There is a stunning lightning storm on display tonight. Thunder growls ever closer, rabid bursts of wind hurtling through the house in random gusts.
I like this sort of night. Wild and unpredictable, startling in its frightening yet wondrous beauty.
Sometimes I need this wildness for it unleashes brave and adventurous feelings often kept quiet and well-behaved in my heart.
But other times I need the warmth of sunshine on stone walls, window boxes overflowing with geraniums, that golden serenity of an Italian afternoon that releases grief, anxiety and pain until all that’s left is quietness and strength.
Looking at this gorgeous stone home on Lago di Orta makes me so happy. The clambering vines, watery garages, and the exquisite little balcony that is at once deliciously private yet open to the world.
And this street makes me smile. I can almost feel the heat radiating off those thick old walls, enveloping passersby with a hug of light.
Here on our little farm in Australia the rain has arrived at last, filling the house with that heavenly scent of wet earth and damp leaves.
It’s time for me to go out on the back porch and enjoy this glorious storm.
I will leave you with the recipe for my favorite breakfast of the New Year: a Smoked Salmon Bocconcini Quiche
What sort of weather is making your heart happy these days?
Smoked Salmon Bocconcini Quiche Recipe
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil or butter
1 large onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and julienned
8-10 large eggs
1/2 cup milk or cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 package smoked salmon (about 4 slices)
1 tub bocconcini, drained (about 1 cup)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 200 C or 375 F.
- Heat olive oil or butter in saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and fry until it begins to brown and caramelize. Add minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Set pan aside to cool while you mix other ingredients.
- In medium bowl add tomatoes, eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Beat together until frothy.
- Stir in onion and garlic mixture.
- Butter a casserole dish.
- Place half the bocconcini in bottom of dish.
- Pour one third of egg mixture over bocconcini.
- Lay two slices of smoked salmon over bocconcini.
- Place remaining bocconcini on salmon.
- Pour third of egg mixture over bocconcini.
- Lay remaining two slices of salmon over bocconcini.
- Pour last third of egg mixture over the salmon.
- Bake 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Serve warm or cold.
What a collection of gorgeous sunny photos Krista. Smoked salmon is a favourite of mine, so I think I will be using your recipe. I love any day when the sun shines, that makes my heart happy 🙂
I love sunshine too, @wanderingsheila:disqus 🙂 It does a body good, doesn’t it? 🙂
It s still dark being 5 AM. I am always up with the dawn which is when I do my best thinking. My mind is cluttered by the end of the day. It has snowed for the last 3 days, each morning I wake up to a winter wonderland more glorious than the next. Today I will be making bagels, a relaxing process and inbetween risings I will put my boots on and wander down the path in the snow. Living in the Pacific Northwest you will know that the only thing missing will be the sunshine on such a glorious day. That is why your photos of sunny streets in Italy have wrapped themselves into ever fibre of my being this morning and made me smile. I have been hibernating without the sun, but, now I feel brave to venture out beyond the parking garage.
@openid-160865:disqus , that is absolutely gorgeous. 🙂 Your words are pure magic and drew me right into your world. 🙂
The receipe looks wonderful – I’ll try it. The photos as usual are divine. I’d love to go back to Orta one more time – but then I’d want one more time after that and again and again
If I could choose only 1 European country to visit, it would be Italy. I would want to spend however long it would take to jaunt all the way round the coast. Someday, you must take me.
Someday I absolutely WILL, dear @knittingthemoment:disqus 🙂
All of this post is wonderful–the wild weather (I’ll always take tempestuous over cloudy and noncommittal), the sun on Italian walls (that lake house!!), and the quiche recipe. A little joy and magic for the day. 🙂
I’m so glad, @BethanyBassett:disqus 🙂 Isn’t that house BRILLIANT?!! 🙂
Thank you, @64bc7bbdaaa856e06396e795dfeb19b0:disqus ! 🙂 I hope you really enjoy it. Wouldn’t it be heavenly to return to Lago di Orta? One day… 🙂
Oh that house and that sunshine!! I love it. And I feel the same way about stormy nights, all the bravery and strength and raw feelings come out and I feel like I am alive with the wind and the rain.
My favorite weather right now is the blue, blue skies with sunshine glinting off the snow and the magic hour of 4 pm when the branches all stand stark against the darkening sky.
Oh how I love Italy… such gorgeous photos that make me long for lazy summer days… Your quiche is super-impressive btw 🙂