Pasta, Flowers, and Family April 29, 2013

One of the pleasures of living in Florida and close to Walt Disney World, is popping over for an afternoon to enjoy the parks without the stress of waiting in line for rides or pushing to see everything we can. The Flower and Garden festival at Epcot has long been a favorite of mine, and with it wrapping up soon, I decided to treat my parents with a trip there this weekend. We learned about some new herbs to add to the garden (once I plant them and know more about using them I’ll post about that), admired the vibrant floral arrangements, and got some new ideas for our own landscapes. We also got to see Carter Ooosterhouse, from HGTV. He seemed like an odd fit for the Flower and Garen festival, but I’ve had a little crush on him since he worked on Trading Spaces and it was inside out of the sun. He shared some quick tips on home improvement and gave a tease about the new show he is working on putting together.

 

 

When it was time to get some food, we hoped to eat at Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria, but there was a long line. However, there was no wait at the Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar. Many of you know how much I love Frances Mayes’ books about her life in Italy. It’s been a couple of months since I finished reading Every Day in Tuscany and discovered a pasta called pici. Mayes’ description of this dish, along with her husband’s dedication to making his own pici, made me long to try it. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen it on a menu in any Italian restaurant here in Florida, and I’m not at the level of making my own pasta yet. Imagine my delight when we sat down in the Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar and saw pici on the menu. While I purused the rest of the menu, I knew the pici was the dish for me.

 

 

When my bowl arrived I could barely contain my excitement. Pici is round like spagetthi only thicker. You can practically taste all the carbs as you chew. The pasta was tossed with a lamb ragu and had a wonderful, rustic flavor. Since we were in a Wine Cellar I had to try a glass of wine. Red wines usually give me a headache and make me very sleepy, but with the lamb I thought red was the way to go so I tried the San Giuseppe Pinot Noir, which is more of a medium body, and went well with the pici and lamb. Happily it didn’t give me a headache, but it did make me sleepy. The desserts looked divine, but I was too full to try any. I plan to go back soon just for dessert.

If you are in the area, I encourage you to check out the Flower and Garden festival, which runs through May 19.

Related articles

• A romantic holiday in Tuscany (visituscany.wordpress.com)
• The Top 20 Best Disney Restaurants, So Says the Fans! (cheapskateprincess.com)

Advertisement

Have you been Twitterviewed? April 1, 2013

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in my first Twitterview. Doing an interview on Twitter with a 140 character limit on your response certainly makes you think about how to convey your message in few words. It was exciting to have the questions coming at you live and to have other visitors chime in as well.

Sezoni Whitfield runs the website, Writters Kaboodle and is all about supporting writers. Every Thursday she schedules interviews in one-hour slots. If you would like to be interviewed yourself, visit her website to view her calendar.

Here is a transcript from my interview.

Sezoni Whitfield ‏‪@Sezoni_ 
Follow my Interview with Author ‪@RebekahLyn1 on Twitter! Happening NOW, and use hashtag ‪#WritersKaboodle to join the conversation.

‏Sezoni Whitfield ‪ If you had to make a rule about writing, what would it be? ‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏‪My personal rule is write through the pain. Current WIP is like pulling teeth but I keep pushing on ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield ‏‪ That’s a good rule. Tell us a little about your book(s) or current project(s). ‪http://www.facebook.com/AuthorRebekahLyn … ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏‪ I have 3books out, working on #4. They r Christian fiction,w/romance, a murder, work trials, things we can relate 2 ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield ‏‪How does a Christian fiction differ from other fiction works? ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏‪ For me, Christian fiction still allows the reader 2 escape, but in the end walk away with a message of hope ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield ‏ Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? ‪http://www.facebook.com/AuthorRebekahLyn … ‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏I have trouble writing in order. I think of a scene, write it, & find it needs to go later or earlier in the story.‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield‏‪If you had that to do over, what would you do differently? ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏‪ If I had Winter’s End to do over? I would print it single sided to make rearranging chapters easier 🙂 ‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏I don’t know if I will ever write an entire book completely linearly. I’m not a very linear thinker. ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield ‏Excellent! Who designed your cover? And, did you have any input in it? ‪http://www.facebook.com/AuthorRebekahLyn … ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏‪ ‪@WrightLaRoche has designed all my covers. She is AMAZING! I had a lot of input & she was very patient with me. ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield‏‪Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp? ‪http://www.facebook.com/AuthorRebekahLyn … ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏ Each book has a different msg. Summer Storms is about dealing with grief & God’s redemptive love…‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏ Julianne is about self-worth & finding that God is all that can really fill the hole in our hearts. ‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏‪ Jesse, my current WIP deals with overcoming bitterness. ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield ‏ What is your writing style? ‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏Do u mean am I an outliner or a seat of the pants writer? I am seat of the pants, sit down & see what comes out. ‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏I have a general idea of what the basic story is about but that’s about it ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield ‏How much of the book is based on your true experience? ‪http://www.facebook.com/AuthorRebekahLyn … ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏‪ Summer Storms? A few tiny bits of my own experience, raw emotion of grief & some experiences in travel industry. ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield ‏‪Is writing your career? If so, what things do you do to treat it like your own business? ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏ It’s still a side job right now, but I keep detailed tax records. I’m working on new website.. ‪#writerskaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏And I spend most of my vacation time writing ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield‏‪ Rebekahlyn, thank you very much for your time this evening! That went fast didn’t it? ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn ‏ It did go fast! Thanks so much for having me. I hope we can chat again after Jesse is released later this year. ‪#writerskaboodle

Sezoni Whitfield We most definitely will! Please let us know as quickly as possible when Jess is released. Thank you again! ‪#WritersKaboodle

RebekahLyn I will! Have a great nice & a wonderful weekend. ‪#writerskaboodle

As you can see we covered a lot of ground in a short time and I really enjoyed it. You can follow her interviews this week by searching for #writerskaboodle. I recommend this experience and look forward to talking with Sezoni more over the coming months as I prepare to launch my next book.

Related articles

• WritersKaboodle – What is it? (spearman101.wordpress.com)
• The Next Big Thing (oldthingsrnew.wordpress.com)