Market Day

Friday is market day in Trevi so we wandered in this morning had a cafe macchiato and a pastry while glancing over the headlines in the newspapers.

We normally buy all our fruit and vegetables in the market as well fish from the fish man Gabrielle. He wasn't there today, which threw a spanner in the works as we had planned on having a fish stew type thing for dinner. I have just returned from the supermarket which does have a good wet fish counter so will still be able to enjoy a fish stew.

Recipe (for 2) - if you can call it that.

Fry an onion together with some celery and garlic and until they are soft. Then add a tin of tomatoes or better still a bottle/tin of tomato sauce. Add salt and pepper and then leave on a gentle heat until it is a thick and tasty sauce. I then like to wizz it is a food processor so the sauce doesn't have any bits in - it's smooth in fact.

At this point you add your fish and cook until done. What fish? Really whatever you want but we have prawns, octopus, mussels, clams and occasionally a little fillet of fish such as cod, eel or salmon. Job done. Enjoy with some bread so you can pick up every last drop of fishy tomato sauce.

Unfortunately Barca didn't beat Inter so my hopes now rest on Van Gaal and Bayern Munich in the final.

Introducing....

our new baby - the 250ml tin of CM extra virgin olive oil. Isn't she cute - we think so anyway. We think that this is a great size, especially with tourists in mind, as many airlines now have very small luggage allowances and so it is difficult for them to buy a nice bottle of oil when it weighs close on a kilo.

This tin instead can be tucked in your suitcase without causing you any over limit luggage payments.

Also, it is a great way to taste our oil without having to commit to a larger quantity and a larger outlay. It only costs £3.99/€4.50 so it probably won't break your recession hit bank account.

In the garden

Hottest day of the year so far and so good to be out in the garden.

Spent the day doing some long overdue weeding of the borders and planting some things that we had bought but which had then spent weeks languishing in their pots just outside the door as we hadn't decided where they were to go, as they were bought on impulse.

So today we finally planted the silver conifer and the pampas grass. No photos today as we haven't finished the weeding yet.

Also tried to plant out some of plants we have grown from cuttings. Tend to take loads of cuttings especially of the margherita's as they do not survive the winter here. We like the connection and the white flowered variety of said.

Big game tonight as Inter Milan play Barcelona. Hopefully Barca can overturn the 2 goal deficit from the 1st leg.

The Ape

The Ape is the name given to a three wheeled 'machine' that is very common in Italy - see photo for an example. Is it a car, motocycle, small truck?

The name means 'Bee' as they sound not unlike one in the same way that the Vespa, a make of scooter means 'wasp'as they sound like one.

The Ape use very small motorcycle engines so are very cheap to run and like many Italian designed cars ideally suited to the small streets of most Italian villages and towns.

We came across this example today. You would tend to associate them with old olive farmers but this one, with its M.A.S.H. type decal must be owned by an local individualistic yute. good for him.

Pic & Nic Update

After two days of Pic & Nic we are a little tired, so today has been a bit of a slow day.

The Saturday of Pic & Nic was slightly blighted by the weather which was very overcast early on but did clear in the afternoon. The central Piazza of Trevi was where the farmers market was held and where the 7 local olive oil producers took a stand.

Considering the weather there was a good crowd and a good number of tourists.

The second day on Sunday (see photo) was altogether different. The weather was perfect and by 11.00 Trevi was absolutley humming with people sampling bits and pieces in the farmers market or wondering though the antique and collectables market in the piazza next door hunting for a bargain.

The team in the Trevi tourist office had done a great job as there were people up from Rome and quite a few antipodeans. I had to pop back to the house in the early afternoon to walk Winnie (see earlier blog) and the roads leading into Trevi were jammed with cars parked on the side of the road. It was great to see Trevi so busy.

We sold olive oil which was great but also caught up with friends and neighbours and had the chance to introduce ourselves and our oil to lots of other people so a great weekend all round.

Liberation Day

This Sunday is liberation day when the allies liberated Italy from the Axis forces in April 1945.

Considerable numbers of towns and villages will be holding some form of event/festa this weekend and Trevi, our local town is no different. It is holding Pic & Nic which I have written about earlier. Full details of the event are availabale at www.picnicatrevi.it

The weather forecast is variable with tomorrow having a risk of showers and then Sunday being forecast to be Sunday. Hopefully we will be able sell some of our olive oil in the market over the next 2 days. We are going to showcase our new small tin of olive oil - only 250ml and only €3.50.

Really as an excuse to put another picture up when we have fog as we have had today it sometimes stalls in the valley below us so at the house it feels as though you are flying and the clouds are below you.

Spring time

The weather has been lovely today with the temperature around 24 degrees. Overall the weather has been quite variable with substantial amounts of rain especially compared to recent years. Everyone now is looking forward to the long sunny days of summer.

All the veg patches have been dug/rotovated and are awaiting planting, all wood cutting and collecting needs to be finished by the end of the month. All the garden centres are full of colour and everyone is giving their garden the once over.

We have been asked to help plan and execute one of our neighbours gardens so will let you know how that goes. She came by today to collect some plants from us and we grow a lot from cuttings and have too many for our own us.

We bought a lovely silver grey conifer about 2 metres tall the other week to contrast and compliment our Tuscan cypresses. As I write it is still languishing on the lawn next to where it is to be planted. It really must go in the ground soon.