Author Archives: Becky

This week I was reminded by Facebook that it’s six years since I retired from teaching. I wondered what on earth I’d do with myself – would I become a lady who lunched? There had been opportunities in the past, when, without the required work permits, I’d enjoyed plenty of leisurely meals with lovely friendsContinue reading “Ladies who lunch?”

After the torrential rain and flooding last weekend we were left with a double rainbow just hanging over the sea. Trying to take a picture with my phone wasn’t a great success but it was quite a sight to behold. It reminded me of one of my favourite phrases when teaching nutrition to young peopleContinue reading “Arc en ciel”

It depends where you put the emphasis as to how you feel about this…. Right now we have a very dark evening and thunder rumbling overhead. I found myself saying to the cats – “It looks like rain in cherry blossom lane! “, am I the only person who recites poetry to animals…probably not. HoweverContinue reading “Flaming June!”

Several of our young friends are relieved that they can finally have the celebration they had hoped for. All these revised plans reminded us of the most complicated wedding we’d been to. We took a very early flight from Heathrow to Paris, checked into our hotel, changed our clothes then took a taxi to aContinue reading “Weddings are back in the news”

How could I have chosen such a hot evening to make and film our next video? You’ll see it very soon – I’m standing at the cooker stirring and stirring….. Lost in thought, it reminded me of one particular Sunday lunch at La Scogliera near Arese. We had booked our usual table and were surprisedContinue reading “Tasty morsels”

As a child one of the naughtiest things I did was to drink the vinegar from the enormous jar of pickled onions sitting on the floor of the pantry. The cupboard was under the stairs, so I could shut myself away and nobody knew what I was up to. Fast forward many years and whenContinue reading “Salad Days”

You might be aware that we adopted two cats recently. They are lovely – so gentle, lap cats through and through. They really enjoy fishy cat food and crunchy treats, watching the seagulls soar by and the pigeons courting on the fence. Since their favourite food has to contain fish I thought I’d be safeContinue reading “Chaos reigns !”

There was a recent addition to the shopping list which left me (almost) speechless, shocked – certainly discombobulated. This postcard size piece of paper had been sitting on the dresser awaiting all the usual additions… eggs, milk, flour etc…. but in the bottom corner it suddenly said French Fancies! I had to stop and thinkContinue reading “Who knew…?”

Do you remember that programme? Bernard Braden, David Frost and Millicent Martin who sang (badly) when they reviewed the past week. It’s been a bit of a week here too – not least because we’re still trying to settle our rescue cats amid trips to the vet. They are very nervous, easily spooked by unexpectedContinue reading “That was the week that was…”

Do you remember the egg crisis of the late 1980’s ? Edwina Currie MP made a passing comment that most of the eggs in the UK were contaminated with salmonella (at that time) This caused chaos – with her resignation designed to calm the situation. The egg producers and farmers all denied her claims andContinue reading “Curried eggs ?”