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Cena con Simo e Ale

July 14, 2007 // Posted in friends  |  1 Comment


Ieri sera è stata la volta di Simone e Alessandra. Piacevolissima serata trascorsa insieme intorno a una tavola ben imbandita. Purtroppo Silvia non mi autorizza ad elencare il menù, per cui mi limito a postare la classica foto di gruppo, con, in evidenza, la bottiglia di idrolitina e l’ottimo Bordeaux portato da Simone e Ale.

Yesterday we had a dinner, at our place, together with Simone and Alessandra. The dinner was very good (but Silvia does not allow to me to describe what we eaten), and we spent together a lovely evening. Here you can see the classic group picture, with, in evidence, the “idrolitina” water and the very impressive Bordeaux brougth by Simone and Ale.

Gita al mare!!!

July 8, 2007 // Posted in free time, Travels  |  1 Comment


Venerdì scorso abbiamo preferito fare una gita al mare invece di andare a lavorare…
Così, in stile molto olandese, siamo andati in bici in stazione, abbiamo preso il treno per Camogli e lì abbiamo passato la mattinata (nutrendoci esclusivamente di ottima focaccia). Ci siamo poi spostati, sempre in treno, a Santa Margherita Ligure, e da lì, in autobus, abbiamo raggiunto la bellissima, esclusiva e costosissima Portofino. La passeggiata fino al faro è stata particolarmente entusiasmante, anche grazie allo splendido sole e al bellissimo mare azzurro che ci circondava.


Last friday instead to go to work we preferred to go to the sea…
So, in a very dutch style, we went by bike to the railway station and then, by train, we reached Camogli. Here we spent all the morning and the lunch time (100% based on wonderful “focaccia”). Then we moved, always by train, to Santa Margherita Ligure and, by bus, to Portofino, very nice but very expensive. It was a beatiful sunny day, the blue sea was fantastic and we spent beatiful moments in that place.

Sartirana Lomellina e…

July 1, 2007 // Posted in family, food  |  No Comments


Oggi, assieme a Luisa, abbiamo trascorso la giornata a Sartirana Lomellina, paese di origine di Silvia. Il paesino, caratterizzato da un bellissimo castello (foto) è decisamente tranquillo, ma il pranzo è stato degno di nota. In particolare le celeberrime patatine fritte, anch’esse fotografate. La mamma di Silvia si è esibita in riso e fagioli, seguito da pollo in umido con patatine fritte. Il dolce è stato una straordinaria crostata con ricotta e cioccolato preparata da Silvia.

We spent the sunday in Sartirana Lomellina, the place where Silvia spent her childhood. The village is very quiet, but the castle (picture) is quite impressive. Silvia’s mother cooked very good “riso e fagioli” and chicken “cacciatore” with exceptional “artigianal” french fries.
The dessert too was impressive, an hand made (by Silvia) crostata cake with ricotta and chocolate.

Referendum

June 30, 2007 // Posted in Uncategorized  |  1 Comment


Anche se questo blog non vuole avere valenza politica, facciamo un’eccezione per una buona causa. Mancano infatti ancora pochi giorni per la raccolta firme per i tre referendum per la modifica alla “terribile” legge elettorale che le ultime legislature hanno regalato all’Italia.
Visitate il sito www.referendumelettorale.org per avere maggiori informazioni.

Although here, ususally, we don’t speak about politics, we make one exception to advertise the “referendum elettorale” that would change some detail of the terrible “legge elettorale” we have here in Italy. There are few days remaining to obtain the number of signatures (500000) needed to make possible the referendum. Please visit www.referendumelettorale.org to find more details.

Torta con peperoni e melanzane

June 24, 2007 // Posted in food  |  2 Comments

Questa mattina ci siamo esibiti nella preparazione di peperoni e melanzane in crosta di pane. La procedura è stata un po’ laboriosa ma alla fine il risultato estetico (e non solo) è stato più che soddisfacente.
Nelle due foto, la fase di preparazione e quella di degustazione.

This morning we prepared a bread cake with pepper and eggplants. It has been a little bit complicated but, at the end, the cake was very good.

Pizza with Davide and Maartjie

June 18, 2007 // Posted in friends  |  No Comments


Last sunday, after our travel to the Nederlands, we ate a pizza with Davide and his girlfriend Maartjie (who comes from Utrecht, NL) at our place. Then we had a pretty good “affogato al caffè” with our home-made ice cream and, at the hand, it was time for a picture.

Viaggio in Olanda (2)

June 18, 2007 // Posted in Travels  |  1 Comment


Here you can find a picture that should certify that we visited the Nederlands last week not only in our dreams but also in our real life 🙂

Viaggio in Olanda

June 17, 2007 // Posted in Travels  |  2 Comments


Since June the 7th through June the 12th we have spent our time in a wonderful trip to the Nederlands. We visited Amsterdam, a lovely and exciting place, full of culture, fun, transgression and bicycles. It was crazy for me to discover that there is a place in the world where bicycles dominate over cars…
Then we moved to Utrecht,

to meet our friend Mattia who is living there until next october. Although smaller, Utrecht is in some way similar to Amsterdam, with a lot of canals, historic buildings and nice place where to find good food and beer (we had a huge and wonderful dinner at “Mikonos”, a Greek restaurant). People too is very lovely.
At the end we moved to Rotterdam, a completely different city, full of “original” architecture but poor of history because of World War II bombing.

However we found in Delfhaven (a neighborhood in the south west side of the city) a wonderful place where to spend the evening and to find extraordinary restaurants. In particular we suggest the libanese restaurant “Da Parel” and the Tapas Restaurant “Abrikoos”, two lovely places where we found great mediterranean food.
We spent also some time around Rotterdam (in the Nederlands is quite easy to move around, although without a car). So we went by bus to Kinderdjik, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In Kinderdjik there are 19 beatiful windmills and it is one of the most suggestive sites we have ever visited.

The day after we went by train (trains in the Nederlands work perfectly, not like in Italy) to Delft, the Vermeer town.
This site is lovely, full of history and very quiet and relaxing. It is famous in the world for the hand painted blue and white ceramics; they are very nice, but very expensive too.

This travel has been quite cheap. We found a good flight with Easyjet, a low cost airline company flying from Malpensa (Terminal 2) to Amsterdam Schipol airport. It is sad for italians to make a comparison between the two airports. One, the italian one, is small, not easily connected with the city and in general poor of courtesy and informations. The other one (Schipol) is beatiful, full of shops and information with a very fast connection, by train, with the center of Amsterdam.

Cena con Repox e Laura

June 2, 2007 // Posted in friends  |  1 Comment


Ieri sera abbiamo avuto i freschi sposi Matteo (Repox) e Laura a cena. Dopo antipasti vari, gnocchetti sardi con sugo a base di speck e zafferano, involtini di vitello, gelato al fiordilatte con amarena e un’ottima torta (portata dagli ospiti) di pastafrolla con ricotta e cioccolato, ecco che riusciamo anche a fare un autoscatto.

Yesterday we had Matteo (Repox) and Laura at dinner. We started with appetizers and then we eated “gnocchetti sardi” with speck and saffron sauce, roulade of veal, black cherry ice cream and a very good cake short crust based with ricotta chese and chocolate. Then, we were able to take a picture of the group.

Pranzo domenicale

May 27, 2007 // Posted in family, food  |  No Comments



Questa domenica a pranzo sono venute Luisa, sorella di Silvia, nonchè mia cognata, con mamma Giovanna (è mia suocera, ma non ama il termine suocera…).
Così ecco una foto di gruppo, sempre con autoscatto, e un dettaglio sullo straordinario gelato di fragole (con decorazione di fragole), sempre fatto in casa.

On sunday we had Luisa (Silvia’s sister and my sister in law) with her mam Giovanna (who is mam of Silvia too, obviously, and that is my mother in law, although she does not like this word).
So, here you can see a picture of us and a zoom of the wonderful “home made” strawberry ice-cream.