by Karen Creamer | Feb 28, 2023 | (it's all about the) food, Comfort, Connection, family, italian
With the supply of pastina at an all time low, I’ve been thinking about other staples in my diet that have been around since childhood.
Spaghetti is one of them.
I usually buy DeCecco Angel Hair Spaghetti (cooks in 2 to 3 minutes!) but they didn’t have any at the supermarket, so when I was looking for the Prince Pastina (and striking out again), I saw the Prince Spaghetti and thought I’d by a box for old times’ sake. This also reminded me of the commercial from back in the day, of Anthony running through the streets of the North End in Boston to make it home on time for supper. Keep reading
by Karen Creamer | Feb 14, 2023 | (it's all about the) food, Connection, italian
We were looking for new places to try for Italian food.
After doing a search of nearby restaurants, I came up with Calzolaio Pasta Company in Wilton, Maine
Eggplant Fries
Wait. What? Eggplant fries?
In the spirit of adventure, my husband agreed to try them. I love eggplant but he does not.
These things were amazing! They were a little crispy but light and the gravy that came with them for dipping was almost as good as my own. I would have bought some if they sold jars of it.
Everything else was excellent as well. The bread. The Angry Meat Pizza. The Chicken Parmigiana. To me, the mark of a great restaurant is that there are so many things that sound so great that you want to try them all. Keep reading
by Karen Creamer | Jan 31, 2023 | Book Reviews, books, Connection
I heard about this book from someone on a YouTube channel and requested it from the library.
Before I started reading it, I noticed that everyone was recommending this book and also it was being featured in a lot of book clubs. When I picked it up from the library, the librarian mentioned that “they” are already talking about making this book into a movie. This actually almost put me off reading it, but I decided to forge ahead.
What’s great about this book: SO MUCH! It made me laugh out loud several times, which is not an every day occurrence for me as a reader. Also, the main characters were all so very interesting, even—maybe especially—the dog, and each is quite brave in their own way. Keep reading
by Karen Creamer | Jan 17, 2023 | books, Connection, friends, Metaphysical healing, Signs and Symbols
My friend recommended this book to me last year.
I looked at it and remembered that I had a mala somewhere that looked exactly like that one on the cover!
I took this as a sign to read the book.
It drew me in right away and I recommend The Magic Mala by Bob Olson to anyone who is looking for motivation and structure to help with their floundering (or non-existent) meditation practice. I found my mala and started meditating. After several months, I got away from it but recently it popped into my mind so I pulled the book and the mala out again. Keep reading
by Karen Creamer | Jan 10, 2023 | Connection, education, family
I have renewed my goal of learning to speak Italian this year.
Why Italian? Because half of my family of origin was from Italy. The other half is from Ireland, and I already speak English. 🙂
Also, I want to go to Italy and visit where my grandparents were from. Learning Italian makes me feel closer to that goal, which is, sadly, already about ten years overdue.
This is the second foreign language I’ve studied so far. I learned French when I was younger. I began in seventh grade, continued in high school and college. I remember sitting in the language lab in college and having no fun whatsoever. The end result is that I can understand and read some French, but I am (and was) a poor speaker of it. Keep reading
by Karen Creamer | Jan 8, 2023 | (it's all about the) food, Comfort, Connection, family, italian, recipes
I have been making Pastina for decades, since my children were babies. Back then, they called it “Stini”, and sometimes I still do. It was a quick, easy, comforting thing to eat and they loved it.
Making Pastina was also a tradition, because my mother and my grandmother made it for me when I was a baby and for all the years after that.
Over the past several months, I have been having trouble finding Pastina at the grocery store. I had quite a stash so I didn’t worry too much about this at first. I preferred Prince Pastina but decided that Barilla or Ronzoni would also be fine. Keep reading
Karen Creamer
