Follow My Bliss

Thursday, February 4, 2016

More Celebrations In January

There was so much going on during the holidays and in the month to follow I didn't get a chance to blog about the many wonderful things we did. Here are some catch up photos of my birthday celebrations in January.

Aria, Daniele and Sofia were with us after the Christmas holidays until January 7th. So it was especially nice to celebrate my birthday with them on the 4th.

When we were about to leave for a morning meet up with my friends, I opened the door and found these flowers had been dropped off by my friend Lynda. Such a bright and cheery present to start off the day! Thank you sweet Lynda!

Aria, Sofia and I met up with my friends Judy and Isa at Aroma di Roma in the morning.

Coffee, sweet treats, and lovely birthday surprises were a wonderful way to start the day.

Plus all the girls got a chance to see Aria and meet Sofia.

Grazie Mille Judy and Isa. Best birthday breakfast and a wonderful start to my day.

Ciao, Ciao now we are off to pick up Daniele and have a birthday lunch with my cousin Nancy and Uncle Renso.

Sofia was well entertained by "Auntie Nancy"

I had fun working on the jigsaw puzzle

Daniele enjoyed talking with Uncle Renso

Nancy kept Sofia entertained

We feasted on great Italian deli sandwiches and pasta salad

Nancy baked me a beautiful flourless chocolate cake

and she gifted me with one of her beautiful water color paintings. This one is a beautiful persimmon painting.

What a wonderful afternoon with family. Thank you Nancy and Uncle Renso.

When we got home I found another gift on the front porch. This one left by my dear friend Tracy. Thank you Tracy! That was such a nice surprise.

In the evening Aria, Daniele and Sofia treated us to a wonderful dinner at the Fish Company in Los Alamitos.

Yummy clam chowder and lobster bisque soups

Sofia helps me make a birthday wish

What a perfect birthday for me to be surrounded by my family!
Home to open gifts and tons of cards which I will post tomorrow.
Thank you Aria, Daniele, Sofia and Mike. A wonderfully perfect Birthday!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Celebrating Birthdays

My friend Sherri and I celebrated our birthdays with our friend Maria last month. We were thinking about where we could go for dinner when I remembered a local family run Italian restaurant, "Vino e Cucina", that offers twice monthly a dinner with an Italian language lesson taught by a young man from Sicily, Andrea Giannone. We decided to do that.

It was a fun night out starting with some champagne to kick off the celebration.

Cheers to the birthday girls!

We arrived at Vino e Cucina, took our seats

Sherri, me and Maria

and met some of the other students.

Our teacher Andrea was already there preparing for the evening lesson.

He brought his cousin Fabio and it was fun to have him in the class as well.

There is a lesson and then a pause for some dinner.

Fried polenta with a gorgonzola sauce

Pasta with peppers and sausage served family style

Tortellini with pesto

Andrea continues the lessons...

Students can volunteer to practice the dialogues

The evening is thoroughly fun, the food is always good and plentiful. Andrea is a great teacher. He makes the basic Italian lessons easy and accessible to everyone. No language background is necessary. *

Grazie mille to our "Professore Andrea and his cousin Fabio"! What a nice way to celebrate our birthdays.

*Reservations are necessary for the class. Call Vino e Cucina for class/with dinner schedule.Current priciing for dinner with lesson from 6:30-8:30 is $30.00.

Vino & Cucina

4501 E Carson St # 105, Long Beach, CA 90808

Reservations: (562) 421-0124

http://vinocucina.com/