Small town par-tay!

Ciao Bloggisti!

Since we’re all (hopefully) in holiday mode, what could be better than pictures of a colourful village fair to get the party started. The photos are of my town’s festòn (big par-tay, or town fair in local dialect). To be honest, it took place almost two months ago (oops!) but I finally got my act together and am posting now.  Since it’s Christmas and everyone is sooo much nicer at this time of the year, I’m sure you’ll forgive me, right???

We moved to our small town of around 8,000 over a year ago. We wanted a change of pace from the Milanese suburbs, give our kids the chance to breathe clean air and experience small town life. I’m sure by the time they hit tweendom, they’re going to hate us for living so far from Milan but for now, they’re loving it.

One of my favourite local events is the festòn. The town basically shuts down for two days and the main streets are lined with stands, selling everything from gastronomic delights to hunting paraphernalia. I bought a cool handbag and my husband was really proud of his shiny new axe. Hmmm…

Anyway, here are some of my fave pics from the fair:

view of side street

Every year we buy “casoncelli”, delicious meat ravioli from the Brescia/Bergamo area but this year we decided to try “scarpinocc”, filled with cheese, parsley, spices, butter and breadcrumbs. Mmm mmm good!

Various types of cheeses, ham and salami. Oh, and one bored pig.

a rainbow of candies and liquorice

mushroom and sausage risotto, offered by the town’s tourist board

I have lots more pics but by the time I get around to posting them,  next year’s festòn will probably be around the corner!

Do you have a town fair where you live? Would love to hear about yours!

Kitchen Krazy

Ciao Bloggisti!

Just wanted to keep you posted on my new kitchen. Things are progressing quite nicely, thank you very much. We’ve put the tiles/backsplash and are slowly moving things from the old kitchen upstairs to the new one.  The  stove works great and I’ve even baked Christmas cookies in the oven. The kids are thrilled even though our first dinner in the new kitchen was marked by a blackout. Half the town was in the dark that evening. My daughter wanted to move to Canada right then and there!

Anyway, here are some pics of the kitchen as it is now:

Kitchen with new backsplash

Hand-painted tiles from Vietri

Tile detail

view of island

My first "antique" purchase: a 40's desk we're using as a TV stand

We still have to put up the utensil rod and get a new table and light fixtures but I’m quite pleased with the results so far. My biggest preoccupation now is to organize my kitchen as efficiently as possible. I’ve been cooking in the midst of chaos for the last 12 years so I’m really looking forward to tapping into my inner Martha.

What is one tool/trick/thingamajig that you use which makes your kitchen great? What can’t you live without?

Turning water into wine?

Ciao Bloggisti!

Just a quick post to say hi and let you know that I haven’t forgotten you. I am just snowed under, literally and figuratively, these days.  There was a major snowfall this morning and it took me 4 hrs to get to work this morning instead of the usual 45 min. Grrrr!!!

But this news item from the Toronto Star  soon made me forget my winter blues. It was so funny that I just had to share it with you:

Ontario’s Liquor Control Board is recalling an Italian wine, but not for the usual reasons.

Some of the 1,500 ml bottles of 2007 D’Aquino Pinot Grigio delle Venezie are nothing but water.

George Soleas, the board’s vice-president of quality assurance, said yesterday there is no risk to the public.

“Basically, the chemical testing we have done, that was quite extensive, shows it is just tap water.”

“The only reason we decided to do the public recall is because we stand behind the quality of our products 100 per cent,” Soleas said.

“And a lot of these products, because they are Christmas items, they are going to be gifted and I didn’t want to have people surprised on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve opening this product and finding water instead of wine.

“It was a human error basically, it wasn’t a tampering issue at all,” he added.

The problem was at the bottling plant where the bottles are flushed out with water.

“I guess someone was waiting for Jesus to turn it into wine,” he joked.

Oops!!!