The monthly newsletter will come to you from me, Sara Rosso (you did know that was my name, not Ms. Adventures, right?), and will be inspired by the areas that most interest me and my various sites: food, travel, technology, healthy living, photography, and more!

It won’t be just a repeat of what I’ve already done or shared online but will have some content I’m saving special for the newsletter, too! I’ll highlight inspiring articles & sites from around the web, interesting profiles of people & things that I admire, what you might have missed that I’ve written, and tools / sites / gadgets that I’d recommend you check out! I’ll probably throw in a few giveaways for newsletter subscribers to see who’s reading ;)

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….Next up, making homemade almond butter!

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Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• How to Make Homemade Almond Butter
• Ready to be an e-reader?
• Practicing ahimsa

2011 was a great year for me, really. It was the year that my body caught up with my mind in terms of happiness. Here are some sites, tools, and statistics from my 2011 – think of it as my personal report card but also my personal recommendation list of tools/software/stuff I’m using all in one in the areas of Social Networking & websites, Photography & tech gadgets, Ebooks & reading, Healthy living, Travel and Charitable giving! Add your own recommendations in the comments.

Social Networking, Feeds & My Sites

• Daily sites I visit: Twitter and Facebook, though I only post on Twitter daily. I joined Google+ but don’t do much there, and I still use Flickr though not much socially. LinkedIn is still my choice for professional networking.
• New & interesting: I joined Pintrest which I think is a really interesting visual bookmarking & curation platform. I also love seeing how people pin photos from Ms. Adventures in Italy and the comments they leave to themselves – a little peek into their own lives. Path is getting a lot of attention post re-design but I haven’t joined as of now.
• Done with: I joined Diaspora (the open-source social network platform) in 2010, and I deleted my profile in 2011. I removed myself from a lot of other sites and newsletters I wasn’t using.
• Domains I have active websites on: 9 – all using WordPress - I moved my tech blog When I Have Time to WordPress.com from self-hosted, launched my healthy living site, Food Blogger on a Diet, on WordPress.com, and started using a simple mobile blog on WordPress.com for photos that I Tweet on Twitter. World Nutella Day continues to blow up bigger every year (it’s one month from today!)
• RSS Feeds – Still more than 400 feeds, and I continue using Google Reader to manage them (I can’t quit you!) I delved heavily into the Healthy Living blog scene (it’s really busy and rocking!) and continued to add sites of strong women in business/tech/other areas.
• My Popular posts on Ms. Adventures in Italy: The 5 most popular posts published in 2011 on this site were: Flourless Nutella Chocolate Cake Recipe for World Nutella Day 2011, Gluten-free Food and Restaurants in Italy, No oil, sugar, or butter Microwave Chocolate Happy Birthday Cake, How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy: the ebook on Amazon Kindle!, and Maritozzo – Sweet Bread Rolls filled with Whipped Cream.

Photography, Video & other Tech stuff:

• Tech Blog: My tech alter-ego, When I Have Time, had a good year – 6 popular posts published in 2011:  Productivity on your Android Mobile – 10 Tips & 40+ Apps, No offense, I don’t want to be friends on Facebook, Baker Ebook Framework: Publish for the iPad using HTML5, How to Use WordPress as a Website (not Blog), My Ignite at LeWeb 2011 – The Future Way of Working: The Distributed Company and Tools for Entrepreneurs: Create. Collaborate. Communicate.
• Camera: Still using my Canon 7D - I feel more comfortable with it and as part of using it more often, I just ordered a Banana Hammock from Crumpler.eu so I can stick it in my purse/backpack with a single lens and be ready!
• Lens: No new lens purchases in 2011, but I think 2012 is when I will get a better zoom or a wide angle. I still use my 50mm 1.4 all the time as well as my zoom 28-135mm travel lens and the 85mm lens. For a wide angle, I’m eyeing the 10-22mm, the 17-40mm, or my dream lens 16-35mm.
• Quick shots & video: I don’t really use the Canon PowerShot SD750 7.1MP much – I use my Android Nexus S phone (whose camera is not great but works) for quick shots and I’m using Kodak PlaySport for video (especially underwater! Kauai was fun with it)
• Other toys: Finally joined the smartphone crowd with a used Nexus S. I almost bought the iPad 2 the day after it came out while in Austin but decided not to and still use my iPad 1 every day (but I’ll be paying attention to the iPad 3 prob coming out in a few months). I bought an iPod Nano in late 2010 and I’ve used it almost every day in 2011 – love the ability to clip it on.
• Backing up Data & External drives: This continues to be the most important part of my regime – backup! I am still employing the 3,2,1 method – 3 copies of everything, 2 onsite, 1 offsite. For the onsite, I have a new Western Digital MyBook 3TB (that’s 3 Terabytes! woo), and for offsite/cloud backup I switched to Carbonite from Mozy. (Read more about How to Backup Files using Online and Offline Software on my tech blog.)
• Lists/organization: I switched my To-Do list-mania to Wunderlist from Remember the Milk. Totally recommend checking them out. (Read about my holy trinity of productivity: How I Organize my Email, Lists and Brainstorming: My Holy Trinity of Productivity)
• More photography & tech gadgets!

Reading and Ebooks

I’ve always been a voracious reader. Now I read more books than ever – though I stopped keeping track of them in my little spreadsheet.

• Books (new) read in 2011: Um, yeah. I bought 155 ebooks in 2011. I have a good record at finishing books I buy, so let’s call it 130 new books read (and I re-read older books, too). My favorite time to read is before bed – the iPad’s backlighting is great for this (iPad wins over Kindle here)
• Ebook reading devices & Apps: I use the iPad as my main reading device, and sometimes switch to my Nexus S Android phone, and my page position on a particular book is synced across them via the Amazon Kindle app. I also use the Stanza app for my reading, but since Amazon bought it and subsequently stopped development, I’m looking for something new.
• Me, Ebook Publisher: I also published another ebook, this time available through Amazon! How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy is doing well – pick up your own copy! My other ebook, 101 American Foods to Try in the USA is still available and free.
• Book tracking: I signed up for Good Reads but really appreciate the recommendations and lists the most rather than for my own tracking.
• Ebook Advocate: I have been digital for 6 years now and have never regretted it – I wrote a Guide to Ebooks on my tech blog, When I Have Time, for those that are new to ebooks or are interested in getting started!

Travel and Moving Around

I was super lucky to have traveled so much in 2011, a lot of it for work, and I honestly hope it continues…indefinitely.

• Tracking travel with online sites: Still using TripIt with its great forward&track it capability, but I’m missing Dopplr’s statistics.
• Flights taken in 2011: 35. Most flights in a short period – 3: MXP – JFK – DTW – AUS. And 6 hours later, two more flights AUS – DFW – ELP.
• Cities lived in: 1 – Milan, Italy.
• Countries visited: 6 – US (2x), France, Spain, Hungary, London/GB (2x), Kenya.
• U.S. states visited: 5 – California, New Mexico, Texas, Hawaii, New York.
• Longest trip: coming back from Kenya to Italy on New Year’s Eve – the result was tragic, went almost 48 hours without sleeping and was really destroyed when ushering out 2011. Method: Bus + Airplane + Train.
• Train rides: Several crazy day trips, including one to Venice and one to Rome. The Frecciarossa trains in Italy are getting faster and better (and more expensive) – I can get to Milan from Rome in less than 3 hours (compared to 4.5 when I first moved here).
• Years with a car: 2 (previously was 6 years without a car). I still need to get my Italian license, that’s going to happen in 2012!
• Other travel gadgets I recommend!

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Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• 2011 Year in Review in Pictures
• 2010 Year in Review: Sites, Tools & Statistics
• 2010 Year Review in Pictures

In January, I started to share some pictures from a great trip to Thailand I had just completed:

In February, the international holiday I founded, World Nutella Day, celebrated its 5th anniversary and I made one of my favorite recipes for the event so far – Flourless Nutella Chocolate Cake which was appropriate also since I published some information about gluten-free food and restaurants in Italy, too.

In March, I shared more photos of street food from my trip to Thailand, and one of my favorite treats in Rome, the maritozzo, before heading to the US for work.

In April, I shared a teaser of the Fernet Branca factory in Milan, and I reflected on food photography and what I choose to put in front of my lens.

In May, I shared more of me with you when I publicly shared my Mother’s Day card for my Mom, and I told you about my struggle with my weight and health which led me to open a new healthy living site, Food Blogger on a Diet (you can keep up with things there, but I can let you know here that things are going very, very well with my health). I was also featured on one of my favorite series about travel: Pret a Voyager’s Boarding Pass.

In June, I shared some pictures from a past fun evening with other food bloggers at one of the best restaurants in the world, Alinea, and I had a new culinary evening with my favorite bloggers in Rome and one of my favorite wines, at the Franciacorta aperitivo at vinoroma.

In July, I started a long trip back to the States for work and more, and put together a little primer for people new to my site with Ms. Adventures in Italy in 7 links.

In August, I presented at both BlogHer and WordCamp San Francisco in the States before heading back to Italy to enjoy the last rays of summer in Puglia with one of my favorite dishes, pepata di cozze.

In September, I relived summer through my pictures and a video from my trip to Kauai (on a helicopter) and reminiscing about all the foods and sights of summer I love in Italy.

In October, I wished myself a Happy Birthday as I do every year with a semi-healthy personal cake, and had a lot of guests visit, and travel for work and pleasure. I also started posting some photos taken with my mobile on my “mobile blog” – most of which are then Tweeted on Twitter.

In November, travel continued and I reflected on writing raw after a trip to Venice, and I was really excited to publish my ebook on Amazon about How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy

In December, I went to Paris for LeWeb where I nervously presented, and then spent the rest of the month trying to recoup from all the previous months’ travel and busy-ness prior to leaving for Kenya for Christmas (pics to come). I revisited Barcelona and the impact experience and people have had on my travel outlook and photography, too.

Next, I’ll be posting my Year in Review – Sites, Tools, & Statistics!

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Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• My interview on Pret a Voyager’s Boarding Pass
• 2011 Year in Review: Sites, Tools & Statistics
• Italy Running Events: Marathons and Half Marathons

(For past birthdays, read about Drunken Devil’s food cupcakes, Kitchen Sink cookies, Chocolate Brownie cake with homemade caramel, and a Chocolate and Coffee Mousse Cake)

This year, things have changed a bit for me. If you’ve been reading along, you’ll remember I started a new site, Food Blogger on a Diet, to talk about healthy living. It’s related to how I let my body degrade despite my good intentions. But good intentions only count if they’re accompanied by a lot of work. So, the past 7 months I’ve been exercising, eating better, and I’ve lost quite a bit of weight. 2011 has turned into a great year for me.

I feel much better, and though I’m not avoiding sweets altogether (I need my gelato!), I tend not to keep much in the house as I find it greatly helps me appreciate those times when I do eat sweets, and reduce just-because-it’s-in-the-house eating. That, combined with the fact that I work from home and don’t want an entire cake/pie/dessert best suited for 12-14 people sitting in my kitchen, means I wasn’t looking forward to this year’s birthday cake as much as before.

Enter my little Le Creuset mini cocotte. I love this! And the blue color is so pretty. It makes me happy. And today it made me a little cake.

There are so many things I love about this cake, and soon I’ll share a recipe, but I want to keep tweaking it. But what I can tell you about this cake are two great things: it has no oil, butter, or refined sugar in it. And I cooked it in the microwave.

I wasn’t intending on cooking it in the microwave but I wanted to experiment with the batter and it tasted just like I wanted, so why pre-heat the oven for 20 minutes and cook the cake for 10 when 2 minutes in the microwave does just fine? 

If you feel like experimenting yourself, here’s a bit about this cake. It’s full of ingredients I already had lying around my house and am eating on a regular basis – greek yogurt (2% but I’m curious to try it again with 0%), cacao, almonds I ground up, honey, and even a splash of almond milk. I used 1/2 an egg and just 2 T. of flour, though in a future version I’d like to eliminate the flour altogether. Add a pinch of baking soda, and it’s ready to go. After, I wanted to top it with something a little sweeter, and I made a quick chocolate ganache with honey instead of white sugar (and yes, a little butter).

That was just perfect.

If you could make a cake just for one, what would you put in it?

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Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• Drunken Devil’s Food Espresso Cupcakes and Happy Birthday
• Flourless Nutella Chocolate Cake Recipe for World Nutella Day 2011
• Chocolate Brownie Birthday Cake with Homemade Caramel and Pistachios Recipe