Today on weekend meanderings, a hearty, healthy soup, impossibly chic embellished sandals, a spy thriller and a few other thoughts.
Happy weekend friends! It’s time for the weekend post with Kim and Elizabeth, our weekly roundup of inspirations and goings on.
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Our garden saga continues, and not in a good way. Although there are some bright spots so I’ll focus on them. We’ve kept the garden gremlins out of the raised beds and the flowers, fruits and veggies are looking good. I cut a few flowers this week … and enjoyed the strawberries.
Outside of the garden, my week didn’t go according to plan. Reentry from any vacation can be challenging, compounded by jetlag. Wah wah wah. This is just another way of saying, I was less than productive. I had every intention of cranking out a post about our Apuglia adventures … didn’t happen. So next week you can expect a one two punch … what I wore and what I did in Italy. I know, you’re on the edge of your seat. But let’s get back to today and what’s on my mind this weekend.
Hotel Borgo Egnazia
Last week we stayed at the Hotel Borgo Egnazia in Fasano, Italy. The hotel’s name means nowhere else and it certainly was a hotel like no other I’ve experienced. The hotel is only 15 years old (a celebrity favorite – Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were married there in 2012), and built to feel like an old Italian village. More on the hotel and the Apuglia region in a couple of posts coming later in the week.
The G7 Summit is being hosted at Borgo Egnazia this week. And we were the last group of guests at the hotel before being unceremoniously shown the exits last Friday. Just kidding, the hotel was nothing but gracious from arrival to departure. But when we did depart, preparations were in full swing for the Summit. Quite honestly we were surprised the hotel was occupied up to that point given the security preparations happening in and around the hotel.
Above image – constructing the summit entrance canopy
On our last night, as farewell speeches were being given, a military helicopter circled overhead. It was kind of exciting. We’d seen all the temporary helicopter pads around the perimeter and the security operations around the city were quite impressive.
Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters
I can’t to share more about Borgo Engazia with you next week. It’s truly a unique and special hotel and no wonder it makes the list of best hotels in Italy. We were lucky to experience it.
Metal Toe Ring Sandal
A few weeks ago I did a summer sandal round up and mentioned this pair of metal toe ring sandals on my wish list. While in Italy I spotted a similar pair of Maria Luca sandals at the hotel’s boutique. They’re exactly what I was looking for and will always remind me of la dolce vita.
These are the same sandals with a stud embellishment. I think they’re impossibly chic, with a peasant skirt or dress.
As the kids like to say, ‘they’re giving’ Jackie O.
The Helsinki Affair
On the very lonnnnng plane ride home from Italy I read the best book. The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak. Lately I’ve been readying a lot of fluff books … beach reads. Very enjoyable and I’m not putting them down … it’s not easy to write a good one and I enjoy them as much if not more than the next person. But it was fun to change it up with this spy drama. Even better, the protagonist, who becomes CIA station chief in Rome, is a relatively young woman. I can’t image this book won’t be made into a movie or limited series. I was riveted.
Soup & Biscuits
This week I was really dragging. Jim had a head cold and I’ve done everything in my power not to get it. So far so good. Anyway, I wanted to make healthy soup but was tired (read lazy) so when I saw this soup mix at the grocery store I thought why not? Generally when I make a legume based soup I buy many bags of different beans and mix them together. So this is just that. To make things even simpler I grabbed a prepared container of mirepoix at the store (chopped onions, carrots and celery). When I got home and read the directions for the soup mix, I decided to use chicken stock instead of water and I also added a can of petite diced, fire roasted tomatoes. I didn’t add additional seasoning other than the 1tsp of salt on the package directions. Oh, I added frozen sweet white corn. You could add a parmesan rind to the pot for more flavor, but the soup was very flavorful as I made it and hit the spot for lunch a few days in a row.
On our last soup day I was craving something more … more carbs. We were fresh out of any kind of bread so I looked up easy recipes for drop biscuits and found this one that I can highly recommend. Oh my gosh … these are the best. The outside bakes up a little crispy and the inside is soft and fluffy. I’m embarrassed but I’m going to tell you anyway … I ate three. Three at one meal. Jim was astounded. Nothing gets between me and my carbs.
It’s strawberry shortcake season, and this biscuit recipe would make a wonderful shortcake base.
Father’s Day Weekend
I can’t believe we’re in June, much less mid-way through and it’s Father’s Day weekend. This will be the second Father’s Day since my dad’s been gone and I miss him. Many of you will be having similar thoughts and feelings over the weekend. I love to take a little trip down memory lane, looking through old photos and talking about some of my dad’s funny moments – there were many – and general family lore.
And speaking of strawberry shortcake, my dad had a sweet tooth, I guess we know where I got mine. When dessert was served – strawberry shortcake or otherwise – he’d call out to whoever was in the kitchen to ‘make mine an adult portion!’
My dad with his dad, San Diego, 1960
This weekend would have been be my mom’s 90th birthday. She died from ovarian cancer when she was only 64. As I approach my 62nd birthday I think about that more and more. But, not to be a downer, the reason I bring it up is because her birthday usually coincided with Father’s Day weekend and after my parents divorce she liked to give us a hard time about her birthday getting the short shrift. Oh mom … happy birthday, we can handle both!
My mom and her dad, San Diego, 1960
Anyway, I hope your weekend involves celebrating the amazing dad’s in your life and evokes happy memories of the dad’s no longer with us. Oh, and Happy Father’s Day to Jim!
Kyle & Jim, Laguna Beach, 1992
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And that’s what I have for you today. Let’s see what’s inspiring Kim and Elizabeth.
In case you missed it, last week we talked about raffia sandals, white t-shirts, facial tanning water and more … catch up here.
Cheers from Snowberry!
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