It’s all about food


What can this be?

It’s food.









Maybe we’re not that different after all.

Body Clock, Barbecue and Balcony









Seppe and the Courgette Trumpet

Sunday evening was spent at a barbecue hosted by our friends Viv and Seppe.  As people arrived, ribs and sausages where deployed above the red coals, Seppe had glowing in advance, everyone contributed to the feast, I took a strawberry torte, a melon and grappa jelly and some coffee pannacotta, Graham took a rice dish and some chocolate and chilli cake and Gina brought an amazing artichoke bake she had made in advance; which everyone cooed over upon tasting. The evening passed by pleasantly, the children left the grown-ups and went to play in the streets: Something sadly children don’t do anymore back in England, mostly, in my opinion down to paranoia and playstation.

As the evening progressed Seppe showed everyone how to make a courgette trumpet, and before long we had put together a band: I say band in the loosest sense of the word, and it wasn’t long before adults, woozy with wine were projecting what can only be described as fart sounds into the evening air.

So I thought I’d share the method of making this innovative vegetable instrument with you:

1. Select a courgette/zuccini stem.


2. Remove the leaf.


3. Cut a slit into the stem about a centimetre long.


4. Put stem into mouth and blow. I find it works better for me if the slit is vertical to my bottom lip.

The evening was rounded off by the children excitedly telling us there was a fox in the piazza, and sure enough there it was, a friendly, skinny fox begging for food, after Ben gave it a sausage it ran away, and the guests also started to depart, everyone agreeing it had been a marvellous evening of food, fun and friendship.

South African Food and the Three Badgers

On the evening of my fashion faux-pas we visited some South African friends of ours who have a lovely small house with the most magnificent views over the Italian countryside, including a spectacular view up to our town, Casoli and its castle. At night when it’s all lit up, it is breath taking.

We had a pleasant evening drinking beer and chatting, as meat cooked on the barbecue. When it came to eat we all shuffled inside and the spread laid out on the table looked grand. Our hostess had made traditional S. African dishes, that included a potato salad that was so delicious it knocked spots of the boring cold potato and mayo gloop I’m used to getting in the UK. A spicy yet sweet beetroot salad was accompanied by a taste sensation, a bean dish that was slightly sweet yet fresh tasting with lots of bite.

The four of us ate with gusto and chatted away into the small hours, until all that was left was a few bones for the feral cats and empty bowls where the food had once been. As I left, the panoramic view was lit by twinkling lights in the distance; beacons indication life going about its business elsewhere.

The evening was still and as I drove home there was the scent of freshly cut grass in the air. As I came around the last bend before our house my headlights caught three bouncing bottoms on the road. I stopped and dipped the lights and we sat watching the three badgers whose bottoms had been bouncing as they lolloped along the road. We were treated to a few minutes of activity before they melted into the Abruzzi wilderness.

What a perfect way to end an evening.