italian and we got on just fine. We rolled into our beds well after midnight, sated and ready for the next adventure…

Thursday, July 3, 2008
Varenna, Lake Como
Hotel Milano
After a mad dash to find our train (little did we know how easy it was). We could have just consulted the easy-to-read schedule posted throughout the station, but no, we looked at monitors at the platforms and figured out which train. Running to get to it.
One hour later, we arrived in picturesque Varenna, on the shore of Lake Como. After a 10 minute, windy downhill walk to the hotel, we left our bags with our most knowledgeable innkeeper. She gave us the best itinerary for our day and a half in Lake Como. Lake Como has a few towns around the lake that are all accessible by ferry or water taxi. We left Varenna and took the ferry to Villa Carlotta. Villa Carlotta was built in the 16th century by a Milanese Banker and named after his wife, Carlotta. The villa was five floors, with approximately 9 acres of gardens. We were able to tour the entire garden, but only had access to two floors of the villa. The main floor housed artwork that was original to the house, the fifth floor had the original bedrooms and parlours. We then took the ferry to Bellagio for some shopping and views, then back to Varenna.
Friday, July 4,2008 – Independence Day
Varenna, Lake Como
Hotel Milano
Fireworks!!!! Disneyland fireworks explain how much thunder and lightening we saw ( I shouldn’t say ‘I’, because, growing up in the Midwest, well, you know, show me something new!) amazing lighting strikes over the lake and thunder that would wake the dead! Since most of our group was from Oregon & California, they were all up to watch the amazing show. However violet the storm was the night before, the next day was picture perfect! I’ll send a separate email with the details of an ‘off the beaten path’ walk that was wonderful!
More from Varenna, Fuimelatte & Bolzano – Ciao!