May 30th

May 30th, 2009 Kristi Leave a comment Go to comments

labellafigura5-30-004

 

Outfit:

Ann Taylor Loft dress (thrift store). This is one of what I like to call my “Italian Mama” dresses.

Black Dansko sandals

Large silver hoop earrings

Menu:

Breakfast: one pancake with syrup, large glass of orange juice, large glass of apple juice, cafe au lait

Lunch: Salami and pepper jack cheese with dijon on 1/2 a sub roll, one apple, chips and salsa

Dinner: Pork chops with apples, brown rice, green salad 

This meal is a favorite in our house. It may be too sweet for some. And it is definitely not on someone’s Low Calorie List, but here it goes:

Pork Chops with Apples

1. Heat oven to 3oo degrees

2. Brown pork chops (I use anything from 2 chops to 6)

3. Place around 3-4 peeled, cored and sliced apples (any kind. I use braeburn a lot) in a greased baking dish.

4. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon, but I usually use more of both.

5. Dot with butter.

6. Top with browned pork chops.

7. Cook at least 90 minutes or until meat thermometer registers that pork chops are cooked throughout (can’t remember what temperature that is — it shows on my thermometer cover).

One Lovely Blog

 

Stephanie over at Bonjour Madame gave me this award today. How sweet. She definitely has one lovely blog that you should all check out. It is eye candy.

This is my first time at this, but I would also like to return the compliment and pass the award on to my favorite fellow bloggers:

Bonjour Madame

Eurochic

The French Corner

Paris on the Cuyahoga

Already Pretty

There are links to all of them under “Friends” on the righthand side. All very worth checking out.

Categories: La Bella Cucina, Mangia! Mangia!, Style Tags:
  1. Stephanie
    May 31st, 2009 at 17:28 | #1
    Reply | Quote

    That dress is great! I can’t believe you found it in a thrift store. Do you have any tips for shopping in thrift stores? Are some better than others?

  2. La
    June 1st, 2009 at 06:34 | #2
    Reply | Quote

    Merci for the award, I am honored:)
    We love pork around here, so I’m going to try your recipe soon.
    La (parisonthecuyahoga.blogspot.com)

  3. Kristi
    June 1st, 2009 at 06:43 | #3
    Reply | Quote

    Thanks Stephanie and thanks again for the award. My best advice for shopping in thrift stores is narrowing your wardrobe palette. It makes it much easier to scan the merchandise when I am only looking for items in a handful of colors. I prefer places where I can try items on. I have saved probably hundreds of dollars since my favorite neighborhood thrift store installed dressing rooms!
    P.S. THINK TAILORING. I have bought a pair of $4 jeans that fit perfectly up top (and we all know how rare that is) except they were slightly too short and too flared and then spent $12 to have the legs lengthened and flare taken in. Totally worth it.

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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.