Month: March 2012

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My love of writing as I send another email to friends & family

 

Excerpt from email

From: anne.masters@apex.net.au
Subject: Fwd: Roma – food glorious food
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2011 18:28:39 +1000

Hello everyone,

Well we’ve been too busy eating to send an email!  The food in Italy has been fantastic and it helps that Adam has a gorgeous wife to boot…she goes to the markets, buys fresh food, cooks dishes to rival an Italian mama and does it all in style (as in new outfits 😉 Heh! Heh!  Seriously, I have had fun buying fresh ricotta from the cheese man and fruit and vegetables at the markets which are about 4 tram stops away.  We are going there this morning to get some more food as tomorrow nights dinner is roast pork fillet with rosemary and fennel.

 

I’ve really enjoyed cooking food and made my first risotto with red wine and mushrooms.  Yum! Yum! and leftovers for lunch.  Yesterday, I came across a patisserie and the little pastries were to die for.  All miniature choux like pastry filled with creams of some sort.  They were 24 euros for 500grams.  I had to try and figure out cost for say 2 but once asked I got flustered and said doo e pistachio per favore.  When I went to pay with 20 euros I got back 18.90 change.  How embarrassing!  I felt like a dork.  I should have asked for more.  Adam wants me to go back and get at least 100 grams to make up for my quelle horror (he secretly wants to devour them all when I told him that the pistachio cream/custard ooozed out when I gobbled one of them down!).  The funny thing was when I bit into the 2nd one it oozed down my face and people looked at me like some nutcase.

 

Horror of horrors as I wiped my face and I had this flashback to when I was 21 in Paris with Fiona and we were tut tutted by this older French lady for eating in public – “French women do not eat in public…go home young girls!”.  Another die for eating experience was the special pastry tarts I bought which unravelled perfectly like a peeled orange to reveal ricotta honey filling which we devoured one morning for breakfast.  Pix attached for your enjoyment 😉 Along with the food I have enjoyed trying my una caffe latte and trying to look local by standing at the bar and drinking it and chatting with the barista.  One asked if I wanted mine facaldo and I was a bit confused.  He pointed at himself and winked and the lady next to me roared with laughter and she says he wants to know if you want it cold or hot like him!! Heh! Heh! laughs all around and I settle in.

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Faenza Museum, Italy

24 June 2011 – A 2hr train trip through the hills of Romagna we headed to Faenza – a town associated with its long history of majolica production.  We went to Cento anni del Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche and for a few hours immersed ourselves in the history of porcelain and concluded with the 57th Premio Faenza – the International Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art.

We went into the town where laneways were dotted with ceramic tiled street names and the local bank displayed contemporary ceramic wares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A local artist was kind enough to let me photograph her as she hand painted traditional designs. We agreed that next time we stay overnight as the museum was extensive and breaking up the visit would make the trip worthwhile.