Weekend Eats, Appliances and a Winner!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Mine was great, although busy as usual. My birthday festivities continued with dinner and drinks with some great friends on Saturday night. We ate at Buca on King West, located in the same alley as Cheval. Buca has a very cool subterranean design, all exposed brick, distressed heritage tables and low lighting. The menu is extensive and is supposed to change daily, but I understand that many of the mainstay items remain the same. We were five couples so a lot of food was ordered and shared (and I really need to get better at bringing my camera so I can take photos of all the dishes).

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I had a three cheese tasting platter with preserves (very good mozzarella di bufala, ricotta di bufala and parmeggiano reggiano) and tiny garlic knots (don't try to eat with a fork and knife) to start and then the pizza with mozzarella di buffalo and prosciutto. The pizza was good, but not the best I've had in the city, and I ended up picking all the prosciutto off. I had bites of some of the other stuff and thought the ravioli with peas and gnocchi were both good. Lots of raves at the table for the sausage stuffed olives as well, although I'm not a fan of olives so I can't vouch for myself. Overall I thought Buca had a really great atmosphere and good food, but not the best around.

I'm also super happy to report that M and I finally decided on appliances for our new home yesterday. I've been kind of stressing because there are so many different options to choose from and I didn't want to make the wrong choice. I also wanted good, quality appliances that didn't break the bank. So the search was on and I'm pretty happy with what we came up with.

We debated getting a cooktop of built in ovens, but decided to go with the range instead. I really like the one we chose, although I was kind of into the idea of having a double oven. I'm also pleased with the size of the fridge and freezer. The only drawback is that there's no water dispenser, which I've been finding is typical in these types of industrial styles. We also went with an LG SteamWasher and Dryer, a Bosch dishwasher and a stainless steel range hood. I'm hoping we made good choices and can't wait to see them when our kitchen is finally ready!

After our purchases we stopped for some food at Kelsey's where we found out they are having two-for-one appetizers throughout the summer. I love appetizers, so I felt like it was my birthday all over again. Needless to say I didn't order an entree.

And now the important stuff...

The winner of the Primele Personalized Stamp giveaway is

AZ in August

Congratulations!

Thank you to all of you who entered and
to Primele for supplying this fabulous prize!

Please contact me at sogni-e-sorrisi[at]hotmail[dot]com
with your shipping info.

300 Followers Giveaway: Primele Personalized Stamps

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Confession time: I'm obsessed with fonts and calligraphy. I can stare at pretty words for hours. Weird? Perhaps. But it also means that the über talented Patricia Mumau of Primele and her products are right up my alley. A calligrapher who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and spent a year studying abroad in Italy, Patricia will not only hand address invitations and escort cards for you, she's also come up with a wonderful idea for bringing her beautiful touch to all of your correspondence: personalized stamps based on her calligraphy. When I saw these stamps only two words entered my head: I. Want.

My second thought, of course, is how much I wanted to share this find with my wonderful blog friends--I love you guys for sharing your ideas and comments with my every day. I was so happy when I exceeded 300 followers, so I really wanted to say a big thank you! And now, because of Patricia's generosity, I'm able to do that by offering one of Primele's stamps to one lucky winner. So if you're interested enter now!

Primele Personalized Stamps are great for regular correspondence and a perfect idea for wedding invitations, too! I love the idea of using a stamp for the return address on invitations, complete with stylized versions of the bride and groom's names.

Primele also offers various other great products:

{Stamps}

{Hand Lettered Calligraphy Services}

How to Enter

You guys know the drill. Giveaway open to all followers of Sogni e Sorrisi (new and old). Just visit the Primele Etsy store and let me know your fave item.

Extra Entries

1. Follow Sogni e Sorrisi on Twitter. Already do? Let me know.

2. Tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy you can tweet this:

Enter to win an @Primele personalized stamp @SogniESorrisi http://tinyurl.com/24uxwbj #giveaway

3. Follow Primele on Twitter.

4. Subscribe to Patricia's blog.

5. Blog or Facebook about this giveaway. Please include the URL in your comment. {5 extra entries}

Contest open until July 23, 2010.

Winner will be chosen at random.

Good Luck!