Appetite 4 Life - Camilla's Blog

Princess time

 

The royal wave

Having sat down by my computer for the first time in a week, I am torn between two things: the drive to catch up on what is happening in the world, and the wish to share what is happening in my world. 

My sister sent me an SMS this morning to alert me to a new princess having been born in the early hours today in Sweden, so I decided to jump online and catch up first. 

Being more than halfway through my own pregnancy, I was intrigued by some of the reports. A lot of speculations around the potential names, with some potential disappointment that there are no royal female names on his side of the family to choose from, to make it nice and neat to combine. Come on folks - live a little. Personally, I would not be surprised if Sofia featured somehwere in the mix... 

And the other one was that families with children being born this year in the capital area might start contemplating suitable schools in the area. Not just that, but applying on behalf of their child-to-be or newborn to make sure they have a chance of befriending the new princess, and by extension... the future queen and the royal family.

Ah, well...  down here in Tuscany we don't need to think about those things. We're just back from a nice vacation week in the Canary Islands, so I had better get on with letting friends and family know how that went instead of dwelling on royal etiquette. 

But you have to agree with me though that our little princess really has the royal wave down pat, doesn't she?

Camilla's Top 5 Comfort Food Places in Livorno | Livorno Now

 

Since it doesn't look like this cold weather is going to let up its grip on Livorno anytime soon, I started thinking about positive, fun things to do in town, and having a thick hot chocolate somehow popped into mind first.

But as I went down that train of thought, I quickly came up with my "top 5" that I wanted to share, in case you're looking for some ideas of things to do, places to go while out and about.

Here goes, in no particular order than that which they came to my mind today. Just click on the link below to for the full list published on livornonow.com today.

 

Need batteries?

Sometimes toys break, as you know. Especially the very loud ones... Oops. And then they become silent or don't move anymore. But sometimes they can be repaired and then we take  out the favorite tool of the month: the screwdriver! And we find new batteries and we plug them in, and all of a sudden we have a very excited toddler with a 'new' toy. Maybe there's an idea to make Christmases more economical? Just let the batteries die out before the holidays, and wow... new batteries = new toys? 

Last night as I went to my Italian class, Jeff took Sofia to the one and only indoor  shopping center in Livorno (sorry, but I can't justify calling it a mall...) for a change of scenery and a bigger space to run around in. The wind was fierce yesterday, so playing outside in the remains of the snow wasn't really an option, in case you wondered. 

They got up the first escalators, Sofia spotted one of those sit-in toys that you feed money and they move, play music etc for a couple of minutes. To our knowledge she hasn't actually seen one in motion, but she certainly has sat in them and so far that's been enough. 

She got up into this one, a blue airplane with a steering wheel with some blinking buttons. You know the drill. She was apparently quite happy to sit there for a couple of minutes pushing buttons, trying to turn the wheel, until it finally seemed to dawn on her that there could be more to this...

She looked up at Jeff and said: "no work", tilted her head like she does when she really wants something and somehow subconsciously knows that she becomes irresistable, "need batteries?".

Painting in Tuscany - finally got around to it!

 

Lemon Tree

 

After three years in this country, I finally got the inspiration combined with the necessary time to actually do some painting in bella Toscana! I used three afternoons when Sofia was asleep to just step out the back of our house and have a go at a sunny detail of "our" lemon tree. 

I use acrylics, so the paint dried quickly in the sun, but the bigger challenge was our landlord deciding to pick one of the lemons I had chosen as my motif! He didn't know of course, but was ever so regretful once he saw me. Non importa, there are literally hundreds of lemons to look at, and it gave me license to use my fantasy more, which is always a useful challenge for me. I recall my teacher used to laugh at me when I came to painting class straight after work back in NY. It would take me about an hour or sometimes two to just get flowing, and out of the strict "copy the motif" mindset. The third and last hour of class I would finally let go, and that's when I created my most exciting strokes. 

Talk about therapy!

This weather inspires cooking and baking...

Or perhaps it's really just the allure of turning the oven on, and enjoying a warm kitchen despite the wind whistling outside that draws me in? Regardless of the motive, yesterday I made a mushroom, onion and broccoli quiche and some cardamom & walnut cookies that I toasted and oven-dried for a crunchier bite. 

This morning I defrosted a nice chunk of beef chuck I bought the other day, and I fell for this recipe online. If I start now, it should be ready for dinner... yum! Click the link below if you want to know more. 

Simple Beef Pot Roast Recipe

February 1, 2012... the day the snow stayed

We have seen snow in this area of Tuscany before, most prominently almost two years ago as we were driving home from the maternity ward in Cecina with baby Sofia, but then - as so often - by the time we reached Livorno the snow was gone. 

This time it is different. The winds picked up last night and were furious throughout the night, whirling snow around into corners and against the sides of the pillars of the house. This morning we woke up to this view: 

 It is supposedly about a decade since our landlords have seen this kind of snow here. That doesn't mean they don't see snow once or twice a winter, but it always melts after a couple of hours. Today it didn't. This part of the country stayed "closed", and people stayed home from work. No wonder, when I think about it: they came around with the grit/salt around 5.30 pm...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the temperature hovered just above freezing all day, the snow was just perfectly heavy and squeezable for a good snowman! Sofia was all excited, as he quite looks like the snowmen in her books! Note specifically the orangepeel mouth and carrot nose! 

We are now expecting it to dip below freezing tonight, which will mean that the snow will stay overnight at least, and we have to all wait and see what will happen tomorrow. But suffice to say that the roads will have been cleared and schools and workplaces will reopen again I am sure.

And like the other farmers, our landlord Giorgio went around with a stick this afternoon to relieve the branches of the heavy snow, especially the olive trees that can easily break, and the lemon tree, so laden with delicious lemons right now. Whatever happens, this day will go down in history. If nothing else - it will be the day when the fireplace was kept lit all day long! 

Chutney!

Now into my third year here in Tuscany, it finally hit me - apple season here is much later than further north. Which makes January the perfect time to pick up cheap apples for sauce and pickling at the market!

As we often look for some kind of condiment to go well with chicken or even barbequed meat, I thought I'd try my hand at a chutney.

I often combine recipes, and add my own two cents to them, based upon my experience, my taste buds, and quite often simply what I have at home - so here's my chutney with apple, tomato, carrots and red onion.

 

Ingredients for 2 smaller jars:

3 crisp apples
3 big tomatoes (the beefy kind)
2 carrots
1/2 onion (yellow or red recommended)
1/3 - 1/2 fresh chili OR 1 tsp chili paste (e.g.sambal oelek)
1 1/2 dl (1 cup) apple cider vinegar 
3/4 dl (1/2 cup) sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp canola oil 

Preparation:
Dip the tomatoes in boiling water to loosen the skin, making it easy to peel and chop them. Peel and cube the apples, the carrots and chop the onion. If you are using fresh chili, cut into tiny pieces for a blending of flavor. You know your limits best. 

Fry the chili in a little canola oil to let out the flavors, add the fruit and vegetables and stir to blend. Add the vinegar and let it all cook under lid till soft, about 20-30 minutes. Note carrot pieces will remain a bit chewy, if you want to avoid that: shred them instead of chopping.

Now add the sugar, the salt (max 1 tsp), and any pepper (black, allspice) you might like to taste. You can also add some curry or similar. I actually had tikka masala spice mix, which I added for a bit of flavor. Bring back to boil, this time stir regularly and leave the lid off for another 20 or so minutes. The objective here is to reduce and thicken the juices, and get the right chutney consistency. 

Scoop up the beautiful chutney straight from the pan into hot, sterilized glass containers and close immediately. Let cool and store in a cool place. 

 

You looking at me?

The morning of January 15th was surprisingly cold here, with a hint of frost on the grass. Our terrace acted as a landing pad for a very cold and sluggish grass hopper. I felt sorry for it knowing that it would have to wait another couple of hours for the sun to hit the spot it was resting on. 

Sofia thought it was most exciting and added a new word to her growing vocabulary. I thought I would be able to make it fly by waving a towel by it, but all it did when the towel finally got too close was to grab on to it with its well-equipped 'claws' and that made me shriek, and made Sofia take two steps backwards. 

You can see its two hindlegs raised, and without knowing enough about grass hoppers, I'd say it looks very defensive here, particularly showing off the red part. When undisturbed for a while, it lowered its legs. Once I'd taken the photo and could see its eyes close up, I could only conclude that not only was the grass hopper frozen and cold, but clearly annoyed at being interrupted in its attempts at defrosting in peace.

"Nycke-bug"

 

Can't help but share Sofia's latest word invention: nycke-bug! Now it takes a keen ear to understand her at times, but this one just had me laughing.

We've been reading about ladybugs, and she has stickers with them, so she's heard the word several times in both English and then in Swedish: nyckelpiga!

So, when she had to come up with the word herself, she opted for a mix that she thought would help both mamma and pappa understand her!

Beach time in January?

One sunny afternoon in early January, Jeff and Sofia went to the beach in Tirrenia to play in the sand and collect sea shells. Sand is definitely one of Sofia's favorite elements, and apparently she doesn't mind which month we write!