my birfday

iiiiiiiiiits my birthday! and wow! I feel so lucky and blessed! Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes already! I really appreciate it :)

I've mentioned that I have awesome room mates before... they are fun. spunky. talented designers. considerate people. great chefs. even better friends. and the most thoughtful people I know....

see! thoughtful, right?!
This is what I woke up to!!
all of my favorites!
cioccolata cornetto, a banana, and yogurt/cereal duo.

I worked on projects and decided to nap.....
and after that little nap I woke up to THIS!

streamers aaaaand watercolored streamers spelling out Happy Birthday Bridget. too cute!

if that wasn't enough, the 6 of them got me the best little treats that I have been eyeing since the day I got here!
little tarts and cream puffs!
Ive only tried one so far...
lemon custard with berries. it was so good!
tart and sweet and fruity. looove love love

in a couple hours we are having chinese and devouring these little sweet treats :) Thank you so much girls!

Ciao!

Remember these??

We flew over the Swiss Alps as we were flying from our week in Ireland to Rome and now we get to go back! I'll be taking an overnight train to Bern tonight and then will spend the week touring graphic design firms, famous poster collections, and paper mills, and end in Milan and Venice. Just in time to make it back home in Rome for my birthday! :)

Switzerland (Bern & Basel) >> Germany (birsfelden/Vitra Design) >> Basel >> Zurich >> Milano >> Venezia

cuuuute!

clothes.... check!
camera.... check!
new coat!? .... check!

Its going to be much colder in Switzerland & Germany this week so my parents treated me to a new warm coat! I loooove it! You can't really tell in the awful picture but its oatmeal and cream... ah. love love love :)

Type Project

As I've mentioned before (I think I have anyway...) our professors and the curriculum is written in such a way that our experience and the wonderful city we call home is integrated so thoroughly and completely in our projects. exhibit a.
My Advance Type class: Art Gr 475
Project: 1000 pacesWe were instructed to go to the Pantheon, which is right around the corner from studio, and walk 1000 paces in any direction/route documenting what we see, hear, feel, think along the way. From our 1000 paces we then had to create a set of 4 plates or compositions each with a bit different requirement. The first plate had to be type only, the second image only, the third type dominant, image recessive and the last one had to be image dominant. We also had to include 3D elements and information graphics...

I am loving the colors in this... they really reflect the colors of the buildings, the rusts, greens, golds, patinas, aged buildings...... I love the colors here in general. bene bene... back to homework!

Tried something new!

I am having one cUHrazy Halloween........

not really.... instead Bethany and I are drinking wine, eating oreos (from her parents visit!) and plugging away at projects. oooh! and I heard more plans for Eric's visit! We both tried new dishes for dinner, too! She made incredible lettuce wraps and I made this!

Toasted Garlic and Chickpea on a Toasted baguette

I am getting so into cooking and baking (mostly cooking here because our oven is teeny. tiny. itty. bitty. and its a bit tricky guaging time/heat without a temp gauge!) and this recipe has been in the back of my mind for mooonths. no joke! I read Iowa Girl Eats blog daily and she made this with white beans........

I made mine with chickpeas (an excellent source of protein, inexpensive, and low in fat!)
I toasted 3 fresh garlic cloves in olive oil, added 3 diced roma tomatoes, sauteed it a bit, and then added and mashed a can of chickpeas. Slowly, I added ~1/4 milk and s&p. I quickly toasted my baguette and smushed my spread on top of my bread. so good!

A little Cinese and home in Roma...

No, I did not misspell Chinese in the title :) Because 'c' is pronounced as 'ch' in the Italian language, all of the signs for Chinese restaurants are written Cinese here! I think its cute.

I just couldn't do it. no pasta. no veggies.

instead........ Chinese. with Karen :) We went out together a couple Fridays ago and enjoyed watching a ridiculous and scary cartoon while eating really good Chinese food just a couple doors down from our apartment. Weird but completely enjoyable. I had spring rolls (made with just cabbage (is this the way they are all made?).. they were a bit more sour than I am used to but still good!), white rice, and cashew chicken (that was tender!!). My total bill was 7 euro... not too shabby! Karen and I were both stuffed when we left.... buuuuut....

we wanted something warm and something chocolately! My parents brought me a box of turtle brownie mix so we whipped 'em up... they're a little funky made with olive oil but that didn't stop us. caramel swiiiiiirl

As much as I loooove baking cookies, making bars, and even pies or cheesecakes.... a pan of brownies is at the top of my list. Remember this!?
Oooooh! I didn't forget about it... I officially added it to my Christmas list haha :) And this! It seems to me that its a staple in any kitchen....
I leave for a week in Switzerland-Germany-Milan-and-Venice tomorrow night so I have a few things to get done before I can head out. Ciao! Have a great week!

All things green

Morning! ooo and Happy Halloween! I almost forgot! hmmm I could go for some leftover Halloween Twix or Kit Kats right now....

I've had a great morning so far and its only 11! woot! Marco's veggies were looking so good yesterday so I grabbed a huge head of romaine and this morning chopped it all so 1. I'll use it and not shy away from eating salad because of the dreaded prep work and 2. so I use it all and don't let it go bad!
Italians only use the balsamic vinegar & olive oil duo for dressing salads, but I have come up with my own favorite. I will for sure bring this one back to the states with me! A light drizzle of olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and the star ingredient ricotta cheese! It's sooooo good. I've been eating carrots, roma or cherry tomatoes, black beans and this 'dressing' on my salads... I love it!

Look at these little gems! Becky has had friends visiting from the states and after their Toscana trip they stayed here last night....... and since they didn't want to tote around a bag of grapes they left them for us! Can't say I was disappointed... These aren't your typical grapes. They are tangy, but so sweet! and they squish almost as if they are a really juicy gummy inside. The only downside... three. stupid. seeds. in. each. little. grape. The seeds in the oranges and grapes just annoy me.

and last but not least.... a little fruit before breakfast...

is it a lime!?

is it an orange!?

I'm still not sure and my search to find out what it is is coming up short..... beeest part!? no seeds! Marco gave Bethany and I a couple of these and I will definitely be buying more!

That's a wrap. Have a great Saturday!!

mm mm mm!

mmm! I just made -err heated up- soup and the best little baguette for dinner. You can't beat a fairly fresh vegetable soup with no added preservatives on a cool evening.... last night was a looong night (and morning!) doing homework so after a class, shopping, a nap and shower this absolutely hit the spot! For dessert I baked a couple small baking apples with cinnamon that I found at our fruit market. I miss my mom's apple crisp and my Grandma Shirley's apple pie bars! mmm can't wait for the holidays!!

On Tuesday we had the unique opportunity to attend a book making workshop by well known book artist Vittorio Fava. Who spoke NO english whatsoever, I might add.

Although my book looks a bit too 'mixed media meets collaged school project' I am stoked that I learned how to sew/glue/make the signatures or pages in the book and a few techniques along the way. A couple photos from the day...

our front and back covers are covered plywood.
bindings made of thick fabric (mine was denim) stuccoed and nailed.my beautiful mess
putting the signatures together
(a signature is the most basic element of a page. each signature has 4 pages. think of how a folded piece of paper (which can be bound) has a front, front-back, back, and back-back.) I chose some new gorgeous paper I purchased from Vertecchi, old pages from different books of all shapes and sizes, vintage Italian postcards, sheet music, tissue paper, and other textured paper.Vertecchi paper My completed back cover.
I will use this as a 'scrapbook' or journal of my semester in Roma for when I get home.

My mission: complete my travel journals within the first week I get home.I am going to try to update a few things on my blog... isn't annoying that the column width is so narrow and the leading is so large... one little paragraph spans 6 inches down your page. Trying to fix it.... have a great weekend! ciao!