We passed small hamlets that looked as if they could only be reached by boat, since there was no place to pull off the road or park in sight. Extraordinary villas dotted the cliffs above and below us, beauties I longed to stop and admire up close.

My son maneuvered the car with hair-raising precision through the twists and turns of this slice of heaven that can barely fit two passing vehicles. As you may have heard, Italian drivers take daring to a whole new level.

My granddaughter, blissfully asleep, and her mother, also dozing, were spared most of the breath-holding moments as we squeezed between stone walls and a cliff’s edge, narrowly clearing a car that appeared a split second before. It’s the daily dance of Italian roads, and somehow, we all survived.

Celebrating Three Generations

I envied the two sleeping, one from the joy and exhaustion of motherhood and the other lulled into afternoon slumber by the swaying car after a day of new adventures. I sat there, filled with mixed emotions —mostly gratitude and wonder — for this smart, funny, enchanting little being who arrived a year ago and changed our lives forever.

The day before, we had celebrated three generations of birthdays—my granddaughter’s first, my son’s, and mine. All of us, born decades apart, share the same birth date.

A Villa Above the Clouds

We celebrated in a rented villa perched so high above Lake Como that there was a funicular to reach it. It felt like a place straight out of a fairy tale, with sunsets painted in watercolor hues so astonishing they were hard to believe. They say Mussolini once slept here, though I was happy not to run into that ghost.

My son requested carrot cake for his birthday, something rare, if not impossible, to find in Europe. His last encounter with one had not been good. As he put it, “it just tasted like carrots in the shape of a cake.”

Determined to redeem the experience, I decided to bake it myself. I developed and tested the recipe for my Brown Butter Carrot Cake at home in Portugal, then measured and packed all the dry ingredients into a small bag, my own DIY cake mix, ready for Italy.

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Featured Recipes

Brown Butter Carrot Cake

Honey Miso Salmon on Greens

From the Archives

Recipes worth revisiting:

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Roasted Squash, Red Onion, and Pomgranate Salad

Cranberry - Apple Chutney

Apple and Mango Chutney Stuffing

Cranberry Breakfast Buns

Wellness Corner 🌿

Japanese Interval Walking

If you’ve struggled to find an exercise routine that feels doable, Japanese Interval Walking might be the reset you need. It’s a gentle, research-supported way to build strength, improve cardiovascular health, and boost energy, especially for those of us looking for sustainable movement in midlife and beyond.

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Just a Thought

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

We give thanks not only for what we have, but for the ways life keeps reshaping us — softening our edges, widening our capacity to love, teaching us to find beauty in the spaces between.

Until next time,
Eva

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