Well, I’d figured I’d start out this post how I usually start the others, but to save you some reading time….
(Insert usual comment here about how it’s been awhile since I’ve written, expected explanation of busy schedule/work/discovery of the completely addicting HBO show Game of Thrones, and apologies.) 
So far my cooking adventures continue, but no applause just yet please – my whole repertoire at the moment consists of various pasta dishes, and me cooking things in a pan with olive oil and tossing with the cooked pasta. So far, I’ve stuck to my tuna/olive/sundried tomato pasta, ventured into the delicacies of carbonara (my first few attempts resulted in very scrambled egg-y pasta, but now I think I’ve got it down), pasta with a bit of cayenne pepper, turkey sausage, and parmesan, and tortellini with panna (cream sauce) and pancetta. When I’m hankering for an American breakfast, I’ll also make some scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage, and toast, but this always attracts fascinated/confused stares from my Italian roommates whose breakfasts consists of coffee (it’s the Italian way) so I tend to refrain 
Carbonara, however, is the best compromise – I get all the flavors of breakfast but disguised in a very Italian dish…
I’m also happy to report that despite being out of the U.S. this fall, I did in fact get to celebrate Halloween! My wonderful friends from Milan came down to spend the long weekend, and we had an awesome time getting dressed up and even having a Halloween party of our own: Luca and Chiara whipped up pumpkin ravioli with a sage butter sauce to keep with the autumn theme, and for dessert served pumpkin shaped cookies with a nutella filling. After just enough wine to convince me to go dancing, we went to a few places in the centro (center), where I realized that Halloween is indeed catching on in Italy – the streets were packed and pretty much everyone was wearing a costume (I of course went the time consuming route of being a witch, my costume consisting of a pointed hat from the 99 cents store and a black dress and boots already hanging in my closet…)
Halloween drawing decorations by Luca…
Matteo & Chiara
Nutella cookies!
