Brothers, Birthdays, and a Bakery

Don't let this picture fool you. The bickering between these two boys is driving us insane. Yesterday, they had a heated argument over a "Neutella spoon". (We won't even go into why my kids would be allowed to eat spoonfuls of that stuff straight out of the jar.) Seriously, there was half a jar of Neutella and a handful of spoons left in the drawer. I think sometimes they must enjoy arguing...like it's some kind of sport, because most of the actual problems between them could be easily resolved. Anyway, there are rare moments when they are buddies like this, and I hope as they get older these moments will become the norm rather than the exception.

And lets add Libby to the mix.

Yep, that's more like it.

And after a few grueling minutes, and just before I gave up, this was the best I could get.



We've started celebrating Libby's birthday. It's probably going to be more like a week long festival at our house.

Here she is with her cake. We made it together...our filling didn't hold up super well, hence the bulging center, but it tasted very yummy.

Libby thought so too.

And here we are with Pap-pap at my favorite restaurant in Baltimore. It's actually a bakery. Piedigrotta Bakery. I still can't stop thinking about this place days later...the gnocchi, lasagna, prescuitto, gelato, the fresh bread, the pistachio cookies. The place is full of eye candy. And it tastes as good as it looks.

They say their hours are till 6 pm but fridays and saturdays they serve dinner from 5:30 till 8:00. You need to call to make a reservation. It's located in Little Italy in Baltimore. Just a block from the Little Italy garage (where you can park for 3 dollars after 4:00.) It's a flat rate for a four course meal. They bring you beautiful plate after beautiful plate. It is owned by an Italian couple, Antonio and Bruna. He sat and talked with us. He told us how he started working in a bakery in Milan at age 9. He told us about his grandmother who had 24 kids, and at one point cooked 5 meals a day for 52 people. (5 meals a day? I want to move to there.)
He took the boys into the back and showed them the kitchen, the pasta machine, the walk in fridge and freezers. He sent us home with some frozen pasta, a big bag of apples, and this picture which he took and burned on a cd for us.

I LOVE this place. For me it feels like sitting down at my Grandma's table again, and the flavors bring back memories that I had not even realized I still had. You can check it out at:
http://www.piedigrottabakery.com/