A post from my little archive..

Today I would like to share with you this old post I have written some months ago. I hope this will be a little encouragement for you!

What to do when a husband had a very bad day at work?

1) Pray, pray, pray for him. 

2) Support him with all your heart.

3) Listen him.

4) Try to bring him peace.

5) Do something to confort and relieve from his trouble.

6) Tell him you love him and that you are proud of him (I am!)

So I decided to do something special for dinner.

This thing I have written now could be considered silly or superficial.

Ok, you could say...Gege, when you have a problem, a good dinner is not enough to solve or change the situation.

But a good dinner is a metaphor.

When you have problems in your life, it can be hard. You think about your problem over and over again, night and day. And believe me, it's true. I know.

Maybe you feel that you have your back to the wall.

Maybe you think you don't have any way out.

What can you do in a situation like this?

Is there something that can make you feel better?

Yes, there is something.

First, God knows and is watching you.

Second, the love of your family.

Outside you can live in a terrible jungle, but when you come home, you close the door at your back.

Stop.

Close your eyes.

Silence.

You are in an other world.

You are like in Heaven.

Just breathe and thank the Lord.

Open your eyes now..it's all ok.

You're at home.

Ok, your problem is still here, but now as you start walking heavily, someone of your family is coming to greet you with love.

Suddenly your heart gets warm, you feel relieved.

I know this sensation. 

Priceless.

You know that someone was waiting for you.

For you.

You know that it's doesn't matter what happened before, you have a huge quantity of unconditional love, all for you.

Isn't this sensation wonderful and priceless?

Yes.

I think you are feeling better.

I do.

I have read in this book and others that our husbands are our Protector and Provider, so it's clear that they have a lot of responsibilities.

So, with all these responsibilities, don't you think that you could feel overwhelmed?

I think yes.

If a husband comes home after a hard working day or with a problem, maybe with a sad and afflicted face, doesn't he deserve to feel these sensation too?

Believe me, if he comes home and finds his wife, love, help meet there, with a smile that says "I'm here for you", a peaceful, clean home, a sweet smell of cozy and good dinner, if he comes home knowing that he's in his safe harbor, where is understood and loved, it doens't matter what has happened outside.

Now he's at home.

That counts.

Tomorrow is an other day.

Tomorrow he will go out and win his war.

He's not alone.

Love is energy.

Love is invincible.

Love is all we need.

Much love,

Gege

Hello again dear friends!

Hello again everybody!

After all this time, after my long silence here I am again. I felt in my heart a big need to write here again.

The main cause of this temporary but long pause is my bad health.

My problems have come back or to explain better my situation, I have always those problems (I'm trying to solve them), but sometimes the involved pains become so strong and last for days and days without relief.

I am in this situation since 2010 and during this long period I have understood that I'm not so weak as I thought. 

Nevertheless my life has gone on, I have continued to live my life, to feel happy ,to smile,  to love family. to live with the biggest enthusiasm, to love God. In 2011 I married my wonderful and sweet husband, this is wonderful. And now I'm the happiest housewife in the world!

When I look my self in the mirror, now, I think...ok Gege, you are not perfect, you make mistakes, you have to find a way to live better, but I say: nevertheless Good job girl! You are strong.

But sometimes when my pains are acute, I just stop breathing, I feel stuck. 

I can't breathe, it's hard my friends. If I have luck the day after I'm quite ok and my life goes on again quite normally, but in this long period I wasn't so lucky.

I wasn't free to live my life. 

It's difficult for me to explain this in english (I'm italian) but I try. When I have moments in which I feel better and my pain becomes tolerable,  I feel just like a person that has woken up after a long period of coma. It's like  being in a long sleep, you know, and when you wake up you feel so strange!

This is one of the reason why I wasn't able to write here, I had really a block because in every moment I felt better, I have used all my energy to start living again. 

Did you remember some video games, in which there is the fighter hero that tries to win his battle? Sometimes he loses strenght and may lose, but later on the road he finds something that can give him his strenght  and energy again, and when this happens he gets up and continues his battle!

This is my situation.

In addition to this, my parents had severe problems of health this summer. 

But God has protected them and I know He's in control. My family is everything for me.

In addition to this again, we are having a big economical difficulty. Here in Italy there is an economical crisis, so my husband's shop is struggling, we really don't have money anymore. Our parents are helping us. We have a lot of debts with the suppliers, that we are paying as soon we can. We have a "bank emergency" almost every week.

We spent all this summer working, I have helped him with cost accounting.

My husband is so sweet and he works so hard, I'm here to help him with all my heart. We are a team and we have to solve this situation together. I know God will help us!

So dear friend, here is my situation.

But I'm always Gege, an happy italian girl, the happy italian housewife you have known here at the beginning of this blog. I'm still a crazy bungler cook that tries always a new recipe! I see our future with hope, I always hope to be a mother one day...

God.

Love.

Family.

Hope.

Faith.

Every single happy moment.

A kiss from my husband.

The smile of my family.

These things make me go on.

Real Faith in God is going on, acting on His teachings, not knowing beforehand what the immediate results might be, but knowing that God's principles are true and believing that blessings and happiness will follow.

When you are under the storm, don't think about what you are missing, think aboute the things you have.
Those things are precious and will help you to solve the situation.

With love,

Gege

ps. If you need encouragement, please read here ! 

INSALATA FRESCA DI PEPERONI ARROSTITI (Fresh Roasted Peppers Salad)

Hello everybody!

Today I would like to share with you an other italian recipe with one of my favorite vegetable..PEPERONI (Peppers)!!

I really love Pepper. It's a very versatile vegetable, you can use it with a huge number of recipes.

This is the second recipe with this incredible vegetable I write here on my blog; the first was My italian Peronata.

INSALATA FRESCA DI PEPERONI ARROSTITI (Roasted Peppers' Fresh Salad)

This is a dish we love specially in very hot summer days, because it's fresh and very light.

It's also easy to do!

You will need:

- peppers

- tomatoes

- mozzarella cheese

- fresh basil leaves

- extra virgin olive oil 

- salt

Directions:

Step 1: put your peppers in a pan covered with an aluminum foil  and then put all in the oven at 200°C (about 392°F)

 

Step 2: when you see that the upper part of  the peppers is roasted, it's time to turn them...

...So you have this...Put your peppers in the oven again.

Now the peppers are ready..

Step 3: cover the peppers with the aluminum foil and wait for 15 minutes. In this way it will be easier  when you remove the peel.

Step 4: put the peppers in a dish and wash them delicately with fresh water.

Step 5: drain delicately the peppers and put them in a bowl.

Step 6: Chop some totatoes and mozzarella cheese.

Step 7: Put all in the bowl and add some fresh basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil, salt, mix well and you're done!


BUON APPETITO!!!!!!! 

I hope you like this recipe!

Let me know!

Much love!

Gege

Stay at Home Mothers / Wives Across the World Series: Italy!

Today I'm guest posting at my lovely friend Michi for her STAY AT HOME WIVES AND MOTHERS ACROSS THE WORLD SERIES! 

I'm so excited, she had a wonderful idea! 

Women across the world are talking about being a homemaker and mother in their countries. 

Being an homemaker is wonderful and a blessing! We are an international community of blessed women!

Check out some of the others that joined in the series as well, and be sure to take a moment and look around her blog. You will be blessed, and encouraged!


Thank you so much Michi!

Many many blessings!

Gege

A sociological research has described italian men..

In these days I have seen a program on Tv that talked about the way italian men relate and behave with women. The speaker said that from a sociological research italian men can be classify in three categories:

1) Bamboccioni

2) Rubacuori

3) Hermit

For the first and the second category I have used the italian words because they are italian hackneyed phrases so they can't be translated literally, so now I will explain their meanings.

1) Bamboccioni is a category of men who never grew up, in the sense that they feel so good and comforted if they continue to live at home with family, cuddled and pampered by mothers, that treat them like a little boy, even if they are 40 years old. Men belonging to this category need and search for a woman that can substitute their mother figure and they are not brilliant and strong, infact they need to be pushed around by their wives, just like their mother did with them. They think to be ok in this way.

2) A Rubacuore is a seducer, a womanizer that adulates and wins women's heart. Often they have more than a women in their life and they don't want long relationships, but they are interested in one night stand. They consider women like a trophy to show to their friends.

3) A hermit is a solitary, shy and introvert man who prefers staying alone because a woman could bother and trouble their quiet and serenity. If they have a woman, she must be very very very quiet.

Ok, now my impressions.

I think that you can't generalize men in this way. 

I really believe that there are a lot of godly and wonderful men outside.

I'm not a feminist, the last thing I will do is attack and belittle men. 

It would be too superficial and expectable.

I think there are a lot of men that would like to find the ideal woman to stay with for all their life. Men have a big heart too and even if, sometimes they act to have a hard heart with friends and they boast about being single and indipendent, they instead dream to have a sweet wife and a wonderful family that wait for them when they come back home from work.

But I surely can say that men like these categories really exsist.

Sadly.

The fact that this speaker told things like these about men is really a strong sign that there isn't any christian and biblical culture here.

There is confusion and chaos about our role and tasks as men and women.

What kind of world are we living in?

I feel so overwhelmed about this!

The second and the third categories are to the extreme, they are totally in opposition! Rubacuori is too confident and without a heart while the Hermit is too shy and insicure and he doesn't live deeply, but he wastes his life..alone.

The category that hit me a lot is the Bamboccioni's one.

I have made a little research about this on Internet. I have been really surprised by the huge number of women that are complaining everyday because their men act like bamboccioni.

Really a huge number.

So I had a sea of confusion in my head!

I asked why do women complain for their pliable and compliant men? 

Feminists fought hard to be the strongest sex, they wanted to be stronger than men. And I think that they sadly won their battle. 

So why? You won and now you are complaining for your men?

A woman said about this: "This thing of Bamboccioni men is worring for me! I don't feel safe and protected anymore in men's world..I think I'll go to women's world, because they have become the strongest now.."

Scaring.

So...this is the demonstration that Feminists were wrong...maybe now they are understanding that they need a strong man in their life. 

The charme of comanding is not so beautiful as you thought...am I wrong?

I don't think so...

Who is to blame for this? 

Who is responsible for this?

Women.

We women.

Who has raised and formed these men?

Women.

These women gave a really bad education to their sons. They didn't form them to be a future leader, the father of a family. In Italy we say that they grow up like a "Cocco di mamma" that is mollycoddle (I hope this is the correct word to translate!..please let me know if I have used a strange or bad word!).

These women, without realizing (or willfully...), have passed their life to command and "protect" their sons, always thinking to be right. They love so much their sons, so they must be protected and controlled by them, always, so if they do what mom says, they will be safe and sound. Even if they are 40 years old and they have a family and children.

They are so jealous too of their sons...they can be terrible mothers in law...and believe me..I know. They consider their daughter in law an enemy, even if these young bride are good and sweet women.

And these man can be between the devil and the deep blue see.

It's normal that a mother loves her son, it's normal to protect a son, but this is not the way of raising him.

This is a selfish way.

This is an agressive way.

Agressiveness is a synonym of weakness.

You are weak so you are agressive to protect yourself, because you know that you don't have any strong and valuable weapons..in reality.

I'm not a mother yet, so if you aks me now how to raise a son, I don't know yet with precision, but I know what I won't do. I won't be agressive, selfish, ignorant. I won't be alone. I will be inspired by God, helped by my husband, family and the elder women (the wise ones.... ;-)  ).

In these days I'm reading this wonderful and powerful book, I have called it "Our second bible". I encourage you to read it, it's a blessing and a breathe of fresh airs:

Click here to view more details

I was really touched reading these powerful sentences that are perfect here in this topic :

"As keepers of our homes, we have a unique opportunity to make a generational impact, both within and outside the walls of our homes.

As wives and mothers, our impact is greater than even we will ever

know."

So a mother and a wife too have a really big and important responsibility.

Mothers raises the men of the future. Every single mother is important for this reason. I think you love your son and you would like that he can live in a beautiful and better world. So you can do something, you can do your part.

It's up to you.

Gege

PEPERONATA (A simple but delicious recipe with peppers)

Hello Everybody,

you know that I'm having some problems of health in these days, it's really hard but I want to go on and I don't want to feel overwhelmed. I want to be my self,  life is too precious an my little family too.

So I take a deep breath and I tell to my self...Let's go on Gege. Let's rock! If God is for us, who can be against us? 

So today I will share with you this typical italian recipe, that is really good! 

We love it and eat very often! 

It's so easy and simple! You can do it in 25 minutes! 

PEPERONATA

If you are Italian, you know this recipe.

If you are not Italian, you have to try it..you will feel a little Italian too! :-)

This recipe makes me think really about italian "dolce vita". It makes me think about my family, this is a recipe that we do when we have family dinner together during summer. 

So here you have the ingredients:

• peppers
• tomatoes
• garlic
• bay leaves
• salt
• extra virgin olive oil

 Directions:

Step 1:  wash your peppers, tomatoes and garlic.

Step 2: chop the peppers and tomatoes.

You will have this

Step 3: put everything in a big skillet, add salt, bay leaves and some extra virgin olive oil.

Step 4: mix well, cover with a lid and cook. Mix every two minutes and add  a little bit of water in  the skillet  if you see  that the peppers are too dry.

Step 5: when you see the "cream" in your skillet and the peppers and tomatoes are tender, you are almost done!  Mix well again, wait a minute and....

Enjoy it!

A LITTLE TIP:

To enjoy at most this recipe, I suggest to eat your Peperonata with  some good bread,  better if it's homemade!

BUON APPETITO!!!!

Much love,

Gege

 

Praise you in this storm!

Hello Everyone,

In these days I'm not posting as I would like to do. I'm not writing what I would like to write.

It's not a writer's block, it's not this.

In these days my problems of health are pressing me again, so much, that I feel my back at the wall again.

Suddenly "they" come back again to stop my life. I can't breathe or think with this pain.

It's an earthquake. An other earthquake.

I'm just praying God to help me, I'm not asking God to give me the strenght to carry on, I'm asking God to heal me right now, because I know that I'm too tired and I don't have strenght anymore.

I pray, I pray and I pray. I want my life back. I want my life back.

Saying "God is good" is easy when you don't have any problems, when every thing is ok or when a problem is not so important.

But What when you are walking in a earthquake? Do you think you can say a thing like that when you are in pains?

Honestly for me it's really difficult at the moment, because I'm suffering since a lot of time and I'm waiting to be healed.

God knows how many years have passed with this problem for me.

I'm starting to be scared. What next? I'm sick and tired to see me in this situation and to make suffer my family too, because they are so sad for me.

I said, God, do you know I'm here? Why I'm in this situation? You know that I worked hard to heal, what do I have to do more? Now only You can do something. 

They say you have a plan for us, is this your plan for me?

This morning, in my quiet time with the Lord, reading my Bible, I had a little light in my head. Very little, but a light.

A voice inside of me told me, be still, this is not the end. I won't leave you in this trouble alone.I know that you are scared, but don't let your pain destroy your life. 

You need to rest a little, but don't forget who you are, don't forget that your family loves you and needs you.

You are a daughter and wife first.

Be still.

Maybe you will have bad days, but you must be always yourself, don't be overcome and overwhelmed by panic and fear.

Be still.

Rest a little when you suffer too much, but when you feel better, get up and go on with your life. 

Don't let the pain destroy your smile.

For me helping others when they have problems is easy, it comes natural to me.

Even if I suffer for my pain, I always find a big strenght to get up and make something for them. I feel so strong when I have to help others, this is the power of love.

But when the person who is suffering is me it's different, because I loose my lucidity because I'm scared. I think it's quite normal.

But it's here that we are called to be christians more than ever, here we can see if we love God for the good things he does for us or if we love Him in Himself with an unconditional love.

If you love someone just because he/she makes you feel good and spend only beautiful moments, what will you do if he/she can't do beautiful things for you for a moment? Will you stop to love him/her? I don't think so.

If you do this, it's not real love.

The same with God. We can't praise Him just when things are ok, but always.

" I'll praise you in this storm and I will lift my hands

For you are what you are no matter when I am

An every tear I cry You hold in Your hand

You never left my side and though my heart is torn

I will praise you in this storm

and though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm",


We are humans, we can fall, we can lack confidence in God sometimes, He knows.


We must have faith, just faith. There is nothing to do in this situation, you need to have faith.
Faith.

Real Faith in God is going on, acting on His teachings, not knowing beforehand what the immediate results might be, but knowing that God's principles are true and believing that blessings and happiness will follow.

Amen!

Gege

ORECCHIETTE CON POMODORO FRESCO E RUCOLA (Orecchiette with fresh tomato sauce and rocket)

One of my passion is travelling, so in my life I have travelled a lot with my family! I love visiting always new places, not for the place in its self or to take photos and photos near monuments, but to see how people live in those places. Speaking of food, I'm not the typical italian tourist, who arrives in a area that is in the opposite part of the world and goes to the first italian restaurant he finds!

I always choose the most most typical restaurant of that area! To do this, I always ask the local people to suggest me a good place to go, but, if I forget to specify what kind of place I'd like to go and I tell that I'm Italian they always suggest me an Italian restaurant and they tell me that in that place I will find the best pasta dish of the town.

It happens! Always!

So I have understood that the most famous dish about Italian food is pasta!

It is! It's true! We Italians just can't live without pasta. We eat it everyday! 

So today I'd like to share with you my favourite pasta summer recipe! 

This recipe is SPECIAL AND PERFECT using fresh pasta like orecchiette, but you can do it with all kind of pasta, fresh or not.

ORECCHIETTE CON POMODORO FRESCO E RUCOLA (Orecchiette with fresh tomato sauce and rocket)

Orecchiette are also known as Ricchitell, this is its dialect word. They are typical of Puglia Region, that is in the south of Italy.

Rucola (Rocket) is a wonderful plant with a piquancy taste, a gift from God for us with a lot of healthy properties:

1. It's useful to depurate and tone up the body (wonderful to win the summer heat).
2. It's digestive.
3. It's diuretic.
4. It's full of vitamine C.
5. It whets the appetite.

Now I'll show you the recipe with a photo tutorial!

This 

Ingredients:

• orecchiette
• fresh tomatoes
• rocket
• garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• Parmesan cheese           
  
  

Directions:

Step 1: wash the tomatoes.

Step 2: Chop the tomatoes and put all in a big skillet adding also the garlic, salt and some extra virgin olive oil.

Step 3: Cover the skillet with a lid and cook with a medium flame.

Step 4: while you are cooking tomatoes,  wash the rocket in fresh water.

Step 5 : divide the stalks from the leaves. Please keep only the leaves and throw the stalks.

Step 6: when the tomatoes are pretty cooked, put the rocket in the skillet and go along with the cooking.

You will have this.

Step 7: boil a lot of water in a soup pot, add salt...

...and, as we say, "Cala la pasta" that is cook the pasta.

Step 8: after 3-4 minutes, drain the pasta; here I have used fresh pasta, so  its cooking time is really short. Just in case, taste the cooking point.

Step 9: put the orecchiette in the skillet, add Parmisan cheese, mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Buon appetito!!