Coconut Valentine Biscuits

Yesterday before my oven blew up (luckily by the end of next month a new kitchen will be installed :)!!), I was able to cook my husband's favorite biscuits, a very easy recipe I invented to satisfy his great passion for coconut, which is not exactly my favorite ingredient to cook with, in the biscuits' recipe below you will get very nice results.

First of all the ingredients:

• 200 gr self-raising flour 
• 100 gr sugar
• 50 gr butter
• 2 tbs grated coconut + some for finishing
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs sherry

Mix the flour with the sugar in a bowl, add the butter, which is cut in small pieces, and add the egg, mix quickly with your hands till it is all well mix together to form a pastry dough, add the grated coconut and the sherry, don't be too generous with it otherwise you need to add more flour and loose a bit of its delicate taste. Work always quickly with your hands till it gets to a pastry consistence. If you've got time put in the fridge for half an hour, it will be easier to make the biscuits. Put some grated coconut in a tray or large and flat plate, take a small amount of pastry in your hand make a little ball, roll the ball in the grated coconut and put on a baking tray covered with baking paper, cook in pre-heated oven at 180 C for 15' or till they became golden brown. After taking them out of the oven, let the biscuits cool on a tray and put them in an air-proof box only when they are completely cool.
Enjoy them with a glass of vino passito at the end of your meal.

:)
ML

To a Wonderful Woman

I would have liked to start this year telling you all about the hand made gifts I prepared for my family and friends last Christmas, unfortunately something occurred to change my plans.

Few days ago my beloved auntie passed away, so suddenly, even if she was unwell for such a long time, affected by the ravages of Alzheimer disease her memory was slowly fading away, but her sweet smile never ceased to light her face whenever she met my eyes.

When we were little children we used to spend all the summer school holidays at my grandparents’ house where my aunt Mariannina lived, it was at that time that my brother started to call her “zia mamma” “auntie-mum” because she really meant something special to us.

Going out with her was always a great experience, she allowed us to do little things that our parents always deny, often you'd have two little children shouting out of a car window to the cyclists along the road, "you're the last, looser!!", we laugh so hard with her as she lead us in high jinks.

She was a woman who really taught me to be brave, ok maybe she was not very successful with me in particular, certainly if I ever climbed a tree is thanks to her. She was always extremely positive and supportive, she never let you down, always present, always extremely generous and always able to make you feel special, at least for her.

After breaking my leg when skying, I will never forget that she was next to me when I woke up from an operation, even if she herself had an operation few days before, she traveled from Rimini to Rome, when not being well herself, to hold my hand and I will never forget that kind and generous spirit.

She was unconventional for her age, she got a degree in Pharmacy when women rarely reached university education, she was driving when very few women had a driving licence, importantly what she really left was a mark in the life of whoever she met, glowing with her bright and sweet smile.

She decided to change her career into teaching Maths and Sciences, something she did so well that people decades after being her students, when meeting her would still addressing her with a “ciao Prof”. My small regret is that I wish I had such a good Math teacher I wouldn’t be so mathematically challenged now.
I was always reprimanding myself on my efforts to calculate simple formula, telling this to her she would always smile back to me, her sweet smile, with a little melancholy in the later years.

I will miss everything about her, during the later years when the disease had left only a shadow of her full beauty and brightness, her eyes of an indefinite colour between green and light brown, expressed more of her unbound love than what she was actually able to speak out...

ciao my adorated Auntie Mum

Colourful Autumn

earth

I've been back to Italy for the olive picking season. Small production but exceptional quality for this year's olive oil.

yellow tree

Walking around in the fields I took few shots of the marvellous colours in nature.

I just want to share this experience with you.

mushroom

other mushrooms

Pics were taken with my mobile, sorry for the poor quality, the colours were actually much better! :)

Enjoy colourful autumn in Italy
ML

red berries

pomegranates

pomegranate bush

Alex on an old apple tree

"volpina" pears

walnuts

La Siepe di Melograno

La casa lato ovest e il silos

Castelvecchio e' una vecchia casa di contadini sulle colline tra Pesaro e Rimini, che appartiene alla mia famiglia da tempo immemore. Il vialetto di ingresso dominato da due vecchissimi pini piantati dalla mia bisnonna Teresa, e' delimitato da una graziosa siepe di melograno, potata con alberelli che spuntano dal corpo centrale. La primavera scorsa mio marito ed io ci siamo cimentati nella potatura. Gran fatica, soprattutto perche' avevamo iniziato il lavoro con strumenti inadeguati, ma grandissima soddisfazione quando finalmente abbiamo finito il nostro lavoro.

work in progress

Spero di raccogliere melograne per fare la gelatina!

ML

Permission Marketing - do I dare?

Today I received Permission Marketing a book written by Seth Godin in 1997, edited in 2006 he tells me that what he wrote at the dawn of the internet, still held true in 2006. I'm intrigued to find out how he suggests "to build a permission asset instead of yelling at strangers all the time."
I read few other books of Seth Godin, any suggestions about similar authors?

ML

World Food Day: Food Prices - from crisis to stability

Borough Market

What better way of celebrating the World Food Day, which took place last October 16th, than to go food shopping at Borough Market, off the South bank in Central London, as I did with my husband last Saturday. 


First of all, few words about the World Food Day, it has been proclaimed by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) to enhance public awareness about the food problem in the world and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against poverty, hunger and malnutrition.


So then, how did I focus my attention on that special day? "I bought local"!  In fact Borough Market is a place where you can buy all locally sourced foods, as well as some "exotic" Mediterranean foods (more of that later). 

pumpkins

For those (I'm talking to the few Italians) who have never experience Borough Market I suggest to put in your agenda for next visit to London, it reminds me the open air markets in Rome, like Piazza Vittorio, where I used to go with my dad to buy little birds with amazing singing voices, Ponte Milvio, from where my auntie always brought back a tasty loaf of bread that she named crocodile just to amuse her nieces and nephews.
I could hear the same loud voices of the stall holders who invite people to buy their products, of the market where I used to go shopping with my mum. 

game

Last Saturday the market was packed with people, who care for what they eat. Lots of tourists but mainly people buying lunch on the go as well as taking the weekly fresh food shopping.
Vegetables still had a bit of mud on them, they do not look perfectly made as in the supermarket and the display was artistic.
Autumn vegetables and game meat made a well show of themselves among the sourdough bread, a fantastic display at the fish monger and lots of specialities like goose fat to roast your best potatoes (as written on the jar!) 

 Az. Zavoli, Saludecio (RN) Italy - Mora romagnola cured meat 

In the Jubilee Market, among the farmers, there were the Mediterranean traders who sell delicacies such as extravergin olive oil, truffles and, a great discovery, Mora romagnola cured meat made in Rimini (Italy) from Azienda Zavoli located in Saludecio.


In order not to miss such an experience, you can find below the times of the market and how to get there:

The Market is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with Saturday being busiest after 11am.  The sensible shopper gets here between 8am and 10am for the pick of the day. Thursday is usually a relaxed shopping day and our demonstration chef is on hand for ideas, tips and demonstrations in the Jubilee Market.

Parking around Borough is limited, but there are plenty of public transport links:

• By tube to London Bridge or Borough underground stations
• By train to London Bridge mainline station
• By bus to London Bridge, Borough High Street or Southwark Street
• By foot along the Thames Path on the Southbank or over London Bridge from the City

Enjoy your food shopping!

ML

Kindle in italiano? SI

E' di pochi giorni l'annuncio di una versione francese del Kindle, speriamo di non dover aspettare troppo per la versione italiana.

Premetto che sono sempre stata, fin da bambina, una lettrice assidua, adoro l'odore della carta. Quando prendo un libro un libro in mano e' sempre come entrare in un nuovo mondo tutto da scoprire e da costruire con la fantasia. 

Lo scorso Natale ho ricevuto in regalo un Kindle, e' stato subito colpo di fulmine. Grande praticita' e maneggevolezza, e' leggero e poco ingombrante, sta comodamente dentro la borsa, la batteria ha un'autonomia tale che ti dimentichi come ricaricarla, puoi passare da un libro all'altro sullo stesso supporto.

Ho avuto modo di parlare di questo prodotto con piccoli editori italiani che non vedono di buon occhio l'introduzione di questo dispositivo sul mercato italiano, poiche' dicono che azzerera' le loro vendite. E' vero che spesso il prezzo di copertina di un e-book e' di gran lunga inferiore alla versione cartacea, ma ha il grande vantaggio che non e' duplicabile all'infinito.

Ricordo quando ero studentessa universitaria era sempre un problema reperire vecchie edizioni di libri di cui magari mi interessava soltanto l'introduzione, allora iniziava la tristissima pratica delle fotocopie: una versione master presso la segreteria di dipartimento da fotocopiare. Possibile che l'universita' che dovrebbe insegnare a diffondere la cultura, ad apprezzarla in ogni sua forma, incrementi un ignobile mercato delle fotocopie? Il risultato infatti e' che una volta finito l'esame le fotocopie venivano passate di mano in mano o riciclate. 

Mi domando perche' i testi scolastici, cosi' costosi per le famiglie, non vengano distribuiti anche in una versione elettronica che rappresenta un vantaggio per entrambe le parti: la casa editrice abbatte la riproduzione tramite fotocopia, gli studenti fanno fronte al costo esoritante che hanno raggiunto i libri.  

Il tempo per leggere, come il tempo per amare, dilata il tempo per vivere - D.Pennac

La gente dice che cio' che conta e' vivere, ma io preferisco leggere - L.P.Smith

Quanti uomini hanno datato l'inizio di una nuova era della loro vita dalla lettura di un libro - H.D.Thoreau

La lettura non e' un piacere sostitutivo - A.Nothomb

Sapere che si ha qualcosa di bello da leggere prima di coricarsi e' una delle sensazioni piu' piacevoli della vita - V.V. Nabokov

Sapeva leggere. Fu la scoperta piu' importante di tutta la sua vita. Sapeva leggere. Possedeva l'antidoto contro il terribile veleno della vecchiaia - L.Sepulveda

ML