picture perfect

I'm a big fan of pictures on walls...I'm an even bigger fan of clusters of pictures on walls. There is so much inspiration around sometimes it's hard to make the leap to do it in your own space...but having those images on the walls brings to life our past with wonderful memories of where all these images came from...who gave them to us, where we were, what they mean to us, it doesn't matter if they're not the most beautiful , the most expensive, the most original, as long as they evoke something in the homeowner, these are the things I treasure and make me smile everyday in our home,  every picture holds a story and having such a visual reminder of days past in your everyday living....

We started hammering & hanging...work in progress.

 Love the effect of hanging everything together, mirrors, a coat hook, beads, unframed photos a collage of everything.

pesto

            A couple weeks ago we had a pot luck party, where I made Salsa di Noci & Pesto, as I'm never very convinced of my Italy cooking to have Italians comment on how good it was I thought I'd share the Pesto recipe with you...it really is so easy just as is the Salsa di Noci and can be made fresh the night of even for those of us with hectic lives.

:PESTO:

:METHOD:

Place the Basil & garlic in the food processor

and blend until finely chopped.

Add nuts blend until chopped.

Add cheese until all is combined.

Keep the processor running and add the oil in slowly.

After it is all combined and the machine is off.

Add S&P to taste.

I generally serve Pesto with Trofie pasta which is typical of the Ligurian region, to make it extra tasty peel and chop into chunks some potatoes and green beans topped & tailed.

Boil until cooked, then just combine them into the pesto & Trofie before serving.

I had a slight scale error with this particular batch as you will see from the photo the garlic cloves are MASSIVE!

Should've only used one of these particularly potent cloves.

These quantities made two small jars.

Monday

We both decided to take Monday off...it was such a luxury, not to have anything planned except to spend time with Michaels parents, I would like to say we took it easy but it was a jam packed day...

:first stop:

hardware store

:followed by:

the timber yard

:then:

1st garden centre

2nd garden centre

home

learn to make home made gnocchi
(with Michaels Mum - recipe to follow)

EAT...

(the home made gnocchi)

nap time

plant bulbs and do pots for window sills

take a walk

exhausted

cook...

hang some pictures

EAT

drink (a little)

rest

bed

read The Hobbit

sleep...

wonders of the universe

Why are we here? Where do we come from? These are the most enduring of questions. And it's an essential part of human nature to want to find the answers. We can trace our ancestry back hundreds of thousands of years to the dawn of humankind. But in reality, our story extends far, further back in time. Our story starts with the beginning of the universe. It began 13.7 billion years ago, and today, it's filled with over a hundred billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of billions of stars. In this series, I want to tell that story, because ultimately, we are part of the universe, so its story is our story.

—Professor Brian Cox's opening narration

We've just downloaded (i.tunes) the BBC's Wonders of the Universe and it is simply awe-inspiring.

At times we completely lose all comprehension of what Prof. Brian Cox is talking about...generally this involves the time scale or mass of these wonders.

But it's well the brain ache...

table

Wednesday night

Weekend tea

hump day treats

Yesterday evening was a little traumatic...but I'm not going to dwell on my usual mishap...lets put it this way I was convinced I'd left my wallet on the  roof of my car and driven off...not so, it would seem,  after a torrid of hysteria, canceling of cards and driving up and down and around the road and car park 3 times...anyway it was found.

All this taking away my excitement of buying a rhubarb plant...I'm not sure how well it's going to do here in Italy...it's only a baby at the moment and I need some parental advise on it's care...I don't even know if we'll still be living here when it's ready to harvest, but we'll give this little guy a chance...

Michael got a little gift too.

Wedding details

to Roma we go...

Up & out early Saturday morning to catch the train to Rome for the 6 Nations Italia vs Scotzia game...whilst Michael pondered the Daily Mail (don't tell) crossword, I got lost in Volume Two of Kinfolk that finally arrived on my desk thursday afternoon. 

...then a slight change of pace...Beer and Rugby. Brilliant!

We were invited down by two friends of Michaels one of which is Romano, which always makes a huge difference when it comes to eating well...

Ristorante Casale

and too much!

Fortnums

I love a hamper, and Fortnum & Masons do great hampers and the price range is great starting from around £40 and going up to £500, this year my Mum got a Fortnums hamper for Mothers Day and as soon as she saw the F&M she started to cry - poor postman didn't know what to do, all he needed was a signature, it's the second time I've sent one to my folks and they loved the last one...the service is great too especially for us kids who live abroad and can't seem to organise our lives to get anything in the post.

Afternoon Tea Hamper

fortnum and mason

Happy Mothers Day!

My beautiful Mum!

march pick-me-ups

1. roald dahl - read

2. chanel - always a treat the new Chanel nail colour I'm wearing April.

3. daffodils - how can you not feel like spring when the Daffs are out.

4. tiptree - ready for weekend breakfasts in the garden with my favorite marmalade (except for Grandmas home made)

5. gregory alan isakov - perfect for late spring evenings.

6. dr hauschka - shiny locks for spring - I love this product

Pausa pranzo

I took myself off for a little picnic at lunch time today, the weather is so beautiful and I feel like I've been cooped up in the office for days.

The blossom is beginning to fill the trees, which is enough to make me skip back to work after my sandwich.

Oh and I found this amazing 'doer-upper' house...I know we've just moved but it's...

...lovely.

new find...

I don't love it... I don't love it...must put it in the store.

Rugs

A new project...it's easy really, something old, beautiful and makes your home feel more like home, of course I'm interested and even better we now we have some floor space for them.

Rugs...more specifically Balach Rugs...

what we've been up too...

It was a super busy weekend, and with the temperatures beginning to feel like spring...our energy we've been storing over the winter months is now ready to come out of hibernation...

Friday night we headed down to a hanger in parking lot outside of Bologna for a Wilco concert.
Fun was had!
Saturday was spent with friends, a great lunch at Osteria ai Osei in Verona, looks like a complete dump...but you eat so well...followed by afternoon tea, at our friends beautiful home in the hills...a lovely treat was tea & cake outside, too much cake was consumed and poor Michael came away exhausted having entertained us all with both Douglas (the huge golden lab) and our friends 7 year old daughter...  started to see the start of the peach blossom so excited!

Sunday morning we headed up to The Mart in Rovereto, to see the Alice in Wonderland exhibit we missed at The Tate Modern Liverpool, followed by a hearty lunch on our way home unfortunately we didn't find a place in Trentino for some true mountain roughage, but they did serve a great speck.
And so too bed...

 Wilco

Tea

The Mart

Lunch

Festa della donna

Yesterday was International Womens Day, which seems to be a much bigger deal in Italia than any other country I've lived...I'm still not clear on how I actually feel about this day (especially living in a country where there are obviously huge differences between the sexes still and the day here has been so commercialized it holds no clout) but...hold fire! I'm not going to over think it and just enjoy the company of the great women.

Thursday night is English Speaking Happy Hour night (future post to explain) we decided to give our wonderful women a sprig of Mimosa with a little message tag - I was sadly disappointed to discover this was not a cocktail, but a much sweeter gesture and far more economic.

Apparently the custom of giving out Mimosa started in Rome in 1946 when the men would give there wives, mothers, daughters sprigs of this bright yellow flower.

Festa della donna

we've moved

I want to ride my bicycle

       In November I posted my birthday treats, with a photo of my beautiful metallic blue bike that my husband bought for my birthday... I loved it and I even put on my great Linus cup holder - it's taken me up until this moment to be able to say...GONE all gone it was stolen on it's first outing to the cinema...so now it's time to move on...we've moved and I feel safe that we now have somewhere safe to keep our bikes (the metallic blue delight was my third bicycle to be stolen in Verona)
But what to buy...time to start thinking about our needs for our new bikes...yes we're going to be matching...how sad is that?
Although I like to think we would go 'off rode' on our bikes I think the likely hood is very slim, considering I've had a mountain bike for 10 years now...and I don't think it's ever got mud in in threds...
The Racer...one and only point we're too old and not 'hipster!
So basically there is my reasoning for only really wanting to get a couple of beautiful town bikes, and we do them so well in Europe.
There seem to be an influx of re-issued Classic bicycles on the market now, decisions....

Being English I grew up riding Raleigh they have a nice selection easy Classic town bicycles, I only wish they were still Made in England, but unfortunately in 2003 and they took all the manufacturing overseas. BBC Raleigh

But then who does town bikes better than the Dutch, there is a long list of companies who specialise in Dutch style bicycles

Dutchie

Bobbin

Dutch bike shop

And then of course there are Italian bikes...everyone rides a bicycle in Verona, so the choice is pretty good, and most of the bikes are still Made in Italy.

One of my favorite brands and one I've had my eye on for 3 years now is abici I'm trying to persuade Michael for us to stop off in their showroom when we go to Liguria next month.

Their colour choice is amazing.

Plus a couple other great bicycle brands, Pashley, Velorbis Denmark

I'm not even going to go into all the fab accessories, need to choose a bicycle first.

Raleigh

 abici 

Velorbis Denmark

Pashley