Mexican food, or should I say, Tex-Mex food, is definitely all-American, as Cherrye points out over at My Bella Vita. And, being from Texas, she’s an authority on the stuff. So, head on over and check out her recipe for Chicken and Mushroom Quesadillas, Salsa and Guacamole. Then get ready to have a Tex-Mex night. Sounds like a great party theme.

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Some of you may have noticed the white lace under the bombonieri that I had on my blog yesterday.

Those are called merletti or, in dialect, puzzuell’, not to be mistaken with pizzelle which are yummy waffle cookies. Of course, spelling anything in dialect is just about impossible, but you get the idea. At first I was never sure what O’s mom was making, cookies or lace. But, now I hear the difference.

Anyway, it’s a common sight around here to see the older women sitting in the sun (in the summer) or next to the fire (in the winter), crocheting away with tiny hooks to make various pieces of merletti. And, in most houses, any piece of furniture you see probably has a covering made of this on top of it. Many times, they’ll also purchase a nice piece of embroidered material and add their own lace edge around it.

I, of course, don’t have the patience or time to make these things, but O’s mom keeps me in good supply. First of all, she made him a whole set of things for the house a long time ago. She even made an entire coverlet for a king sized bed out of the stuff. Now that’s patience!

Of course, with baby on the way, you can be sure that she’s made a “copertina” for him too.

There are numerous patterns, many times they’ve made them up themselves, and often what one lady knows, another doesn’t.

The other day, I decided to wash all of them and hung them out to dry on the line in the sun. A few hours later the doorbell rings and it’s O’s mom. It seems one of the other ladies saw a pattern she liked and asked her how to make it. So, she had to come and see which pattern it was so that she could make a sample for the other lady. Of course, none of these patterns are written down either - it’s all in their head. O’s mom is amazing, she can see a pattern that someone else has made and copy it with no problem. I would need to have it written down or else I’d never be able to decipher it.

Here are some of the patterns. To be honest, I don’t know which one I like best…. Which one is your favorite?

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Yes, it’s been a little crazy lately. I’m trying to get all of the last minute necessities taken care of, plus I’m still working and plan to keep working until the last possible minute.

The latest thing we had to take care of was choosing and buying the bombonieri. What’s a bomboniere, you ask? Many of you may know them as wedding favors, but here they’re used for any occasion. Basically, if someone may bring you a gift, you give them a bomboniere in return. So, births, baptisms, communions, christenings, and weddings all necessitate a bomboniere. (Like lucky shirts and bombonieri, I’m finding that there are a lot of “necessary” things that I didn’t know about.)

Many times these items are small silver knick-knacks, but we wanted to do something different. Fortunately, we found a Disney store here in Vasto which had this great looking bomboniere cake. Each slice is a small cardboard box that has a little Baby Disney character on top. Then, on top of the cake is a music box that we can then retain as a keepsake.

But, what goes in the little cardboard box? Why sugared almonds, of course, otherwise known as confetti here in Italy. I think everyone knows what they are, but just in case you don’t, they’re almonds, covered in chocolate and then a hard candy coating. They’re also sometimes called Jordan Almonds. And, since we’re in Abruzzo, we had to get our confetti in Sulmona. After all, it’s world famous for its confetti.

The blue ones are to go in the boxes and the mixed ones are to be placed in a nice dish to offer to anyone who comes to the hospital or to the house. It’s considered good luck to eat the confetti.

Now, in case you didn’t know, you must put 5 pieces of confetti in each box. The five almonds represent health, wealth, happiness, fertility and long life.

So, we’ve got our confetti and our bombonieri - one more thing crossed off on the list of must-haves.

Here’s a close-up of the little Baby Disney characters.

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OK, so I’m a little bit behind since I was extremely busy the end of the week. So, unfortunately, I missed Friday’s serving of Buffalo wings that Judy cooked up for us at Over a Tuscan Stove.

I’m definitely going to have to make these for O. He loves chicken wings and anything spicy. I’ve recently introduced him to Tabasco and Jalapeno peppers.

So, head on over and check them out, then whip up a bunch!

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Without thinking about it, if you were to indicate the number three using your fingers, how would you do it?

Strangely enough, we don’t all do this the same.

While at a friend’s house a while ago, someone asked O a question that I don’t really remember and the answer was “3″. Instead of responding in words, he held up three fingers. But, what 3 fingers did he hold up?

These

This started a bit of a discussion because his wife, who’s from Romania, doesn’t use those three fingers if she wants to indicate the number three. Instead, she uses these

I then had to throw my two cents in because I always use these three

So, is it a cultural difference? The two Italians do it one way, the Romanian another and the American a third. I know when O wants to indicate the number 1, he always uses his thumb while I use my index finger. I didn’t think to ask my friend if she uses her pinkie finger, but it’s quite possible considering her choices for number 3.

If you count on your fingers from one to five, where do you start? I start with my index finger and my thumb is number five. O starts with his thumb and his pinkie is number five.

Of course, this is not an earth-shattering observation, but it is interesting.

How do you show the number “3″?

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