Ciao Bella! 
Merry Christmas to me! Best thing ever happened today, my dad surprised us with a cooking class in Tuscany. We learned how to make some great authentic italian cuisine. They even provided us with a special cookbook! Hopfeully I remember all the little tricks to make the recipes. We got to make raviolis from scratch by using a hand crank pasta maker to roll out the pasta, a ravioli stamp which gives the grooves and shape of the raviolis, and make the filling with portabella mushrooms and an amazing cream sauce. 
 Keep it saucy,
- Isabelle
For those of you eager to try to make raviolis here is a Step by Step process! 

Ciao Bella! 
OMG I wish you guys could experience all this amazing food I am having. John is getting jealous with all the pictures and stories I have been emailing him about. Today we want to this amazing restaurant called Ristorante Mirabelle. Mmmm delizioso! Just look at this amazing view from the restaurant. I never want to leave! 
 Keep is saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
Yay finals are over and today is the day my family and I leave for Italy! I’m so excited last night I was up all night practically mapping out everywhere I wanted to go and looking reviews for all of the best places to eat! Be sure to follow me so I can tell you about my amazing adventures! 
Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving home with their families! I know I definitely did. If your like me then you are probably still so full and are rolling around in order to get from place to place. One of the perks of living in New York is that walking is a great form of exercise. Now that the holiday’s are over I am dreading going back to classes and it’s only a few more weeks until finals! Hopefully I am able to focus long enough to study for my finals because while I was at home my parents surprised me by saying we were taking a trip to Italy over Christmas break! I am so excited because I have always wanted to go there. I probably should get a gym membership and start working out now with all the eating I’ll be doing there. 
Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
Yay this week is Thanksgiving and I finally get to go home to see my family! Thanksgiving is a big deal at our house. We prepare food many days in advance and always have a ton of food which makes for great leftovers. Every Thanksgiving is different, we switch off from doing a traditional meal which would be your typical turkey and sides, or we do our family’s version of traditional which is a huge italian spread of amazing dishes. Italians are known for having multiple courses throughout the day so there is never a moment when you aren’t eating. I found this pretty funny article that would perfectly describe what to expect when dining with an italian family. Maybe I should pass it along to John...he’s coming home with me for Thanksgiving! Apparently Thanksgiving isn’t a huge deal in his family so I thought I would show him my version of Thanksgiving. I hope he brings a big appetite! 
Anatomy of an Italian Meal
Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
Do you ever have one of those days where you would sacrifice skipping all of your classes just so you don’t have to get out of bed? Yup, today is one of those days! I used the typical excuse, “I’m sick and can’t make it to class today.” Instead I am choosing to stay in bed to watch one of my favorite cooking shows. No it’s not Paula Dean, way too much butter for me. I’m watching Everyday Italian with chef Giada De Laurentiis! She makes amazingly delicious food and it always looks very well presented to where you just want to reach through the television and grab the food! 
 Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Just look at these meatballs she makes on this episode! Your going to be just as addicted as me!
Classic Italian Turkey Meatballs

Ciao Bella! 
Im sitting in class browsing on my laptop all of these amazing dishes on Pinterest. Pinterest is so addicting and has all of these great recipes. I probably should be paying attention to my professor because these notes will probably be on our next test, but how can I focus when all this delicious food is staring me in the face! I mean look at this! Doesn't it look delicious?! 

Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
And the date was a success!! I’m still so full from the huge bowl of Fettuccine Alfredo, in fact I still have leftovers that I have been trying to get rid of for the past 2 days. The serving sizes there are ridiculous. Desert was even better! Afterwards John took me to this amazing desert place at (40.763966, -73.962965). Look this up in google maps to find out where we were! We had cannolis. In case you aren’t familiar with them it almost looks like a taco. The outside is a hard shell and the middle is a thick creamy filling! I bet this picture is making you want to go and buy a whole box of them right now! 
Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella!
 Well tonight is the night John and I are going out on our first official date! I guess he wasn’t too upset about the spilt sauce all over his shirt. He said we were going to eat at one of his favorite places Da Andrea. Don’t judge me but being a foodie I had to look up the menu! He knows the way to my heart because he picked italian food. Hopefully I don’t spill sauce on him this time...that would definitely not get me another date. 
 Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
So I went to my friend Sarah’s studio apartment to help her cook dinner for her boyfriend. Little did I know she was sneaky and made this into a double date! Her boyfriend brought one of his best friends, he was definitely cute. I was teaching Sarah how to make one of my favorite italian dishes: eggplant parmesan, I put this recipe in a previous post so go look for it if your interested! Although tonight ended up being a great night, the most embarrassing thing happened to me. I had just told Sarah how to layer the eggplant parmesan and turned around to talk to John, the guy I was supposed to be on a date with. I was so distracted looking at his beautiful blue eyes that I swung my hand while talking and knocked the bowl full of sauce right onto the floor which splashed up all over John’s white shirt. I was mortified! But John was such a gentleman about it and he said the cutest thing! “So you like to keep things saucy!” Ahhh I blushed so hard, but it made me feel so much better...I guess things turned out great because he asked me out on a date! 
Keep it saucy, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella!
 I feel like the gods have finally listened to my prayers! I have found a kitchen! LOL okay let me back up. So I was sitting in my communications class and we were doing an ice breaker to get to know our classmates. What we had to do was ask the person sitting next to us general questions such as name, interests, major/minor, etc. Well crazy enough the person sitting next to me loves baking and get this...she lives off campus in a studio apartment and has a huge kitchen! She said we should cook sometime, her boyfriend is always complaining about how she won’t make a good housewife someday because she doesn’t know how to cook. I bet I could teach her some of my dad’s recipes! Maybe she can become as good of a cook as a baker... hopefully! 
Until next time,
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
 So how long do you have to live in New York before you officially lose the Texas accent, learn to say you’s guys instead of y’all, and know how to cross the street without getting run over by all the taxi drivers who obviously don’t know how to drive. Does knowing how to hail down a taxi make me a New Yorker yet?! Well so far college has been exactly what you would expect. The classes are difficult, the professors are not your friend, the dorms are small, I’ve found normal people to call friends, and the food in the cafeteria is well ... edible. So glad I’m in the city and have a ton of options for yummy food. But I’m definitely missing some of my dad’s homemade cooking right about now. Have you ever heard of eggplant parmesan? If not then you are definitely missing out! Mmmmm I’m getting hungry just thinking about it! My dad is an amazing cook and I’ve been lucky enough that his talents got passed down to me. However, it’s a bit difficult to cook here at school since I don’t have a kitchen. Darn these dorm rooms! I’d give up my closet for a kitchen! 
Until next time, 
- Isabelle 
Here is the recipe to my favorite dish!

- 2 large eggplants 
- 1 Tbsp olive oil 
- salt 
- 1 jar of favorite pasta sauce (or you can make homemade sauce!) 
- 2 cups parmesan cheese 
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese



First you cut the eggplant into circular slices that are 1/4 inch thick. Brush olive oil on both sides of the eggplant and then sprinkle with salt. Cook the eggplant on 350 for about 20 minutes or until there is a golden brown color. 
Then in a baking dish you spread sauce on the bottom so that the eggplant doesn't stick. Then layer the eggplant, sauce, parmesan, and mozzarella in this order. Continue to do so until you have filled up the entire dish! Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted! Enjoy!

Ciao Bella! 
 Well today is the day, NYC here I come! I officially move to my new home for the next four years! Helping my parents load my bags in to the car and head off to the airport is beginning to give me butterflies in my stomach, I’m hoping these are good butterflies of excitement. Who wouldn’t be excited moving away from their parents? It’s a little scary moving to another state! What if something goes wrong? Who am I supposed to call if I need something? Ahhh worries are starting to flood my head. Whew chill Isabelle, you are going to be just fine! You got this! Trust me I have been saying this to myself for the past week leading up to this moment. Hopefully I won’t be homesick. I love being around my family, but maybe finding some great friends will help. This is my time to fly away from the nest and try and live on my own. 
Until next time, 
- Isabelle

Ciao Bella! 
 I’m Isabelle and I recently graduated high school and preparing to go off to college. If your like me then you might be having a ton of emotions right now of how your feeling about this new adventure in your life. I’ve decided to create a blog as a way to journal about my adventures for my first year in college. As I’m getting ready to leave I’m starting to feel confused, excited, and frustrated all at once and don’t know what to expect! I know this new chapter in my life is supposed to be exciting but I keep getting this gut feeling like I’m doing something wrong and it’s not for me. I don’t know, maybe it’s the nerves getting to me! Growing up I’ve been taught that education is important, so I know that college is something I need...not I must do. I haven’t questioned before what I was going to do after high school, it was obvious to me and my family that I would be going to college. But now as I get ready to leave and it’s starting to get closer and closer I’m starting to second guess if its right for me. Hopefully once I’m there on campus and surrounded by people I will be just fine! 
Until next time,
- Isabelle