Day of Liberation

It was Liberation day here on Wednesday, commemorating the end of the WWII. Fortunately the rain that we've been having everyday for the past 2 weeks disappeared and the sun came out again...hip-hip-hooray!!

We took ourselves for a lovely walk along the river, stopped off to pick up some fresh blueberry muffins and headed home for a well earned cuppa in the garden. This is how I'd like to spend every breakfast at least for the next 5 months of sunnier day, it was the perfect way to spend our Liberation day morning.

Vegetable patch

       We went to our  new community vegetable patch this past weekend or in Italian 'l'orto' it's literally just across the road from our apartment a 2 min walk which is great for us, we're both imaging sunny days after work heading down to this little space of tranquility and a source of food! Yes we're both super excited and can't wait to get going, aswell as l'orto it's a great opportunity to meet new people in our neighborhood who are also part of this adventure...
We're following a synergistic gardening method, we're just at the first step which is preparing the land, we dug out some canals and made some crop mounds aswell as adding some nice organic fertiliser, I'll add some more info on the theory as we go long....

Looking down to our piece of Earth.

Get digging

Along way to go yet

We're off for a well earned cuppa...

Goodnight Levon Helm

Michael and I got home late last night to the sad news that Levon Helm had passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon, Michael introduced me to this brilliant musician, his music is part of our life together and will be remembered by us through his music forever in our home.

levon helm

Warm asparagus salad

Asparagus season is underway here in Veneto, I can't seem to pass a lay-by without seeing a guy with his caravan selling both the green & white asparagus, and the supermarket are brimming with the stuff too, I picked some up on Friday but never really knowing what to do with the stuff except grilled it and add cheese, I've decided to try out some new dishes with this yummy vegetable.

:Warm Asparagus Salad:

Bunch of Green asparagus cut into 3cm pieces

4 radishes finely sliced

1/2 cup pine nuts toasted

juice of a lemon

1 tsp olive oil

salt

red bean sprouts to garnish

Heat oil in a griddle & add some salt, add the asparagus it should take about 5 mins to cook, you want it to stay crunchy on the inside

In a separate bowl add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pine nuts.

Mix together for your dressing.

Once the Asparagus is done place in a bowl with the sliced radishes & dressing, garnish with red bean sprouts.

Serve warm 

Nice cuppa

These lovely new Scandinavian inspired mugs will be finding there way to the store...

Spiced Bulgar & Chicken Salad

I have a yummy recipe to share with you...it was created by myself and 2 of my girlfriends, we were having an empty our fridges pot luck dinner at our apartment and this salad came up super trumps, it's great served immediately or as left overs chilled the next day which is a sure treat to perk up dull lunches. Unfortunately we're coming to the end of the pomegranate season for the northern hemisphere, but this salad really did brighten up our winter table.

Spiced Bulgar & Chicken Salad

2 chicken breasts

Olive oil

half onion

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

200 grams bulgar

1/2 litre vegetable stock

handful of fresh coriander

half a pomegranite

radicchio

It's done in 3 parts, there is no right or wrong order as they all come together at the end

Grill the chicken breast seasoning with salt & pepper

Chop the radicchio & coriander and de-seed the pomegranite into your salad bowl.

Place to one side

  Chop your onion

heat the Olive oil in a pan

add onion...cook until soft & golden

add Bulgar, Veg stock & the spices

cover and cook until water has been absorbed.

Once the chicken is cooked cut into pieces & add to the salad bowl, along with the Bulgar & the salad

Voila!

Buon Appetito!

April pick-me-ups

1. rhubard - eat

2. pie minister - new cook book...does it get much better than PIES...not according to Mr C

3. secateurs - anything with a wooden handle

4. wellies - any excuse to wear my wellies

5. elderflower - i know it's more of a summer drink but let's get started...with the spritz.

6. asparagus - it's asparagus season in Veneto...recipes to follow

It's not by chance that my April pick-me-ups have a gardening theme...tomorrow we'll be starting our community vegetable patch...and I'm very excited!

On the home front our Rhubarb plant is coming along very well, even though I need to transfer it from the pot into the ground it's grown SO much...to fulfill my Rhubarb fetish until we can harvest our own my parents brought a large bundle of Rhubarb from their garden when they came over for Easter...that's all been cooked down and in the freezer ready for pasties and crumbles...

new treasures

I found some new treasures whilst we were in Liguria, I'm particularly excited about my new stamp set, it's pretty neat it does it need a little bit of TLC, but nothing that warm soapy water won't solve. Also picked up some little vintage bowls, which you can never have too many of,  these guys are Italian from a Treviso manufacturer.

easter

We spent Easter with both sets parents in Liguria...I'd been hankering after some Ligurian food for the last month,  so it was great to finally get my taste buds satisfied fresh focaccia for breakfast, followed by pesto & trofie for lunch...life doesn't get much better add to this it was Easter meaning there was chocolate & Colomba cake too, aswell as it being Chiavari Flea Market...purchases were made.

We're all suffering for it this week though coming home several pounds heavier.
My folks are making their way back home through Switzerland & France, Michaels Mum & Dad will stay down in Liguria till the end of the month as for Michael and I we're going to enjoy some time with just the two of us without any visitors...but hopefully not for too long.

Sestri

Shopping

Focaccia ready for the oven.

New flea market finds

get away

It's that time of year when you start thinking about planning your trips for the upcoming year, we're still trying to figure out how to take a trip together as our work calendars just don't seem to co-ordinate.

It got me thinking about our first proper trip together 2010 to New Zealand...

 

Curry & Craft Night

I got home last night to a great surprise from my Dad...he had moved our kitchen around and made it so much more functional...we actually have some work surface now...to chop and make a mess in.

Last Night was Thai Curry night..followed by crafts...

All my measures are approximately as we pretty much make it up as we go along...depending how many people we need to feed...

Last night this fed 5

:Chicken Thai Yellow Curry:

 4 chicken breasts cut into pieces

1 red pepper chopped

1 onion chopped

A good handful green beans topped and tailed

A handle full off fresh coriander chopped

(our plants are coming along a treat)

2 tbs Thai Yellow Paste

1 can coconut milk

200ml Veg stock

Bring the coconut milk to the boil, add the paste & let it dissolve.

Add the chicken pieces...cook

Add the veggies.

Leave to cook on a lower heat, until everything is ready!

Serve.

I served it with Saffron Rice.

After the curry we got cracking with the Mini Egg bundles we decided to make for the ESHH, everyone got into it, the boys were not so good at making bows, so they were left in charge of getting the eggs in the paper...no mean feat when there are chocolate eggs involved!

But Cadburys Mini Eggs...they are SO good!

Next up Egg blowing...Dad was in charge of getting the egg yolk out...it was not a pretty sight.
But then the fun began with the Egg painting...competition was high...Rebecca was the most competitive bringing back memories of her childhood winning painted egg...she took no prisoners!
The biggest problem seemed to be Michael mixing paint colours in the palette and causing tension around the table...but he was a free spirit when it came to egg painting...anything goes!
It's alot harder than you think, the beautifully painted eggs I saw yesterday on the internet must've taken hours and and alot of patience...

Dads stripy egg

Ready to be hung...

Weekend

        Another chocca weekend with visitors, this time a very good friend of ours who used to live in Verona but relocated back to the UK in 2011.

Saturday was spent...eating. Sunday was spent...eating!! That's the way it goes when you live in Italy, so much for us trying to eat out less...

Saturday we headed up to Molina, which is one of my favorite places, it's nestled up and behind Fumane in the Natural Park of Lessinia. It's full of amazingly beautiful stone houses and with the waterfalls so close, always a sense of the flowing streams running through the village....I love it and kinda want to live in a stone hut in the middle of nowhere. This time of year all the cherry & peach blossom is out and it's awash with pretty flowers and the sense of the upcoming season of fruitfulness.

We stopped off for lunch in Trattoria Du Scalini where you always eat well and a get a friendly welcome. We took a quick walk after to burn off the wine & pasta before heading back down the hill...ready for a nap.

I dream of an allotment

Sunday lunch with friends at Agriturismo La Colombara,  followed by a walk along the river and skimming stones...the afternoon was spent vegged out on the sofa.