“To Those who Appreciate wistaria and sunshine” - Books on Italy
No where else captured by imagination like Italy. It was always there nudging me, talking to me, calling me. And on it went, into cookbooks, memoir, language, history. The Italian lessons continue to unfold and captivate me. It seems that the more you know, the more you want to know. Italy seems like an ocean in truth, far and wide, deep and reflective, and always spilling over the edges into my own beautiful and humble world.
On Italy, and Following the Charm!
Ornate balconies, peeling yellow cafes, small white saucers of coffee, ashtrays on tables, waiters dressed immaculately, pressed white shirt, black tie, coffee bars pulsing with people, life, conviviality, noise, warmth, colour, white walls, veridian splattered ceramics, a glazed bowl, teal and glistening waters, towers jutting off coastlines - so romantic - bougainvillea trailing on a mountain side, steps to a secret doorways, fading, eroding, crumbling architecture, deep layers of the past, volcanic soils, porcelain madonnas…
40 Days and 40 Nights
“Solitude is how we quiet the voice, the incessant chatter. It’s how we create the necessary calm, empty spaces. Vision needs solitude. Leadership needs solitude. Courage needs solitude”……
Books to Read on Women’s Spiritual Journeys
Women’s journeys are mysterious and beautiful. An Author telling a tale of transformation or courage can help light the way, and provide a torch for the road ahead. Always books remind you, whether fact or fiction, they still require us, transport us. In honour of women journeys and pilgrimages I wanted to share a few that have spoken to me over the past twenty or so years…..
The Art of Eating….
So I am searching for more tomato recipes, because we have made a lot of sauce this past few weeks. I open An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, Elizabeth David quips, “A world devoid of tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup and tomato paste is hard to visualise”. Yes, so true for modern cuisine she is right. I find her recipes for tomato are odd choices, Tomato honey and Tomato Conserve. A French style reduction that would be jam like and enjoyed with cheese and a glass of Bordeaux. Perhaps I can find something better in her Mediterranean Cooking or David’s Italian publication. But it is good to think out of the square.
Maddy and I have taken to slabs of fresh tomato on a plate with a hunk of Burrata on the side. Simply put, there is nothing better than that, or maybe a few leaves of fresh basil torn from the bunches growing in the potager, with its heady aromas of anise, liquorice, lemon. No less it is a declaration of a meal turned into art…..
Milan, Italy, North Star……
This is my third time arriving in Milan, in the region of Lombardy, yet every time I have come to the place as an entry point to explore others parts of Italy rather than a tourist destination. Over the past few years I have thought to myself, the next time I get the opportunity to visit I will stop and explore this city and get to know the northern Italian location for myself. I have felt compelled, and since I often hear people (a few at least) suggest they don’t care for it. I have been curious.
An Australian in Italy
Creating a podcast a few years back, quite naively I must say, has played a role and given me a drive I have often been surprised by. Since the advent of the problems with Covid and travel, certainly I have wondered why I would continue, why I would bother. Yet, I haven’t been able to stop myself, like I was on a train and there was no getting off……….
The Art of Coffee is not just about the Beans
Yesterday the beautiful mugs arrived, very early in the morning. I was in the kitchen stirring black berry jam to use in a Crostata in the afternoon. I unwrapped the mugs, thinking they were even more beautiful than I expected. I washed them and placed them on my old school mug holder just hoping my husband wouldn’t notice them, while I think up a reason why exactly I purchased them.
Eat My Books
When I walked up the rickety stair case at Shakespeare and Company on the left bank of Paris I honestly thought I might never leave. Books in every spare corner, piled high, messy, old, cramped, an old piano, a window out into the street, a few plants scattered about. I think there was a cat up there. I cannot remember now but certainly it had ambience. Out of all the bookstores in the world and this one still exists for the hungry likes of the poets, artists, writers and pilgrims who will make there way down past Place Saint-Michel for a walk along the Seine to the famous bookstore.
Yes, No, Maybe
Today, a journal entry indeed. A moment, like no other. the forces of pressure have finally landed. Overwhelm. It’s 6.52 in the morning. I got up found some grounded coffee, poured in the hot water, lit the gas and got the Moka Pot (Bialetti) going. Boiled the kettle, made a herbal tea too. I always have both. One after the other. Walked up to the cottage and sat down stared out the window, six degrees, blue sky, sun across the street, shade on the grass, it is going to be a perfect spring morning. Yet I sat there…….
A House Somewhere
And so I find myself at home, the home I dreamt about for a ridiculous amount of time. I had this idea a long time ago of a white room and a historic cottage that would be my armour and perhaps my libation and it appears it eventually turned up. In a strange turn of events, it arrived or I did. It was a relief I must say.
Autumnal Mood
DH Lawrence once said medlars were “wineskins of brown morbidity”……In ‘The Cook and the Gardener’ Amanda Hesser suggests it’s important to preserve the old ways. In her words “it’s a way to preserve an old recipe” a wise and good thing I think.
A Year of Improvising
En Cuisine, comme dans tous les arts, la simplicité est le signe de la perfection. (“In cooking, as in all the arts, simplicity is the sign of perfection”)
Richard Olney - Simple French Food
Notes on Writing
“Why do I write?
To investigate the mystery of existence. To tolerate myself.
To get closer to everything that is outside of me”.
Jhumpa Lahiri - In Other Words
Vita’s Words
Since traveling to see the Chelsea Flower Show in May I have been contemplating Vita’s Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent and Virginia’s Monk’s House in Sussex….