5 highlights of my week

So it is Friday morning again...my favorite morning of the whole week because both of my boys are in school and I AM COMPLETELY ALONE IN THE HOUSE FOR A FEW HOURS. UNINTERRUPTED!
I love Friday mornings. Please don't judge. My family is everything to me, but man, am I refreshed and charged and a  totally new person after a morning like this! No more cranky, whiny, impatient mama. [at least not for a while]
My batteries get charged and it wouldn't happen any other way.
A dose of sweet solitude is a daily requirement for an introvert.

Here are a few highlights of my week

1. A snail has taken up residence in our mailbox. Did you know that snails poop? Husband has sweeped a whole handful of snail poop out of the mailbox yesterday...Unbelievable! I told him to relocate the guy somewhere else but so far he is reluctant. So now I have to be afraid to reach into my own mailbox?? Gotta do something. I might have to hire Benjamin to remove it from the premises.
Needless to say that my sudden and unexplainable fascination with "The magical world of snails" [beautiful macro photo series by a Ukrainian photographer, Vyacheslav Mishchenko] is quite over.

2. I can't help myself... his name cracks me up. Big Pupo is a "retro" singer [Italians love love love nostalgic music] who gave a concert here in town as a crowning of the San Nicola festival last weekend. Unfortunately we couldn't attend because husband came down with a bad cold. Which now I have by the way.



3. I want to learn French!
I know! The timing! :) I am in the middle of my Italian studies [which I LOVE] and I already have ambitions for another language? I was never interested in French. Not in high school, not in university, not ever. If anything I disliked it for the snobbish attitude of its speakers. And then all the sudden BAMM! I heard Luca Lampariello [polyglot, language coach] speak a few phrases the other day and I was in love. With French. Just happened like that. It reminds me, by the way, of my history with the English language. All I ever heard was that without English you can't do anything anymore, and that English this and English that...it made me like, Hey, I will NEVER learn English and I will be just fine! Watch me! So I choose German and Russian in high school to learn and I was very satisfied with myself. Then I graduated from high school, and was working in the summer for a few months. One morning I woke up, sighed, and thought "What the heck! i will learn English." And it started. I went and bought dictionaries and books and learnt English. It is not until you are motivated enough that you will really be able to conquer a language. No matter how hard they force you, without self-motication it is impossible. So here I am studying Italian full time, but can't wait to resume my Korean studies as well and pick up French. Can't wait!

4. I have been singing Heart's Content by Brandi Carlile day and night for about a week now. It is one of the theme songs of Safe Haven. [My favorite movie, watched it about 50 times] This is what I usually do, I sing the soul out of a song to the point where I get so sick of it that I cannot listen to it anymore.
Anyway, this is a very good song! I will never get tired of it.

5. Definitely a highlight of the week when I make empanaditas. Especially with buttery dilly corn.

I have THE perfect pie crust recipe that I use for the empanaditas. Absolutely fool-proof! I think I got it out of the Wycliffe International Missionary Cookbook years ago and it has changed my life :) (I'm a little dramatic of course)
But it is a super easy, super quick recipe and I use it for both savory and sweet pies, empanadas, cheesecakes, everything.

PIE CRUST

[for fruit pies, veggie and cheese pies, empanadas]

3 cups flour

1 1/4 cups soft butter or shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg, well-beaten

5 Tablespoon water

1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice

Mix everything, but not too well. The little lumps of butter will make the crust flaky. Divide into 4 balls, form  disks out of them, wrap them in plastic foil. Let them rest in the fridge for about an hour. You can used them immediately, put in the fridge, or freezer. 

Works with gluten-free flour mix too!