We bought a Kindle in the UK BUT because we live in Belgium and have a Belgian credit card we can only download books from Amazon.com. I find the selection of books much less interesting and am now trying to find a way to get around the system. However, it is brilliant: like one of you said, I too only read a book once and then my house is just cluttered with paperbacks that'll only gather dust until disposed of humanely! With the Kindle I have a small book-size library and am enjoying it so much that my husband is going to have to buy his own - the original idea was one to share!
...without a doubt is Prosecco (sometimes carried through to the meal, regardless of whether it's fish or meat!) followed by a G&T as a closeish second. To be avoided completely are my father's "Martini Dry" which consist of gin, dry Martini, a splash of Angostura Bitters shaken in a cocktail shaker with ice(he's 97) and topped off with a slice of lemon - followed by a severe hangover!
An anecdote regarding alternative change: In the early 70’s I was at university in Rome and used to buy La Repubblica every morning which, at the time, cost 90 lire. The kiosk man never had the 10 lire change and would give me a sweet instead. After a while, I got a little fed up with this and decided to play him at his own game. I collected all the sweets and when I had got 9, I went to buy my usual paper and then handed him the 9 sweets. He was furious and said that he could not accept this. I replied that for nine days at least I had not protested at his giving me a sweet instead of 10 lire, so why was he now so indignant? The result of this negotiation was that he never again offered me a sweet instead of my 10 lire – he actually kept a little tin for my own personal change!
Here I am, back up in Northern Europe after 2 months in Italy. Mosquito solutions we used: - Boots do a wonderful suntan lotion with ADDED INSECT RERELLENT and it worked!
My parents live just outside Rome in an area which Mussolini drained and is a veritable hive of mosquitoes in the summer (I hate visiting, mosquitoes adore my blood). Even before we get out of the car, we spray ourselves liberally with Autan/Off/any insect repellent, I find they all work. You do need to cover every single inch of uncovered skin, leave a tiny bit out and you’re bitten there at least three times!
If you are bitten, and you will be, use Germolene – I didn’t believe my mum, but she was right, it works almost instantly.
It is important to repeat the post-bite treatment after 5 minutes – I don’t know why other than it does seem to ensure that any itching really does disappear.
By the way, I was bitten twice within two hours of reaching home…Belgian mosquitoes get vicious when they sense the end of summer (if you can call it that) is nigh.
The simple answer is yes. I did it every year untilI found it easier to pay the whole year in one fell swoop in June (actually July, after the deadline, but nobody was bothered!)
Here's my dad's Zucchini (courgette) flower frittata Ingredients: 10 zucchini flowers, 6 eggs, 80gr parmesan, Extra virgin olive oil, Salt, pepper Method: Beat eggs, cheese, salt and pepper together, add the zucchini flowers. Heat a dollop (according to taste) of olive oil in a frying pan. Then add the egg mixture and cook over a moderate heat. As soon as the frittata begins to set , shake the pan to release the frittata, using a fish slice if necessary. Turn the frittata over and finish cooking. I’m lazy, so I usually don’t bother turning it over, I just pop it under a hot grill until it has cooked on top as well. This is good both hot and cold and is delicious served in a bread roll for a picnic.
This is the route through France that we take. If you want to spend a night on the way down, there is a little hotel near Bellegarde (north of Geneva on this route) - Hotel le Fartoret http://www.communes.com/rhone-alpes/haute-savoie/eloise_01200/logis-de-france,le-fartoret.html. which is really nice and just off the motorway, about 2km. You eat well and sleep well and I recommend it highly!
My dad’s father was one of the MIA in the Great War, so he and his brother were brought up by their mother who, unusually for the times, decided she did not need a man to enable her to bring up her boys – anyway, as she used to say, no-one could compete with “her Antonio”. This meant that my dad, who was 3 when his dad was declared dead, spent a lot of time with his mother, watching her cook. As a result, after he married my mother, who is Roman, he would often say “Why don’t you make me sfinci/sfinciuni/fritedda/frocia di piselli/sanceli/farsumagru… And my mum would say “I don’t know how to make it” and he would say “just do as I say” and would begin to list the ingredients, then tell her what to do and half-way she would inevitably say “Oh but these are zeppole/pizzette/carciofi con fave e piselli/frittata con I piselli/sanguinaccio/vitello ripieno… Translations: deep-fried pastry balls covered in sugar ( a cholesterol bomb!), little pizzas (but that probably didn’t need a translation!), artichokes cooked with broad beans and peas, pea frittata (Italian omelette), blood pudding made with pig’s blood, chocolate, cinnamon, pine-nuts and candied fruit ( and NO, I will NEVER even taste it, much as I like the last part of the ingredient list!), stuffed veal. Yes, you would be correct in thinking that ours was and still is a family very focussed on food.
I hate travelling through Switzerland – paying the vignette for two trips of very short duration twice a year and then spending 3 hours (the last time we did it) waiting to get into the Gotthard. This is what finally did it for us in 2005 on the way down (we do Brussels/ south of Perugia), and the floods in Switzerland put paid to going back that way anyway. We have chosen to go via the Monte Bianco ever since, even if it adds over a hundred km to our journey, and I get the added advantage of NOT doing much of the Autostrada del Sole which I also hate. We only need to do Firenze Nord to Betolle on the A1. We have never looked back since – and the motorways are always empty, including the French ones we take via Dijon etc. I know you pay for the Monte Bianco Tunnel but that is compensated for by the non-payment of the Swiss vignette; and the much easier, less busy motorways and roads, make for a much more pleasant journey. So NEVER AGAIN WILL I CHOOSE THE GOTTHARD UNLESS I HAVE NO OTHER OPTION.
Waterzooi This is the recipe I gave my daughter when she went off to university and she says it's always been a success with her mates. It's easy to increase quantities to serve as many as you like. Ingredients for one serving 1 chicken breast (or 200 gr firm fish – cod, salmon etc) 1 onion, 1 leek, 2 carrots Knob of butter Parsley 3 tbsps light cream Instructions Chop vegetables. Put to soften gently in the butter. When soft, add the chicken and chopped parsley and add a little water. Allow to simmer gently until the chicken (or fish) is cooked – about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cream and let it warm through. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.
Comments posted
We bought a Kindle in the UK BUT because we live in Belgium and have a Belgian credit card we can only download books from Amazon.com. I find the selection of books much less interesting and am now trying to find a way to get around the system. However, it is brilliant: like one of you said, I too only read a book once and then my house is just cluttered with paperbacks that'll only gather dust until disposed of humanely! With the Kindle I have a small book-size library and am enjoying it so much that my husband is going to have to buy his own - the original idea was one to share!
...without a doubt is Prosecco (sometimes carried through to the meal, regardless of whether it's fish or meat!) followed by a G&T as a closeish second. To be avoided completely are my father's "Martini Dry" which consist of gin, dry Martini, a splash of Angostura Bitters shaken in a cocktail shaker with ice(he's 97) and topped off with a slice of lemon - followed by a severe hangover!
An anecdote regarding alternative change: In the early 70’s I was at university in Rome and used to buy La Repubblica every morning which, at the time, cost 90 lire. The kiosk man never had the 10 lire change and would give me a sweet instead. After a while, I got a little fed up with this and decided to play him at his own game. I collected all the sweets and when I had got 9, I went to buy my usual paper and then handed him the 9 sweets. He was furious and said that he could not accept this. I replied that for nine days at least I had not protested at his giving me a sweet instead of 10 lire, so why was he now so indignant? The result of this negotiation was that he never again offered me a sweet instead of my 10 lire – he actually kept a little tin for my own personal change!
Here I am, back up in Northern Europe after 2 months in Italy. Mosquito solutions we used: - Boots do a wonderful suntan lotion with ADDED INSECT RERELLENT and it worked!
By the way, I was bitten twice within two hours of reaching home…Belgian mosquitoes get vicious when they sense the end of summer (if you can call it that) is nigh.
The simple answer is yes. I did it every year until I found it easier to pay the whole year in one fell swoop in June (actually July, after the deadline, but nobody was bothered!)
Here's my dad's Zucchini (courgette) flower frittata Ingredients: 10 zucchini flowers, 6 eggs, 80gr parmesan, Extra virgin olive oil, Salt, pepper Method: Beat eggs, cheese, salt and pepper together, add the zucchini flowers. Heat a dollop (according to taste) of olive oil in a frying pan. Then add the egg mixture and cook over a moderate heat. As soon as the frittata begins to set , shake the pan to release the frittata, using a fish slice if necessary. Turn the frittata over and finish cooking. I’m lazy, so I usually don’t bother turning it over, I just pop it under a hot grill until it has cooked on top as well. This is good both hot and cold and is delicious served in a bread roll for a picnic.
This is the route through France that we take. If you want to spend a night on the way down, there is a little hotel near Bellegarde (north of Geneva on this route) - Hotel le Fartoret http://www.communes.com/rhone-alpes/haute-savoie/eloise_01200/logis-de-france,le-fartoret.html. which is really nice and just off the motorway, about 2km. You eat well and sleep well and I recommend it highly!
My dad’s father was one of the MIA in the Great War, so he and his brother were brought up by their mother who, unusually for the times, decided she did not need a man to enable her to bring up her boys – anyway, as she used to say, no-one could compete with “her Antonio”. This meant that my dad, who was 3 when his dad was declared dead, spent a lot of time with his mother, watching her cook. As a result, after he married my mother, who is Roman, he would often say “Why don’t you make me sfinci/sfinciuni/fritedda/frocia di piselli/sanceli/farsumagru… And my mum would say “I don’t know how to make it” and he would say “just do as I say” and would begin to list the ingredients, then tell her what to do and half-way she would inevitably say “Oh but these are zeppole/pizzette/carciofi con fave e piselli/frittata con I piselli/sanguinaccio/vitello ripieno… Translations: deep-fried pastry balls covered in sugar ( a cholesterol bomb!), little pizzas (but that probably didn’t need a translation!), artichokes cooked with broad beans and peas, pea frittata (Italian omelette), blood pudding made with pig’s blood, chocolate, cinnamon, pine-nuts and candied fruit ( and NO, I will NEVER even taste it, much as I like the last part of the ingredient list!), stuffed veal. Yes, you would be correct in thinking that ours was and still is a family very focussed on food.
I hate travelling through Switzerland – paying the vignette for two trips of very short duration twice a year and then spending 3 hours (the last time we did it) waiting to get into the Gotthard. This is what finally did it for us in 2005 on the way down (we do Brussels/ south of Perugia), and the floods in Switzerland put paid to going back that way anyway. We have chosen to go via the Monte Bianco ever since, even if it adds over a hundred km to our journey, and I get the added advantage of NOT doing much of the Autostrada del Sole which I also hate. We only need to do Firenze Nord to Betolle on the A1. We have never looked back since – and the motorways are always empty, including the French ones we take via Dijon etc. I know you pay for the Monte Bianco Tunnel but that is compensated for by the non-payment of the Swiss vignette; and the much easier, less busy motorways and roads, make for a much more pleasant journey. So NEVER AGAIN WILL I CHOOSE THE GOTTHARD UNLESS I HAVE NO OTHER OPTION.
Waterzooi This is the recipe I gave my daughter when she went off to university and she says it's always been a success with her mates. It's easy to increase quantities to serve as many as you like. Ingredients for one serving 1 chicken breast (or 200 gr firm fish – cod, salmon etc) 1 onion, 1 leek, 2 carrots Knob of butter Parsley 3 tbsps light cream Instructions Chop vegetables. Put to soften gently in the butter. When soft, add the chicken and chopped parsley and add a little water. Allow to simmer gently until the chicken (or fish) is cooked – about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cream and let it warm through. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.