Happy Mother’s Day Italian Style
I just couldn’t help myself! Enjoy the giggle on this special day.
Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
May 12
Carnival opens in Venice
Carnival began last evening and all of Venice has come to life with color. Enjoy the video and photos below!
Venice Carnival Canal Water Show
Photos Courtesy of Carnival of Venice
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![IMG_0131[1]](http://onceinalifetimetravel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/img_01311.jpg)
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Love it?? Pass it on!
Copyright 2013 Andi Brown, Once in a Lifetime Travel
Jan 25
Earthquake in Italy | 5.0 near Parma
News is just barely trickling in about an earthquake today near Parma. I haven’t heard back from friends yet, reports are pretty vague at this time. I will write more as information comes in.
Link to real time site HERE.
2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 66,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Jan 2
Vernazza One Year After The Flood
Courtesy of Students for the Cinque Terre
Just over one year ago a massive flood and mudslide buried one of my special places on earth, Vernazza. So much has been endured, rebuilt, rethought and rejoiced.
As fate and nature would have it, on the very day an Alert 2 went out to the people of the Cinque Terre but thankful everyone in the area weathered the storm well.
Much is still to be done. Please keep Save Vernazza in your minds as we move towards the close of this year.
Below is a link to some fabulous people who have been a part of the recovery process as they celebrate Vernazza’s bittersweet anniversary.
Students for the Cinque Terre Commemoration.
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Love it?? Pass it on!
Copyright 2012 Andi Brown, Once in a Lifetime Travel
Oct 28
Susan Van Allen featured Article | Vernazza
Many of you might remember my review of Susan Van Allen’s 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go. If you haven’t gotten it yet, go now! Imagine my delight when she asked that I take part in her Golden Days in Italy with my ideal day in Vernazza.
To see my full article click here and make sure to follow her blog!
I’m obsessed with feedback, let me know what you think.
Love it?? Pass it on!
Copyright 2012 Andi Brown, Once in a Lifetime Travel
A Year in the Blogging World | Strange search terms and Dr Oz shows
I realized just the other day that I have been blogging for just over a year. I didn’t even want to start, my husband made me. Kicking and pouting but trusting in his marketing prowess I began my journey in the world of the blogger.
Little did I know that within a month, disaster would strike my beloved Cinque Terre and through my writing I would be able to reach thousands of readers. The networking and relationships built and made through the experience remain strong twelve months later.
A few months after beginning, I soon became ‘on-line’ friends with other writers and authors of books I loved. Their stories became my inspiration and I began to write even more. With my writing came followers and with followers came encouraging feedback and comments. The fire and passion to share began to burn brighter, and so the cycle began. WordPress added fuel to the obsession with its detailed stats page and the ability to track favorite posts, clicks and likes. Although I no longer check my stats hourly, it is the last thing I look at before turning out the lights.
I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey and growth. A blog the started with only my mom following me has grown to over 200 subscribers with at least that many views daily, over 300 Facebook followers and twice as many on twitter. I am nearing 100,000 views and my busiest day to date was 1,123 views. My posts have brought people together, help to Vernazza, made preparing for travel to Italy easier and hopefully a smile to everyone’s faces. This blog even got me on the Dr Oz show, although embarrassingly it was for a personal poo story not as a travel expert. If you can find me on Facebook then you might find the video link! I can’t WAIT to see what the next 12 months bring! To celebrate I have a few fun and …. well…. interesting facts about my blog. Enjoy!
Most Interesting Key Words: These are real life snips of real life keywords that brought readers to my blog. Unfortunately, I am sure many were disappointed.
Now that I would like to see.
All at once?
I don’t even WANT to know
Another disappointed viewer. I would hate to see what would happen if I DID write a post about a penis.
My blog read around the world
Top Posts
| Views | ||
|---|---|---|
| Home page / Archives |  |
8,089 |
| Vernazza Flood | |
6,700 |
| Cinque Terre, Vernazza Flooding: Before and after photos and videos | |
5,598 |
| Understanding Italian Culture | Handling Money, Shopping, Computers and Staying in Line | |
2,402 |
| Cinque Terre Flood: Vernazza Clean Up Progress | |
2,254 |
| Cinque Terre, Vernazza flood update: Disaster Relief | |
1,882 |
| Learning When To Run | |
1,785 |
| Cinque Terre: Vernazza Flood Update | |
1,764 |
| Top TenI’m obsessed with feedback, let me know what you think.Love it?? Pass it on!Copyright 2012 Andi Brown, Once in a Lifetime Travel |
White Chocolate Pumpkin Biscotti Recipe
I had to re-post this in honor of the return of fall. Welcome October! I can’t wait to get my hands on the pumpkins growing in our little garden.
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ white sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (see below for substitution)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup melted white chocolate, for drizzling or dipping (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350*F.
Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; stir well. In another bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla, stirring well with a wire whisk. Slowly add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Mixture will be very crumbly; it will gradually become moist after stirring.)
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 portions. Lightly flour hands and shape each portion into a 2 x 10″ long log. (Or I just made one large 8″ x 16″ log.) Place logs 3″ apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool logs for 10-15 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 300 F.
After cooling, move a loaf to a cutting board and cut diagonally into 1/2″ thick pieces. The interior of each biscotti should still be just a little moist, with the crust of the loaf hard.
Place the biscotti with a cut side facing up on a half sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes. Remove the pan and flip all the biscotti over so the other cut side is now facing up. Bake for another 8 minutes. Set all the pieces on a wire rack to cool making sure that none of the biscotti are touching each other.
Once the biscotti have fully cooled, drizzle with melted white chocolate. Microwave chips for 1 minute on 70% power. Drizzle looks best when a fork is dipped in the melted chocolate and then dripped over biscotti.
If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can substitute in:
- 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Copyright 2012 Andi Brown, Once in a Lifetime Travel
