May Day!

Happy May Day!!  It's the 1st of May and it's full on Spring!  It's such a gorgeous, beautiful day......(I sound exactly like my mother, sheesh!  Hahaha) but it really is fantastic today!  I really am so proud to be living in California, and to be a California native and sing country music.....well......that's just a rarity!  Well, haha, there's Merle ("The Hagg") Haggard!  'Hey Merle......How ya doin' bro?'  He's my California native, country, outlaw brother......My brother from another mother! Hehe!:))  I love Merle Haggard!
Like I said it is an awesome day, about 82 degrees, and breezy.  I'm feeling a connection to my Italian self lately. I went to the Italian market (Claro's), and nearly lost my mind in the midst of all the fresh prosciutto sliced right in front of me, the fresh warm bread, anchovies, olive oil, tomatoes, cannolis, éclairs (although French), the pastas, cheese, and the list is so, so long.  I could go on and on!  It reminded me of being back in New York City in Little Italy!!  I'll save that for another blog post, on another day.  However....I decided to make my first ever Limoncello!  Wahoo!  I got all the lemons, peeled & soaked, now I'm just waiting for the fantastic results!  In about 3 weeks I'll have ice cold Limoncello to drink for after dinner, pool side, with the sound of the waterfall, giant white candles by the fire pit, and the scent of the cool California night air.  Hmmmm.....magical!  I had some lemons left over so I whipped up a lemon pound cake made with fresh thyme and a vanilla bean light frosting that is so delicious to eat for dessert!!!  I can barely stand it!  I have this love affair with lemons and they just happen to grow so freely here in Southern California without much fuss if any on my part.  I just love throwing them in various recipes and squeezing them into my tea....Ahhhh!  I did buy a little dwarf lemon tree along with a Meyer's dwarf lemon tree that produces sweeter lemons that are much sweeter than regular lemons with such thick skins, so I can pretty much enjoy the beauty of lemons all year long!  Oh, and the blossoms from the tree smell heavenly!  They remind me of when I was a little girl growing up.  We always had lemons to pick off our lemon trees, along with oranges from the the big orange tree in the front yard, grapes from the vines, and blackberries from the gigantic blackberry tree in the back, far from the house, near the horse stables!  At any rate, I'll keep you posted on my Limoncello progress!  Yay!  All those lemons are so good for my vocal chords!!  It helps keep them clear, and in pristine condition!  Besides, I have to have something to do while I'm waiting for my record to come out!!!  Hahaha....LOL!
Ciao Loves!!
ta ta....until next time,

V V