Eat your heart out bon-bons!

i don't understand why there's this huge gap between this sentence and the rest of m post...my computer seems to be moody at the moment. my apologies.

By now, some of you may know that I lived in a small tuscan village (which I still continue to dream about) and met a whole slew of amazing people from all walks of life and different countries. Among the many types of cultures I was introduced to, was the brasilian...Go figure!

I moved to Italy and fell in love with Brasil... oh the irony!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who is up from Brasil (she's interning at the U.N) came over for dinner and made these bon-bon looking things.

Guardate la foto:
Sapete che cos'é? Queste cose sono brigadeiro--> e non c'é niente sulla terra che mi piace di piú! (aspetta...forse pancakes...)
Anyhoo, God bless brasilian desserts! God bless Brasil, period. Saró felice se mangio solo brigadeiro per il resto della mia vita. E verdade!!! I'll be happy to eat nothing but this stuff for the REST OF MY LIFE.
I don't normally post recipes, in fact, this is the first time and probably the last. But these are so deliciously yummy that I simply had to spread the word.
It's so easy and yummy and did I mention EASY?? Dude, I don't care if it's Lent and you gave up chocolate. Trust me on this one okay? God won't mind one bit!

recipe:
1 can sweetened condensed milk -- (395g)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon butter -- soft
1 package chocolate sprinkles

In a heavy saucepan, mix the milk, cocoa and butter. Stir to dissolve the chocolate. Put over low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring and cooking until you are able to see the bottom of the pot when you tilt the pan(the mixture will just slide quickly). This should take 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a greased plate. Let cool. Butter your hands and roll the mixture into small balls and roll over the chocolate sprinkles.

and now...EAT THEM (and thank your lucky stars for the brasilian army brigadier with tall, dark and handsome features and blue eyes it was named after)
enjoy.

Random little things about me.

-i think those parking spots for pregnant women are just bogusly ridiculous. I park there all the time.
-i hate cotton candy.
-i LOVE climbing stairs.
-i sing along to the radio in the car and don't care who's listening.
-my pet peeve is bad singers in church.
-i think God is totally cool!
-i eat at McDonald's about 3 or 4 times a year. my guilty pleasure is chicken McNuggets.
-i randomly burst out into songs.
-i used to be obsessed with kitchen and bathroom floorplans.
-if i ever have a daughter, i would probably name her "Olive".
-i get pulled over by the police more times than i care to remember.
-i can eat pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
-i have the best room mates ever. don't be jealous.

Where's the love?

Yes. I am alive. Although i haven't written on this blog for what seems like ages... and in fact, it HAS been... I am still here, very much alive. I've kept busy with moving into a new apartment, getting a promotion at work, and continuing my studies in the meantime at a local university. I've been through ups and downs these past few months - various times where I've questioned my faith, fought with my family and tried not to lose total self control... and each time was an opportunity that gave me a greater understanding of what it means to love.
***

I am typing up an email trying to respond to one of the 87 pieces of mail written to me by my family from nearly every country I can think of... and then I looked up and was overcome with this complete sadness. and so I decided to write out some of my thoughts because I didn't know what else to do. I began this blog sitting in this very library one day when I was feeling very VERY frustrated, and it doesn't surprise me that it took another stirring up of my soul to write things down again.

I'm at the university library at the moment surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the student crowd on their lunch breaks coming in and out trying to print out their papers for their next class or check their webpages, etc. and no one seems to notice one another. Their eyes glaze over as they walk - almost as if they were zombies. Do they realize they're surrounded by people...by LIFE?? Or are they in their own individual worlds where not much else seems to matter?? And so I wonder...Doesn't anybody recognize Jesus anymore?!