Yesterday was a day of productivity. I finished a second draft of my dig report for my grant, I started working on my next essay for graduate school, I finished two books (Etruscan Places, D.H. Lawrence, and The Lady in the Palazzo, Marlena de Blasi, which is all about an American woman’s move to Orvieto with her Venetian husband), checked out a new book from the library (Saturday by Ian McEwan) and we ate. Gráinne made us a lovely pasta primavera, which she has written for me to share with you all here:

Gráinne’s Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:
eggplant
zucchini (or courgette, as she’d call it)
spicy green pepper (de-seeded)
bell peppers
mozzarella
cherry tomatoes
pasta
onions
oil
salt
pepper

Sauté onions with oil, salt & pepper until light brown. Add in diced eggplant and zucchini, as well as the spicy pepper without its seeds. Toss in the bell peppers, too. Cube the mozzarella and quarter the cherry tomatoes. Don’t add those yet, though. When the pasta is cooked, add the sauteed ingredients, and incorporate the tomatoes and mozzarella. A delicious vegetarian treat! (It was so delicious that I forgot to take a picture…) We will eat the leftovers on the train to Perugia today (on our way to Eurochocolate, the annual chocolate festival)!

Baking Cookies

Another eventful culinary experience was the baking of cookies once again. The difference this time, however, was that dear British Gráinne had never, ever baked chocolate-chip cookies, or any other kind. She had never even eaten them dipped in milk! We had to rectify the situation. This recipe for cookies was given to me by our friend, Jenny, now Mrs. Big Kitty. Miss you!

JENNY’S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
about 2 c. flour
1 c. brown sugar
½ c. white sugar
¾ c (1.5 sticks) butter
1 T. vanilla
¼ t. salt
about ½ t. baking soda
1 egg
1 egg yolk
chocolate chips
*soften butter
*mix all together
*bake at 350 F (about 152 C)

This sums up the baking experience: