Cooking challenge

After four years of living in Rome I've managed to collect a fair share of recipes, recipe books and cooking magazines. My all time favorite is "Cucina Italiana". It's got fantastic recipes and the pictures make my mouth water every time I look through it! My only problem is that I never use the recipes! A lot of it has to do with time. The only time I cook is the weekend, usually Sunday (since we try to eat lighter during the week) and so I really only have one opportunity a week to try new recipes.

So, starting this weekend (excluding those when we go to my in-laws place) I will set myself a cooking challenge. To try something new, or play with recipes I know. I'll try to take pictures of the successes (and failures...I guess :/ ) and post them up here.

I better start looking for that perfect recipe!!

I just know this post is going to make me feel old...

So, kids these days! In particular Italian teenagers...I just don't get them. The first thing you notice about Italian teenagers, at least in Rome, is that their clothes are absolutely ridiculous. They have found a way to intertwine 80s style with that of the early 90s, and to do it in such a way that the urge to hold a mirror in front of them and scream "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???" is overwhelming. Let me paint you a picture...A boy of about sixteen, dirty blonde hair, cut to look like a cross between a mohawk and shag (it sounds weird, but it's the closest I can get, it's shaved on the sides and medium-short on top, standing straight up but not greasy or gelled stiff), unless it's covered by a baseball cap set very precisely on the back of the head so all you can see is the front. His pants are sweat pants, or jeans, they wear them pretty much the same way, baggy on the butt- you can usually read the brand and see the exact shape of their cheeks they are so far down- and tight rolled or hemmed so tight at the bottom it's a wonder they don't cut off the circulation at the ankles- if you're really lucky, you'll see a pair of jeans with rhinstones or some kind of design on them...it's a pretty awesome form of entertainment in and of itself, and untied sneakers on their feet. You sometimes pray they will trip over one so you can laugh. Anyway, the shirts are usually tight, no matter what the style, and short enough to show the elastic of the aforementioned underwear. On their face, they more often than not have some pair of god-awful, huge lensed sunglasses set a little too low on their nose, so they have to lean their head back slightly to get any use out of them whatsoever. This causes their walk to be more of a saunter or a swagger, greatly increased by the fact that they almost always have their hands in their pockets. I'm convinced that this move is in reality to keep their pants from falling all the way down :)
My favorite part of the picture, however hilarious it may be, is not actually their clothing, but the way they relate to each other, especially in a group. I'm rarely able to decipher exactly what they are saying in it's entirety, but it sounds much like I imagine a herd of apes would sound....."AHO...BELLO ZI'....OOO OOO, EEE EEE, AAARRRGH" (the last bit may be an exaggeration, but it's not too far off).
My question is this: do they honestly think this is attractive? I see them checking out girls, and the girls check them out too, and again all I can think is "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING????"