Central Market Cooking School

When I'm in Fort Worth, one of my favorite restaurants is Nona Totta. It's a teeny tiny authentic Italian restaurant off of Magnolia and the chef, Donatella Trotti, moved to FW from Milan after working for Prada. What a life. Anyway, her food is always to die for and she makes everything that comes out of her kitchen. It's wonderful and Donatella even won Fort Worth's most recent top chef competition. That's beating out a lot of nationally renowned chefs, I might add. 

Clearly I love Nona Totta and share this affection with my mother, so when she saw that Donatella was hosting a cooking class at Central Market's cooking school, she signed us up. We got there very early (that's rather unusual for my mom) and we got to sit front and center!

The Donatella Trotti. 

Did I mention you get to eat everything she makes? This deliciousness was cipolle caramellate with gelato al parmigiano. That would be a caramelized onion tart with parmesan gelato. Sinful. 

But really easy!

Lasagne di pane, a bread lasagna. Wonderful. 

Capesante con il Mais e salsa verde--scallops on a bed of grilled corn with a lemon parsley pesto. 

Plenty of wine and prosecco were passed around. 

A bunet, a pudding type dessert. Again, amazing. 

My mom and I hung around afterward and chatted with Donatella. She's nice, funny and "doesn't care to eat her own food." People like that drive me nuts. 

We really enjoyed learning to cook her recipes and I'm looking forward to making them! 

Easter weekend

John and I were very fortunate to spend last weekend celebrating Easter with both of our families. We hit up the Hardages Friday and Saturday and moseyed into Cowtown Saturday evening and Sunday. 

We hosted Easter lunch at my parent's house this year. Mammaw even felt up to joining us!

She'll be 93 this June!

Biscuit celebrated as well. She'll turn 14 in June too!

Rosie and my uncle's dog, Charlie, played the entire time. She was worn out when we got back home. 

 Apples pic. Love these ladies! 

Weekend in the Fort

John's birthday celebration continued over the weekend as we traveled to Fort Worth and met my parents for lunch at the new West 7th hot spot, Hacienda San Miguel. Great patio with delicious food. And drinks!

Apples.

After lunch we dropped the boys off to watch the Rangers and Mom and I went shopping. We even stopped by for a quick visit with the Mammaw.

Just precious.

One of my best friends, Rebecca, shares the same birthday with John! Saturday night, we met up with friends on the patio at Piola

Obligatory photo shoot courtesy of my mother.

Family pic. 

Birthday girl!

Candace and Court enjoying bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes. 

Me and the birthday girl. 

Rett and John. 

Can, Mel and Court. 

It's always good to see some of my favorite Waco peeps. 

After church on Sunday we met John's parents for lunch and continued celebrating his birthday. Kathleen and David generously gifted John with their old lawn mower and weed eater (we've been borrowing a friend's) and we'll be able to round out our landscaping needs with a gift card from them to Home Depot. We're such grown-ups.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to the best Mom in the world!

I know everyone says this, but I really might have the best Mom in the world. Let me provide you with a few supporting examples before you begin to argue.

- My Mom is cool. She's always been the "cool" Mom. She's always jammed to Top 40 hits (she knows most of the words too), kept up with all the trends and always reminded me to live a little. Examples: Mom could recite the entire Fergie and Gwen Stefani albums, wears Uggs and was the Mom who took me and my middle-school friends to wrap boys' houses. The combination of these traits means that most of my friends may enjoy being around my Mom more than they like me. Countless times I remember having sleepovers (well into high school) where I would wake up the next morning and my friends would all be downstairs talking with MY MOTHER! I hated it at the time, but looking back, it was, simply, cool.

-Perhaps one of the things I admire most about my Mom is that she's a good friend. She has more friends than I do and manages to make time to hang out with all of them. She's always got a card night, happy hour, dinner or walk planned with one of her gal pals and I think it's really awesome that she's able to balance those friendships with everything else she does. I must become more like this.

-Mom shows her love in many ways. She'll still let me snuggle with her and knows how to play with my hair. She's always got a sussy (definition: a small gift for no particular reason) for me and helps me do everything from plan a wedding to organize my closet.  Mom makes John breakfast tacos anytime he's in town and buys him sugary ceral. That's love, right?!

-Mom is my biggest supporter. She never missed a volleyball game and was by far loudest fan in the stands. She packed my lunch everyday until I went to college, made sure she knew all of my teachers and friends and would crawl into my every night  and talk to me about the days events until I fell asleep.  She's always there to help me celebrate the good times and talk through the rough times.

-She's an apple. She cares for and loves the rest of us apples, and just like the saying, we all haven't fallen far from the tree. It's funny to hear and watch her become more and more like her Mother everyday. It's even weirder catching myself saying and doing things like my she would say....

-Mom's used to wearing many different hats, and each she waers exceptionally well. Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Granddaughter, Aunt, Mother-in-law, Friend, Team Mom, Room Mother, Girl Scout Troop Leader, Party Planner, Chef, Talent Show coordinator, Professional Closet Organizer, Listener and Counselor just to name a few....

I love you, Mom! Thanks for all that you do for me and our family. You're one-of-a-kind and we wouldn't all be where we are today without you. Have a Happy Birthday!



The Birthday Apples

Yesterday my great grandmother, henceforth known as Mammaw, celebrated her 92nd birthday!

Isn't she adorable?

And today, Mammaw's daughter, and my grandmother, henceforth known as Nana, celebrates her birthday.

She would be appaled if I revealed her true age. Isn't she just beautiful though?! Doesn't look a day over 25, right?...

I call these ladies (and my mom and Megan) the apples. It was only a few summers ago that I finally understood the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

We are all, in fact, a LOT alike.

 We've celebrated just about every birthday, holiday and special occasion together.

Some of my favorite memories with Mammaw include:

Going to lunch at her house for fried chicken, fried apricot pies, homemade rolls and iced tea

Playing Skip-Bo all afternoon

Playing with Crybaby, the doll that she let me have when I went to her house

Taking her to Luby's or Cracker Barrel for lunch

Some of my favorite memories with Nana include:Spending the night at her house. (She'd always make me a pallet on the floor next to her bed!)

Going Easter dress shopping (why did we stop doing that?!)

Going to museums, plays, vacations and all sorts of fun.

Having afternoon tea parties.

Playing SkipBo and Skit-Skat all afternoon.

Swimming at her house and playing, "Let's take a trip to China" and take the raft from the shallow-end of the pool to the deep-end and Nana tell me fun stories about her travels.

Watching her plant all sorts of beautiful flowers in her yard.

Teaching me about etiquette, how to be a good hostess and how to decorate for a party.

(Things every girl needs to know!)

Happy Birthday, Nana and Mammaw! Can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend!