Trip #5: Italy

Okay, I know I said Ghana would be next, but I ran into a bit of trouble finding ingredients out here! So we put Ghana off till next month and did Italy this time!

I know it's not an extremely creative, over-the-top meal idea for an Italy trip, but it sounded delish, so I made Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic Bread for our Italy date night meal.

I stumbled across a recipe for garlic seasoning a while back for a different meal, and decided to use it to make our garlic bread. Best. Decision. Ever. I'm a fan. I tweaked the recipe a little to fit our tastes, but it's definitely a keeper. 

Garlic Bread Seasoning

3/4 C Parmesan Cheese

2 Tbs Garlic Salt

3 tsp Salt (Kosher, if you have it. We used Sea Salt.)

2 tsp Oregano

2 tsp Basil

2 tsp Marjoram

2 tsp Parsley

I just cleaned out an old Parmesan Cheese container and put the mixture in there. It makes it easy to use and store. This is also excellent on anything you'd put garlic and Parmesan Cheese on, like pastas or roasted/grilled veggies.

To drink with our meal, we made Italian Cream Sodas! We couldn't find any flavored syrups at our local grocery store, so we settled for drink mixes instead.

My FAVORITE was the Mai Tai with a fair amount of cream to offset the bitter citrus taste. The hubster was a fan of mixing everything into one drink. Both methods turned out pretty good. :)

For our "activity" we cheated. We bought a Bocce Ball set, joked about using them in the house to see what Zooey would do, then swore we'd play it as soon as we had grass.

We were both pretty tired from all the yard work we've been at, so it worked out alright that we didn't do a crazy activity. We just enjoyed taking an evening to sit down and relax and NOT work. So we popped in a movie that had something to do with Italy, and relaxed.

I really pushed for The Italian Job (I mean, c'mon, it says ITALIAN right in the title!), but we've developed a tradition of having the hubster choose, and he was pretty set on Bourne Identity. We have the whole series, so we're going to watch the next two over the next little bit and turn it into a marathon, of sorts. 

For our movie treat, we had gelato! I had a slight panic attack when I realized the label said "with vodka", but a little quick research quelled my fears that I'd have to throw it away. Seriously guys, I was really freaking out inside that I was going to have to throw this stuff away. It looked so good I just wanted to dive in AND I hate wasting money. I'm SO glad I didn't have to toss it. It's delicious. 

So, I'd like to proudly proclaim our Italy Date-night Trip a success. :)

Next time, we'll be going to Ghana! 

Want to know what this is all about? Click here.