My mother is 100% Italian. My father, a 100% Irish. My brother got my mother’s olive skin tone: the two of them could sit outside for hours, lathering up in baby oil and bake to a beautiful golden brown. I was the fortunate one (insert sarcastic undertone here) who got my father’s Irish skin. The two of us can’t go to a windy afternoon baseball game without using SPF 45, unless of course, we want to find ourselves covered in sunburn and blisters.

Last summer, I thought I was invincible when it came to the sun. My friends can get tan with SPF 4 or 8, so why couldn’t I? On two various occasions, I felt the effects of not listening to the realistic side of my brain in terms of summer sunshine. I spent a week in June in San Antonio, Texas, where it was roughly 95 degrees every day. As this was a more family-oriented – go out to dinner, do family related things – sunbathing took a back seat, until the last dreaded day, when I thought it was appropriate to lay at the pool, for three solid hours, with nothing – and I mean, not a drop of sunscreen – on my body. Read More »

Fruit and meat together? Sounds a bit scary, I know, but trust me! Melon wrapped in prosciutto (an Italian cured ham) is a classic dish that tastes delicious.

It’s a super easy recipe, and perfect if you want to throw a swanky dinner or cocktail party for friends. You only need a few ingredients, a package of toothpicks and a plate. See? Told you it was easy…

Ingredients:

1 Cantaloupe or other sweet melon
1 Package of prosciutto
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

If you’re serving this as an appetizer, cut the melon into slices. If you’re serving it as finger food at a cocktail party, cut the melon into bite-sized chunks. The prosciutto should come already sliced paper-thin. Wrap a full strip of it around the melon slices, or trim the meat down to better wrap around the bite-sized melon pieces. Stick in toothpicks to keep the meat in place, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Done and done. Now you’ve got a fancy appetizer, and loads of time left over for drink-making!

My TV watching habits are pretty well documented. You guys know that I watch at least two (pretty bad) reality shows and that I never got into “Sex and the City.” But I do like good shows with real writing, like “Lost”, “South Park” and “The Daily Show.”

Do I have any right to declare that a show is so terrible that even I cannot watch it? I think so. I mean, I’ve seen episodes of “Ice Road Truckers.” Freaking “Ice Road Truckers.” I am aware that I watch crap.

And given that love for crap TV, it might surprise you to learn that I never watched “A Shot at Love” when it was on MTV. For real. It was too fake for me and I never thought that a show would come along that was too sh*tty and fake for me. I mean, this is ME.

Now enter “That’s Amore.” Read More »