My Snowboard is Way Cooler Than Me.

I want to thank my wonderful boyfriend for buying me a new snowboard/binders/boots. He took me to his friend Johnny's shop on the main street of Sestriere and I got the board fitted exactly to my needs according to size, stance and level. As far as the design goes, and you girls will agree with me that we like to look cute out there, the board I picked from what Johnny had to offer is extremely hardcore and heavy metalish.

Yes folks, there is a woman with bleeding eyeballs on the topside, and the bottom of the board features a bleeding hand flipping us all off. I guess it's how I look at the end of a day on the slopes. Artwork aside, its a great board and I thank my sweetheart for it.

On the first day of its use, I was in line for the chairlift, trying to somehow act like I knew how to ride my new board, yet already a local DUDE pointed out that I had failed to remove the really huge price tag sticker on the bottom. Oops! Anyway here's a pic of the boots.

Burton Moto Snowboarding Boots

Luca, me and my board.

Exhibit A: Dork on cool board.

Crispy Grissini (Italian Breadsticks)

My boyfriend eats grissini for breakfast everyday. He takes two grissini and crumbles them up in his coffee and milk, sweetened with honey. That's just the way he likes it, what can I say.



I really wanted to try to bake some myself. Here's a recipe I compiled after trying out several batches:

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups (I don't use bread flour because tried that once and they came out too heavy and chewy as opposed to crispy and light)
Salt - 1 tsp. (I use course salt instead of fine)
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Active Dry Yeast - 2 1/4 tsp
Honey - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Warm water - 1/4 cup
Semolina flour for dusting
Milk for brushing

Method:

1. Mix yeast, honey and warm water until dissolved. Let sit in warm place for a few minutes.
2. Mix flour and salt, and olive oil. You can also add two teaspoons of your favorite dried herbs here..
3. Make a well in the middle and add milk and yeast mixture.
4. Knead the dough for a few minutes using a stand mixer or your hands. Add more flour if necessary to make a smooth dough.
5. Shape dough into a ball and place in a slightly greased (w. olive oil) bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for about and hour until the dough doubles in size.
6. Remove from bowl onto a flat surface dusted with semolina flour.
7. Stretch out the dough with your hands into an elongated rectangle. Make sure both sides are dusted with semolina.
8. Then, on one end begin slicing begin slicing 1x4 inch pieces. Take each piece and roll or stretch and lightly twist into a long breadstick.
9. Place them on a baking sheet lined with paper.
10. Preheat the oven at 210-220 degrees C.
11. Brush the breadsticks with milk.
12. Bake for about 15 minutes or until it starts turning golden brown.
13. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy. Store in an airtight container.

How My Snowboarding Passion Began: And how very long it's taken me to get any good at it.

A little background about me and what brought me to the Italian Alps. Snowboarding, that's what originally brought me.

But how did it all begin? Why do I lust for this not-so-easy winter sport? I grew up in Texas and I enjoyed both roller and ice-skating. The closest thing I saw to a snowboard, were the skateboards that the boys in my hood rode.  I wanted so much to be like them, so cool. Dolls and dresses didn't interest me. I wanted extreme sports...but there was one problem...I was a huge klutz, not so coordinated.

In high school, after much less begging than I thought would be necessary, my parents sent me on a ski trip to Colorado with some family friends. There would be no snowboarding, but they did hook me up with the early 90's ski suit shown below. It would be my first experience riding in the mountain snow and my first experience at staying at a really lace-decorated, artsy-craftsy, knick-knackety, small town bed & breakfast.

Hey, wow! I could ski! I went again the next year with the same family, and my big brother. The third year, my parents also joined because my brother and I insisted that this was a great way to family bond, knowing full well we would leave our parents in the snowdust and see them only in the evenings. In any case, the seed was planted. I loved winter sports...

After college I moved to Israel and my winter vacations are more conveniently taken in Europe. I know, poor me. And that's were I made the switch to the extremely hip sport of snowboarding. Some of the places I've vacayed in include:

DAVRAS, TURKEY!

hey, that's not Europe.

oops, broke a nail

ST. ANTON, AUSTRIA!

VAL THORENS, FRANCE!

MONTGENEVRE, FRANCE

SESTRIERE, ITALIA!

I keep going, year after year, and despite the fact that I have not improved greatly on the slopes... and haven't advanced passed the medium skill level, and I will touch more on why that is in later posts, I just want to say that I still love snowboarding! I love falling on my but, getting up again, and falling on my butt, and getting up again? But why? Why? WHY? If I truly look deep inside and look into my past I still think it's because I wanted to be just like the boys in my hood...so cool on those boards.