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Giardino/June 25th

June 25th, 2009 Kristi Leave a comment Go to comments

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Outfit:

Creme colored tee (garage sale)

Black skirt (Target)

Black sandals (Dansko)

Large silver hoop earrings

Silver necklace with diamond pendant

Menu:

Breakfast: store bought bread toasted with peanut butter and banana slices

Snack: Some white popcorn in a bag at the park

Lunch: Leftover shredded chicken wrapped in tortilla with lemon juice and tapatio sauce; chips
Dinner: Pesto pasta; green salad with avocado; pinot grigio

Bookclub: Six Oreo cookies. (We discussed The Book Thief)

Finances:

$20 for a bike for my daughter at a garage sale (she wanted one for her birthday)

$3 for coffee

$1 for tee at garage sale

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Giardino

Yesterday I mentioned how I received dozens of free plants outside the market. I am still busy giving them away and trying to find pots for the remainder. (What I have left is what is on my picnic table)

One of the simple pleasures in life is growing a garden.

I have dreams of an inground garden someday, but for now, I get enormous pleasure out of my potted herbs, tomato plants and flowers.

I keep it pretty simple.

I started with half a dozen tomato plants, now I will double or triple that. I have cherry tomatoes, Big  Boy, Juliet and Roma’s. I also am growing basil, rosemary, and Italian parsley and have three large pots of red geraniums. Now I have dozens of petunias I will put in pots.

On a hot summer day, I love walking out my backdoor in my yellow Provence kitchen apron with my kitchen shears and cutting some herbs for dinner. Tonight I will pick a large amount of my basil for the pesto pasta.

Right now in June, the tomato plants aren’t much to look at, but by August I will have a jungle lined up against my wooden fence.

When my tomatoes are ready, I will prepare a simple salad my Nana used to make using vine-ripened romas tossed in olive oil, minced garlic and salt. I can’t wait.

Categories: Giardino (Garden), Mangia! Mangia!, Style Tags:
  1. Phyllis
    June 26th, 2009 at 05:12 | #1
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    What is it about a kitchen apron that makes you feel like the best cook in the world?!?! I can cook hamburgers in mine and feel like a chef!

    I can almost taste those fresh herbs and tomatoes!

  2. Stephanie
    June 26th, 2009 at 16:52 | #2
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    Please post pictures of your salads once your vegetables are grown and ready.

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What is it about those Italian women? You know the ones I’m talking about: beautiful, sexy, dressed to the nines just to take the kids to the park. They have a certain something that is indefinable. It is in the way they dress, the way they prepare their meals, the way they spend their leisure time.

It is because they know the importance of la bella figura. Roughly translated from Italian, it means putting you best foot forward in everything you do. It means cutting a beautiful figura. The opposite of la bella figura is la brutta figura, which is what someone might say about the falling down drunken guy at the party or the super tackily dressed woman at church. It means ugly figure.

La bella figura is much more than your appearance. It goes much deeper than that. It is about how you act. It is about how you treat others. It is about how you care for yourself, your home and your family. Living a life in line with la bella figura doesn’t take money. In fact, it is more about how to have class without a lot of money.

Someone who exudes la bella figura will have clean, pressed clothes and be well groomed. They will not be rude or sloppy. Their fingernails will be impeccably groomed. Their hair shiny and clean and their shoes will be polished. They will not have stray threads hanging from their suit hems. They will not be driving a car in need of the car wash.

La bella figura means driving that 15 year old car and meticulously cleaning it and caring for it. It means keeping your belongings in good repair. It means taking time to clean your house and not cluttering it up with meaningless objects.

When you focus all your spare energy, time and money on the things that bring you the most amount of pleasure, then you are truly living a life in line with la bella figura. The best part about it is that you don’t have to be Italian to do so. You just have to think like an Italian.

Italian children are raised to present la bella figura in whatever they do. From the time they are small and are groomed perfectly to attend church or school, they know that appearances count. They count because it is the first thing people judge about you. That first impression does matter. Appearances are also important because when you take the time to look nice, you are showing that you care about yourself. When you care enough to look good, it shows you have good healthy self esteem. Nothing is more attractive than self confidence.

In addition, dressing nice also shows respect for others. If you invite people over for dinner and greet them in flip flops, baggy sweats and a stained shirt, it is really disrespectful to them. The same if you dress sloppy to go to church or even to the market. By dressing nicely and being well groomed, you show respect for everyone in your world.

Having la bella figura means presenting yourself in the best light possible in all your interactions.