Switzerland - 2008 April

In April we went to the temple in Switzerland. Some pictures of our beautiful - or handsome - ones:

Giacomo and Samuele with their best friends: Spongebob, Patrick and Gary

Closer

Samuele

Giacomo wasn't feeling well one day

In the nearby small forest

Our heartbreaker

Our smart one

Confession

For a little while I didn't post anything. Why? The reason is a virus called varicella zoster, which causes the chickenpox. Well, since I have already had chickenpox when I was little, but I got the virus, it attacked me in the form of....shingles...in my EAR!!! For 3 weeks I had earpain, fortunately it is gone with the blisters together and my face is back to mormal, as well. Face? Oh, yes, the left side of my face was paralized for at least a week - if you want more details, just let me know... Here is a foto of my swollen ear; it was painful even if my hair touched it. The other picture we took at Giacomo's school party...do you like my paralized face??

Playing in the garden...after raining

I let the pictures talk:

Samuele is tired...

Samuele fall asleep again when we arrived home from church...look at his hair!!

Do you think he needs a haircut???

Happy Birthday Samuele!!!

On the 31st of May Samuele turned 2!! We had a little party for him. He seemed happy and we were very happy for him! He is such a blessing in our life! Thank you, Samuele!

With Pingu, his favorite friend
(unfortunately the cake didn't fit in the fridge, so the colors went all over)

Blowing the candle

With mom and dad

(Giacomo didn't want to participate)

With friends and cousins
From the left: Giulia, Gioele, Freeman, Giacomo, Grace, Matteo, Alessandro


Discovering the granparents' gift


A bicycle!!


How do I look on it??

Cinnamon rolls: without kneading, with "enough" butter...it is the best ever!

I have found this recipe on this blog, where you can see all the steps to prepare the rolls. I have made some minor changes, here is the modified recipe:

Ingredients:

A - 2 cups milk
0.5 cup oil (not olive oil)
0.5 cup sugar
B - 1 package dry yeast
C - 4 cups flour
D - 0.5 cup flour
E - 0.75 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.75 tsp salt

F - 200 g butter
1 cup sugar
cinnamon

Optional: frosting

1 package powdered sugar
40 g melted butter
2 TBSP orzo (or malt)
50-100 ml milk

Preparation:

1. Heat up A - do not boil it. Let it cool down for about 45 minutes.
2. When it is lukewarm add B without mixing it.
3. After 5 minutes add C, mix it well, cover and let it rest for at leas 1 hour.
4. Pour on top D and E, mix. The dough is ready.
5. Roll it out.
6. Melt the butter - don't make it too liquid - and add sugar, make a cream of them. Pour it on the dough.
7. Pour on it the cinnamon. Roll it up and cut them in 2 cm thick slices.
8. Put the on cooking paper.
9. Heat up the oven, bake them at 200 °C for 15-18 minuti. When they strat to get golden color, take them out.
10. While thery are in the oven, mix all the ingredients of the frosting, it is supposed to be very thin. As soon as you take out the rolls, pour the frosting on them, but don't cover them (they will absorb almost all of it.)

Instead of the cinnamon, you can also use cocoa powder, coconut, nuts etc.