Italy, France, Food for Thought…

Posted on July 22, 2015 by ninette90

Dijon

Olivespastavino and The Man went on a road trip. From Petritoli to England – ‘twas fun indeed! We left town at 07.30 hours (note my log like tone) on Friday 3rd July and on the first day drove all the way to Dijon in France. Sensibly we had invested in a Garmin SatNav – it worked well and the computerised Italian and French pronunciation was hilarious and kept us entertained during the many kilometres. I had packed sandwiches and drinks so that we didn’t have to stop for a meal on the way.

We did 11 ½ hours of driving which The Man and I shared – I usually do most of the driving when we go anywhere but 11 ½ hours would have been ridiculous. The Man and I very rarely have a cross word and this doesn’t change when we’re in the car – which is a good thing when you’re travelling over 2000 kilometres. We are good travelling companions.

When I drive he talks about the countryside we pass through. I know a lot of it is probably BS but honestly, it keeps me entertained and his knowledge of European history is pretty good so I learn a great deal about the first and second world wars as we travel. The problem is I don’t retain the information and can’t make notes with my hands on the wheel.

When The Man drives, I talk about how much writing I’m going to do over the next few weeks, all my ideas and how I’m going to get my novel finished by the end of August. He smiles and makes encouraging comments, but he knows I won’t do nearly as much as I say. He is my greatest fan and a good editor but he doesn’t push me hard enough.

Anyway, back to the journey. Of we went, up the A14 Autostrada, no traffic jams – not even as we skirted around Bologna – on we sped round Milan, through the Montblanc tunnel and into France then wending our way through beautiful countryside and eventually – ‘you have arrived at your destination’ said the SatNav.

The first night was spent in Aparthotel L’Urbaneva in Dijon. Secure parking, close to the centre, lovely hosts and an excellent room. We showered quickly and walked into town to find somewhere for supper. We passed by a few places which were too full and ended up in the Central Place restaurant, where we enjoyed fabulous French cuisine washed down with a rosé wine from the region.

Rosé Wine

Of course one has to taste the mustard if one is in Dijon. This proved a little difficult at first because the shop was closed the evening we arrived and then – shock horror, it was closed in the morning too but we were relieved to see it opened at 10.30 a.m. How very French and sensible – not like Italy where they open at 8.30 and close at 12.30 for 3 or four hours.

Mustard Shop

Just a small selection of available mustards.

When the shop eventually opened The Man tasted and enjoyed a bit of mustard (that is not a euphemism) – he particularly liked the rhubarb flavour. There was so much choice it was hard to make a decision so we stuck to what we knew – a small jar of whole grain for the enormous cost of 22 euro. ‘You’ll not be lathering that on in large dollops’ I told The Man, ‘you’re going to have to make it last!’

The Nice Man who Served us.

We said our farewells to the mustard man and by11 a.m. we were on the road again and heading for the small town of Brandeville, in the region of Lorraine, close to Verdun. We’d allowed ourselves plenty of time to get there and took a route away from the motorway through the massive fields and plains of Northern France. We passed through Domrémy-la-Pucelle, the birthplace of Joan of Arc and stopped to take a few photos. Unfortunately, the house and museum were closed but I managed to get a few shots and The Man filled me in with a few extra bits of the story (possibly invented) even though I know it well.

Joan of Arc’s Birthplace

At Brandeville we stayed with friends in their wonderful countryside, summer home. The village was very small and we learned that it was one of the first places to be occupied in WW1. Close to the border, the local men and the army tried to hold off the Germans but sadly they were taken by surprise – there were many fatalities, injuries and men taken as prisoners of war. Our hosts took us for a walk and we were able to pay our respects in the small military cemetery to those who lost their lives in August 1914 and later.

The clump of trees surround Brandeville Military Cemetery

Brandeville Military Cemetery

I loved Brandeville and the surrounding countryside and we plan to return.

The following morning we made our way to Verdun and the route we took passed many battle sites and destroyed villages. It wasn’t difficult to imagine the terrible fate of the French people during the First World War and what it must have been like for the civilians living and working in the area. It seems they lost everything.

Map showing the Battlefields of Verdun and other sites

We went to the Douaumont Ossuary, a grand memorial under which are held the bones of 130,000 unknown soldiers. In the grounds in front of the memorial are the graves of over 16,000 – you can read about it here.
A truly moving place. I could not believe that the official opening had been in 1932 and many heads of Europe and the World attended. It is unbelievable that seven years later Europe was at war again. How could that be?

The main tower of the Ossuary

We also visited the Trench of Bayonets
I felt humbled by the sight of the simple crosses, barbed wire and earth. The thought that men had died here, buried alive whilst ready to ‘go over the top’ bayonets fixed. The bayonets have now been removed, for what reason I do not know, but on this original postcard you can clearly see them. What a terrible thing war is.

Old Postcard of The Trench you can see the bayonets

http://www.worldwar1postcards.com/the-trench-of-bayonets.php
(you can read about the trench here)

Time was running out so a quick tour of Verdun was all we could manage (we plan to go back) we had lunch on the Quai de Londres (The London Wharf). It’s an area on the ‘left bank’ of the river Meuse which has many cafes, restaurants and shops…a place for the boating fraternity to pull up and stay for a few hours or days. A very pleasant lunch was taken.

Boats at the Wharf and pretty houses on the other bank

Lunch in Verdun

We made our way to Arras having booked accommodation in La Cour des Grands just outside the town. The hosts were welcoming and so helpful. There was no restaurant but they booked a meal for us at Amarine. The Man said he had the best fish and chips ever…must admit they looked good and didn’t resemble anything bought at the seaside fish and chip shops in England.

Fish and Chips?

Naughty Pudding...I just had a spoonful...

The Man indulged in dessert…I just had a spoonful…

There was so much history to see in the Verdun area The Man and I plan another visit next year. In fact, we’re thinking of taking a six month or one year road trip, travelling around France, Spain, Italy and anywhere else the fancy takes us. Not sure I want to be that nomadic and I’m not sure what Jpeg and Mickey would think of it…

Gotta go…it’s up in the high 30’s here at the moment so need to get down to the beach for a cooling swim.

By the way, the first traffic jam we encountered on our road trip was when we hit England! The queue for the Dartford Tunnel was a mile long!

Colourful Hotel in Dijon (not ours) Such a fun picture I think.

Jesi…Somewhere to go on the way home from Gubbio…

Posted on July 2, 2015 by ninette90

Frederick II Square

Frederick II – Barbarossa was born in a tent in the market square of Jesi on the 26^th December 1194. The reason he was born in a tent was because his mother the Empress Constance was at that time, on her to Sicily to join her husband the Emperor Henry.

Engraving of ‘The Tent’

She had to give birth in a tent because she was an elderly first time mother – and nobody really believed she was pregnant so there had to be lots of witnesses to prove that she actually gave birth to the child and there was no substitution, which was often the case in those days. So, priests and bishops and nuns attended and probably half the population of Jesi…

Possibly this could mark ‘the spot’

The Man had wanted to visit Jesi for a very long time in order to see this square and frankly, had mithered on about it for EVER… so we had to make the stop on our way back from Gubbio.

I was not overly impressed with Jesi or the Frederico II Piazza, but I did my best to enthuse. There was a monument in the centre of it but it didn’t give any information…there was no…X marks the spot and surrounding the square engraved into the border tiles it repeated a pattern of the date and a drawing of a tent. Strangely there was no statue of the great man in his own square, we had to walk to the edge of the town walls and found him lurking around a corner.

The Man with statue of Federico II

After our little walk around the town we stopped at a rather lovely café. The array of savoury delights and sweet pastries looked divine. I made my choice and we took a coffee each and some water. It was just coming up for one O’clock and we, The Man and I, were the only two customers. I noticed that the staff seemed to be clearing up and shutting up shop. How strange… I thought, why would a food outlet be shutting at lunchtime? But, yes they were. It’s typical in Italy. The people don’t take a sandwich for lunch they eat a full meal at home or in one of the many restaurants so the coffee shops often close for three hours and open again around 4 or 5. By the time we’d finished (and we felt obliged to hurry our rations) the streets of Jesi were pretty deserted and all the shops closed.

So different from England which I believe now has now a 24hour shopping culture.

I wonder who’s got it right?

Gubbio for R&R…

Posted on June 25, 2015 by ninette90

Our Hotel in front of the main square

The Man and I were feeling a tad fed up so we thought we would spend a couple of nights in one of our favourite Italian towns – Gubbio. If you remember we visited there last year and were pretty impressed and promised that we would return. We had hoped to go back in June 2014 but it didn’t happen so this June (2015), finding ourselves in need of a little R&R we toddled off in the VW Polo just after lunch on a rather miserable Wednesday last week. Jpeg and Mickey (the dog and the cat respectively – you should all know them by now) were given strict instructions to behave themselves while we were away, Jpeg was left in charge – it was her turn. A kind neighbour was going to pop in several times over the two days to deal with food and exercise etc.,

Oh the freedom of the open road and no responsibilities – for a short while anyway – it recharges the batteries like nothing else can. By the time we arrived the clouds had cleared away revealing blue skies and a warm evening.

The Man Relaxing with a cuppa after a two and a half hour drive – By the way, I did the driving!

Our choice of hotel was the Relais Ducale – same as last time but a better room than before – a suite no less and with a the private terrace with stunning view. If you’re going to stay in a hotel for a couple of nights for a break then I think it’s a good idea to go for the best.

View from Terrace and Me!

The first evening we went to the Taverno Del Lupo restaurant, we’d visited it before and found the ambience pleasing, if a little old fashioned and the food excellent. We were not disappointed for our second visit. The lamb was as good as ever.

During the day on Thursday we took in the town, it doesn’t take long – beautiful architecture and The Man has a fascination with the doors – which meant I had to take lots of ‘door photos’ with my iPhone as The Man doesn’t have a camera and has an old fashioned brick for a mobile – which by the way he never carries on him!

A selection of Doors – Interesting – maybe

Beautiful little Alleyway with Flower pot in the centre

The view from the main piazza looking down over the town and into the distance.

Gubbio has a Funivia – a cable way is the direct translation but one could expect a cable car or chair lift. What this is actually is a cage which holds two people and maybe a child but you have to stand up. We watched the ‘cages’ coming down and round and there seemed no time at all to get on or off. We agreed to give it a miss this time and save it for the next. I’m not good on those sorts of things but know that I must do it sometime. I blamed the windy weather this time, not the sort of thing to do in a force 10. (Sorry no photo but you can google it to see one!)

Roman Theatre

Our second night found us wandering around and leaving the city walls for a look at the Roman theatre. There’s not much of it left but enough to imagine a few Roman actors strutting their stuff.

On our way back up to the town we came across a restaurant we’d not seen before – it was the Officina dei Sapori (Workshop of Flavours although I prefer to translate it as the Flavour Garage). It was a real find. We were treated well, shown our seats and immediately given a glass of sparkling rosé and the menu card, which reminded me of an old telephone numbers pad we had in leather when I was a kid. You run your finger down the index and flip up the course you wanted to see – interesting.

Restaurant

Menu Card

We are spoilt for local restaurants back in Petritoli but this had just that something different. Modern décor, unusual menu, good food and excellent service. Three courses and wine (which was organic) for a total of 67 euro. Wonderful – we’ll be visiting there again! Although not many people were there when we arrived at an early 7.30pm by the time we left they were queuing for tables.

On Friday morning we made our way back to Petritoli but made a stop in Jesi something The Man had wanted to do for a long while. I’ll blog about that next week but here’s a photo for a taster.

Jesi – Anyone know the name of the square?

Crikey! It’s Cricket…

Posted on June 11, 2015 by ninette90

There’s something strange happening in Monte Giberto, a little town close to Petritoli, on the occasional Sunday morning. Men running about shouting ‘howzat’ and ‘LBW!!’

One of the teams…featuring the youngest and the oldest..

A young (ish) enthusiastic Englishman with a place here in Italy has decided it’s time to get the Italians into…pads, boxes and leather balls.

It’s not meant to protect your nose from the sun Luigi!

I’m not really au fait with cricket terminology, ‘silly mid-off’, ‘flipper’, ‘maiden over,’ etc., and these are just smattering of what is indeed another language and I’ve got enough trouble learning Italian!

I Piceni is the name of the ancient people who lived in the area of Le Marche before being pushed out by the Romans. It’s also the name of a restaurant and a few other local places no doubt but now the name is being associated with the latest craze…Cricket… it’s not a game the Italians are familiar with but they are putting their energies into team training, turning up on a Sunday morning to learn batting, bowling and fielding skills. It’s a lot of fun and at the end of the session there’s Pimm’s and cake…(homemade of course!)

Home Made Cake…

There are, among the players a few experts, but the team changes every practice, some join some leave. But Dario, Ian and Francesco and a couple of others whose names escape me, are there every time.

Action Bowling from Dario

The Man did attend, once and showed great wrist action and a true skill in ‘spin bowling’ but sadly his shoulder was painful; and I heard ALL about that; for at least a month afterwards. Will he give it another try? I think he’ll probably stick to cycling…We’ll have to wait and see…

The Man…

At the moment the team is still in its infancy but watch this space to follow their progress and perhaps before long I’ll be blogging about their first match. I did notice that The Vatican had a cricket team but I think perhaps Rome will be a little too far for I Piceni to travel at the moment – sponsorship could be a problem. Perhaps the Vatican could travel over this way? Except the team don’t have a home pitch…yet…apart from Luigi’s tennis courts.

Enthusiastic Founder of I Piceni (at least I think it is but it's hard to tell under the regalia)

Enthusiastic Founder of I Piceni Cricket (at least I think it is but it’s hard to tell under the regalia)

New York Update…Random Thoughts….

Posted on May 16, 2015 by ninette90

Everything is ‘totally awesome’ or ‘totally amazing’ and ‘You are kidding me?’

There are a plethora of fire hydrants in New York…you can’t park beside them (you must park 15 feet away) and there are at least two on every block, this can be inordinately frustrating when looking for a parking space…

The streets are on a grid system so it’s not easy to get lost…except if you’re The Man.

There are playgrounds for children on every other block, I think that’s great in a big city. There is always a sign at the parks that says, ‘no unaccompanied adults allowed’

The subway (underground) stations are hard to see, you could be forgiven for thinking they were an entrance to a public toilet…

Subway Entrance

Coffee ‘to go’ is the thing. Everyone picks up a coffee in a paper cup with a plastic lid on their way to work, to the park, to school, to go shopping or just to pick up a coffee on the way to nowhere. The choice of coffee is astounding (or ‘totally amazing’ to use my NYC speak…) Flat white, cappuccino, decaf soya latte, mocha, etc., too many to remember them all.

It is perfectly acceptable to have the radio/cd/stereo on in your car as loud as you can turn it up with the windows of the car wide open. Especially popular is heavy drum beat…

Clean up after your dog is written everywhere but many people don’t seem to bother.

Strollers not pushchairs.

They have elevators not lifts.

Honking horns…we call it tooting or beeping…constant – loud, unnecessary but essential…if you see what I mean, like… ‘It’s like, I don’t have time to wait for you man…’

Sirens blaring and the fire engine is the worst noise…it is loud and long.

The streets are dirty in Brooklyn in some parts.

There are many dogs – but I told you that before.

On the whole…people are friendly, drivers and cab drivers are not.
I’m glad to be back in Italy but I can’t speak the language as well as I can speak American… ☺

Please add your own thoughts about New York in the comments…

New York, New York…it’s a wonderful town…(for some)

Posted on April 20, 2015 by ninette90

Olivespastavino is in New York City with The Man. The Man doesn’t go much on New York although he seems to be warming to it slightly. He doesn’t like the noise, the subway, the lumpy sidewalks (pavements for those who don’t understand the lingo)…AND…he especially cannot abide the tipping culture. He has moaned constantly about having to give between 15% and 20% on top of any restaurant bill.

It was beginning to get us all down and restricting us from going out for coffee or to eat because he was being such a ‘grumpy old man’ but, then we were saved by ‘The General Greene’ where the service was good, the food delicious and the guy behind the bar is from Liverpool and extremely helpful and liked proper football. So it was decided by The Man that perhaps tipping was okay in this establishment.

I hope we don’t get bored only visiting the one place over the next week or so…

But wait! The Man is going to watch baseball for a few days, a little mini tour; New York, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia…

Hoorah! (in the words of my friend Linda from Tuscany) we can visit a different bar and restaurant every day whilst The Man is away.

PS…why is it I’m always walking the dog in the rain? This morning (Monday 20th) Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn – taken by The Man who was also there, shivering and enjoying himself in his own inimitable way….

My raincoat hood would not stay put as it had no fastenings, hence I had to tie my scarf around my neck on the outside of the coat in a not very NYC style…(good job the rest of the population were sensibly inside!

January, February…soon be March…soon be Easter!

Posted on February 16, 2015 by ninette90

My Map of Berlin in 1913, had to print it out in 9 sections and stick together. You of course can only see this tiny version

Getting a bit behind with my posts this year and it’s only February! It’s amazing how time flies when you’re doing nothing. Well, doing nothing isn’t strictly true, I am trying to write a novel and now wondering whatever made me start, but start I have and finish I must. It does take up a lot of my writing time though. It’s proving to be much harder than I thought, mainly because I’ve decided to start the story in Berlin at the beginning of 1914 and this means lots of research. So every five sentences or so I have to look something up. ‘Why not look it all up before you start,’ I hear you say. Well, it’s not that easy because things pop up that you don’t expect to pop up and then you have to check out things and change things…It’s a learning curve. The Man is quite helpful, he does have a great deal of historical facts and information stored in his head which has come in pretty handy for me lately.

But, back to Italy and Le Marche.

In January we went from this….

The Man strolling in the warm Thai sunshine

To this….

Snow and ice in Italy January 2015

We were welcomed home by the animals….

Jpeg now always waiting by the door in case there’s a chance we might leave without her and pop off to Thailand again.

Mickey the cat making himself comfortable… he missed The Man I think.

Of course we have more than just animals in our family and my son Will joined us for a few days at the beginning of this year. We took him for a day out…as you do with your kids. We first went to Porto Recanati, which was a little bit of a disappointment. Like any seaside resort, out of season it lacked a certain liveliness and colour. The restaurants were almost all closed and the sea front (lungomare) was cheerless. But we did find a place serving a 2 course lunch with wine for about 12 euro a head. Pasta followed by fried fish. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant but I can’t… and it appears I didn’t take a photo…perhaps Will did. After lunch we went to Castelfidardo to the accordion museum, which was very interesting. I had thought that it would be a little boring but there were show cases housing many different types and styles of accordion. Paolo Soprani, a farmhand from Castelfidardo, early in the 1860s began what was the first industrial production of accordions and a model of his workshop is in the museum and a video showing the history of the instrument and clips of bands, orchestras and even the Beatles playing the accordion in many different styles of music.

Wills, who plays himself, was able to give a quick demo while in the museum, interesting because apparently he plays it upside down, but it didn’t seem to make any difference to the tune.

After the museum we went to a shop selling accordion…not cheap. Castefidardo is apparently THE place to buy an accordion if you are a professional player or know your stuff. People come from all over the world to buy in this small town and probably in the very shop we were in – Victoria. We didn’t buy one, not on this occasion anyway. We did however, get the change to play the biggest accordion in the world – well we posed for a photo anyway.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided, The Man and I, that we would go for an outing once each week… get out and about more, you know what I mean? Needless to say that didn’t happen but we did manage lunch in January in Smerillo in a fab restaurant called Le Logge. We dined in the typical Marche way, several courses including an unusual one of bacon and egg.

wine, coffee and vino cotto, plus a drop of mistra (very strong aniseed liqueur locally distilled) served in an edible chocolate cup! Fantastic. We’ll be going there again in the summer when we’ll be able to sit outside.

Lovely waitress pouring my mistra into the chocolate cup!

Since then we’ve been pathetic in attempting our day out a week – well I AM writing a novel…we did manage to get to the White Bakery in San Benedetto last Friday (13th) to enjoy burger and chips. Grand stuff.

We didn’t enjoy that much!

Looking forward to some warmer weather in March and our next outing, which will be to Jesi….watch this space.

Thailand in December…

Posted on January 2, 2015 by ninette90

Olivespastavino went on a trip to Thailand for a couple of weeks. This post is more about photos than writing, enjoy.

This is the house of our host (my son) absolutely beautiful….

We stayed in The Dog House in his garden….

doghouse2

and then in The White House 200 metres away….

The White House…on the Romance Resort…

Thoughts on Thailand.

Cow Bells

Misty cool mornings and sunny hot afternoons…

Street food, barbecued pork and chicken, squid on a stick.

Fried Insects

Pancakes, chai-tea, fruit smoothies, fried insects…yes really!

uglyfruit

Coconut flavours and coconuts everywhere, banana trees,(tiny sweet bananas),

fruit growing in abundance, mangoes, durian, papaya and more.

Bananas for the …….

Elephants – a little sad as not in a sanctuary but more a tourist industry.

Chickens, stray dogs, tropical birdsong.

A sleeping stray dog…they don’t move, not for anything…

Night Market in Pai

Laundries, open fronted shops, jewellery, cheesecloth clothing, aging hippies left over from times past. Modern day hippies, young, tattooed.
7/11 stores and oh….in Chiangmai there was…..

Tescos…Hmm, Tesco/Lotus –

Wall of Rice

the largest store I’ve ever seen with a wall full of different types of rice in mega large packets.

Love the Thai food….

Flip flops…the most popular footwear for Pai.

Busy Chiang Mai town. Mopeds, tuk-tuks, red taxis. A singing language impossible to interpret,
Sawadii (hello), mai pen rai (it doesn’t matter), sabai (chill/relax).

One of many Temples

Music and chanting from the temples can be heard for miles around, the sound travelling across the valleys.

Smiling faces. Barefoot children.
Hard working Thai people, on the land in the rice paddy fields. Heads covered in straw conical hats or headscarves. Many wear face masks to avoid breathing in the fumes from the hundreds of vehicles buzzing around town.

Colourful Hats

Colours, primary and bright, plastic trinkets in contrast to the local crafts and colours of the long neck tribes.

Sunsets

Water – everywhere. Pouring down from the hills. Jungle terrain except where cleared. Winding roads, 762 bends between Chiangmai and Pai and don’t we know it! We travelled the road 4 times.

I miss you Pai and Thailand, looking forward to the next visit already…don’t know when – but it will happen.

What’s in a Name?…

Posted on December 6, 2014 by ninette90

‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet….’
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Sc 2 1.43

As I was walking the dog the other day I noticed a particular road name…Vallescura which means ‘dark valley’ and I thought to myself that I wouldn’t want to live down that street. But, if I hadn’t understood the meaning it would be okay, as it rolls off the tongue nicely – vàl.leskoora (hope that helps with the pronunciation).

I looked around at a couple of other names, Vicolo della Rana frog alley,

and Via Mangibove Eat Ox Street, or it could mean Oxfood Street! Yes, that must be it, Oxfood Street, Petritoli, but it’s only a tiny little alleyway, not a Selfridges or Debenhams in sight!

My mother called me Ninette after the great ballet dancer and founder of the Royal Ballet, Dame Ninette De Valois, at least that’s what she told me, but I think she found it in the back of a dictionary.

Dame Ninette De Valois I met her once and she signed her book for me…I told her that I had never met another Ninette and only knew of her. I’m sure there are many others called Ninette though.

It didn’t go very well with my surname, Hatch, people tended to slur one into the other…Ninettatch… and Ninettartley isn’t much better! I never had a second name and always wished I had so I made sure my children had second names and in some cases three, just in case they wanted to change them. You have to be so careful, to make sure the first name goes with the second and what the initials spell out, what nickname’s might be thought up.

My sister didn’t have a second name either she was Jean Hatch, I think Maria in the middle would have been nice, Jean Maria Hatch. My brother, of course, had a middle name, Anthony Peter Hatch. He always was the favourite!

I would have chosen Claudia or Katherine as my first name and put Ninette in the middle, only because Claudia Hatch is so much easier to say. I do like my name even though it has been fraught with problems. Most people get it wrong to begin with. I get called, Ginette, Annette, Lynette, Nannette but hardly ever Ninette. I have been known as Largette after a few pints of Stella but that was in my younger days!

My dad told me a story once about a girl he knew who had the surname Rose and the parents called her Wild. When she married, her husband’s name was Bull…. I think my dad made it up…

It’s strange how so many people don’t like their given name, what about you? Do you like your name? If not Which name would you have chosen?

Eating Out Is Not All It’s Cooked Up To Be…

Posted on November 16, 2014 by ninette90

Pasta….

I expect many of you will disagree with this post but having had a summer of too many restaurant meals I have been giving some thought to this area of our lives.

I love food, there is no doubt about that and we have a huge number of places to choose from to eat here in Italy and on the whole it’s not too expensive. What it is though is mostly variations on a theme. Antipasti, (cold meats, cheese, olives etc.,) Primo (pasta dishes) Secondo (meat or fish) Contorni (sides, salads, veg, potatoes etc.,) and dolci (desserts). The meals are humungous and it takes about three hours to get through them. We, that is The Man and I have come to the conclusion that if we eat out in Italy we want to do it at lunchtime so that by the time we go to bed the food has had time to be partly digested. If we eat out in the evening then invariably we can’t sleep and suffer from indigestion. I know we’re getting on a bit but that’s not necessarily the problem.

Apart from the lack of variety in the Italian restaurants there are very few if any other types of restaurant other than Italian in this area. Fine if you’re on holiday but when you live here? We need a little more choice and I did find something different in October…

I’m not a lover of burgers and American food but we had visitors who I took for a walk along the seashore at Grottamare one lunchtime. Neither of my guests wanted to eat seafood and most of the restaurants by the sea serve predominantly fish. I remembered I’d see something about an American Food place opening in San Benedetto only a few kilometres down the road. A quick phone call (thank you India) and off we went. It was brilliant. What a change it made to eat something different. I feared it would be quasi American with pasta definitely showing somewhere on the menu but no, Caesar Salad, burgers (real), pancakes, maple syrup, (yum) American Cheesecake, it was like being in New York and I was frantically texting my daughter in Brooklyn, I don’t think she could understand why I was so excited.

The White Bakery

I really enjoyed my lunch and felt it was worth every cent…

Recently, last week in fact, we went to the UK. The choice was huge, Italian, English, French, Thai, Indian, Moroccon, Mexican and that was just in Lyme Regis! (joke). I suffered from indigestion nearly everyday, a full stomach, a few pounds heavier and an empty wallet by the end of the trip.

In Bristol we had; a disappointing curry (3/10), fish and chips, very good (9/10) it was in the top 100 fish&chip shops in the UK. One lunch was taken at the Waterfront, watery soup, salty mussels and not so good fish pie (4/10)

In Bournemouth a fish restaurant we went to was very good (8/10) but quite pricey and afterwards we decided they were trying to be too fussy and less fancy would have been preferable. A bit of indigestion kicked in around 11pm. We did have a fantastic breakfast though in our hotel, a Full English (10/10) from which we are deprived here and although I cook it at home, the bacon is not right, the sausages just not the same and baked beans are about 2.50 euro a tin!

Not only do I love food, I love cooking and have come to the conclusion that eating at home is actually much better than eating out at a restaurant. Years ago, eating out or getting a takeaway (only pizza takeaway here) was a special treat and now it has become the norm for many people. At home I can conjure up most things, I bring over spices from the UK so that we can have Thai curries, I make shepherd’s pie, roast dinners (with all the trimmings and lashings of gravy), soups and fish dishes. I also cook pasta. The Man loves my cooking, it doesn’t cost us much and we don’t get indigestion!

I’m not dissing all restaurants and I’m not saying I never want to go to any again. I love meeting up with friends and going out. But, I have to say that it’s mostly better if you meet up at someone’s house and take a dish or two. Sharing is caring. Also you get to speak to everyone that way. When you are at a big table and go out to dinner you can only really converse with your immediate neighbours. I think a romantic dinner in a restaurant is a great thing to do on a special occasion, except on Valentine’s night when they hike the prices up everywhere.

My favourite restaurants locally.

I Piceni (romantic dinner) Fab desserts.

Dessert I Piceni

Mamma Rosa’s (family and friends) Nutella pizza anyone?

Parco Galeano (family and friends) good homemade bread gets thumbs up.

Re Squarchio (family and friends, or romantic for two) quality cooking

Ristorante Roma (a must for Sunday lunch…although you won’t get roast dinner!) Definitely a family favourite! (their site seems to be down at the moment so I’ll add a link later)

Best meal out this year was back in April in Taverna Del Lupo in Gubbio where we had the tastiest and most beautifully cooked lamb we’ve eaten since being in Italy. Oh and of course the wine is good and soooo much cheaper here.

Taverna Del Lupo Gubbio

Off to Thailand in December, I cannot wait to sample the food. Maybe I’ll change my mind about eating out?

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Ninette Hartley

A Variety of Posts

Category Archives: Other

Italy, France, Food for Thought…

Jesi…Somewhere to go on the way home from Gubbio…

Gubbio for R&R…

Crikey! It’s Cricket…

New York Update…Random Thoughts….

New York, New York…it’s a wonderful town…(for some)

January, February…soon be March…soon be Easter!

Thailand in December…

What’s in a Name?…

Eating Out Is Not All It’s Cooked Up To Be…

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