Category Archives: Uncategorized

With the relaxation of some Covid restrictions, I am really looking forward to a trip to the hairdresser and will be hot-footing it to her early on Monday morning. After that, a stroll through town is needed. I’ve done some on-line shopping, but there’s nothing like the ability to see and feel something I mightContinue reading “All change.”

Whatever your plans for this weekend, I hope you have a lovely time. There’s so much to do today and so little time to do it that I’m making an early start. A veggie layer bake to put together so it can cook with the turkey (not needed at Christmas) later today and potato saladContinue reading “Happy Easter!”

Whilst it’s easy to remember delicious meals in our favourite places, it’s often harder to remember the less enjoyable ones. The reappearance of some long forgotten photos reminded me of school trips (not the falling over varieties!) to interesting cities – Barcelona, Turin and Tallinn immediately sprang to mind. There seemed to be a reluctanceContinue reading “The best and the worst”

The first house we rented near Milan was a four-story monstrosity with a mansard roof, all created from concrete. The absence of rafters meant we had a vast open space to set up a model train set and my sewing machine under the skylights. Occasionally I would catch sight of “Balcony Bill” and his wifeContinue reading “La Pasta”

March was always a busy month when I was growing up- my birthday, my mother’s birthday and also Mothering Sunday. With my granny living with us, we were always careful to include her in everything, especially Mothering Sunday. She’d been an orphan and so had missed out on so much – spoiling us rotten asContinue reading “Mothering …..”

It’s not just because the warmer weather is making the plants and bulbs start to bloom that everything’s looking rosier, is it? The prospect of lock-down easing is on the horizon and with that the return of some normality to our lives at last. Pondering on the opposite of “lock down” my mind went throughContinue reading “Better days are coming.”

You might have noticed that we shared two videos this week so you could make shortcrust pastry and use it for a savoury flan. There was just too much content for a single video so we had to decide where to make the split. I’m sure many of us had a whole morning or afternoonContinue reading “Basic skills”

Last week seemed to fly by – not such a bad thing perhaps if it means another week towards the end of the current restrictions. There wasn’t much in the diary ( we already have several videos ready to share) so the long -awaited arrival of the new sewing machine was a welcome sight. ItContinue reading “Busy days…”

For some years we lived in a small town between Milan and Lake Como. The appearance of snow on the mountain peaks heralded the start of winter – and my goodness, it was cold. Adjacent to our house was a small apartment block with shops on the ground floor, one of which was a tinyContinue reading “Say cheese!”

These weeks between Christmas and Easter offer foodies the best opportunity to make dishes we don’t usually create at other times of the year. Whilst they are linked to the church calendar, everyone can enjoy them. It all kicks off with Epiphany, when the Wise Men were alleged to arrive to see the baby Jesus.Continue reading “Feasts and festivals”