Hi.  Further to my previous post, I am still working working working on Desirable.co.uk.  I’m also completely swamped with writing work which is A. Good. Thing., especially considering Rob and I were up in Edinburgh Wednesday and Thursday just gone looking at places to rent and we now have a better idea of our budget.

Here are some things you’ve missed since I’ve been ignoring you:

• I’ve decided that my musical heroines are Roisin Murphy, Nina from the Cardigans, and Debbie Harry (Blondie).  Also Fran from Travis, but Fran is a man with a female name, so I think he qualifies.
• I have so many books that I want to read and not enough time to do it in.  ‘World Without Us’ by Alan Weisman looks really interesting and if his interview on Radio Five Live is anything to go by it should be a great read.  Also, why can’t Philippa Gregory just release her new novel NOW ALREADY.
• I’m really bummed that Agathe from Style Bytes has decided to hang up her heels and stop blogging.  Or at least, that’s what I’m assuming she’s done - she didn’t blog for a month and then her site was taken down.  Perhaps she was a spy working for the Russian government or something, and she was discovered!  She certainly had the fashion sense of some wonderfully glamorous 1930s-40s spy.
• I’m not sure, but I think it’s quite bad that I like Tennents lager, the much-loved Scottish beer.  Rob gave me a look of disgust when I ordered a pint of it with a spritz of lime cordial.  I think living in Edinburgh will suit me just fine.
• I read the spoilers of the Sex and the City movie on Wikipedia.  Now I understand why reviewers were complaining that it tied the whole story up in a big bow and left nothing to the imagination.  I’ll still go and see it, but I won’t be impressed.
• Every now and then I think I don’t need to read PopJustice anymore, because there’s nothing new for me to learn about the wonderful world of pop music.  Then I realise that I don’t read PopJustice for the music news anyway, I read it for the completely irrelevant statements made by one of my heroes, Peter Robinson.  For example: PopJustice reviews Nelly’s new album, ‘Generally fairly jolly …Expect to see that on some billboard posters sometime soon,’ and then follows this review with the off-hand comment, ‘By the way, did we tell you about the man with five penises? His pants fit him like a glove.’  You just can’t fake such brilliance.
• Rob and I have watched the entire three series of Black Books in two weeks.  It makes me want to see Bill Bailey live, and to have lots of very hairy musically talented children with him.  Also, I’m very tempted to buy the Peep Show box set that’s sort of quite cheap on Amazon at the moment.
• I’m going back to Australia on the 10th of June (Tuesday week) sans Rob.  Rob is not upset about this, because the Euro 2008 Football Finals are starting on the 7th.  I am upset about this, because if I’m going to die in a plane crash I want my other half to die with me.  This may sound cruel but it’s really very romantic.
• I am currently wearing a pair of lemon-yellow socks that have brown, white and red sparkly cupcakes all over them.  A friend found them in TopShop the other day and instantly thought of me.  Am I that transparent?
• I sincerely hope that Sir Wogan doesn’t give up on his Eurovision commentary just yet.  It’s the only reason I watch the finals (well, that’s not really true, I watch it for the awful costumes and even worse songs), and it wouldn’t be the same without him.
• WHY IN GOD’S NAME DID PIM PUT HARRY ‘I’m Injured’ KEWELL AS CAPTAIN FOR THE AUSTRALIA V. IRAQ GAME, AND WHY DID KEWELL CHOOSE TO REMEMBER WHERE THE GOAL WAS AGAIN?  I’m all for Australia winning, but not at the hands of that traitor.

So, as you can see, you haven’t really been missing anything and I am living in a super-inflated bubble of my own self-importance.

Top: Menu mistakes - who serves an apricot tart with green beans and potatoes?

Bottom Left: The Victoria & Albert Museum

Bottom Right: Crockery on sale in the V&A Museum Shop

I’m finally improved from my strange virus which, as it turns out, school children all over North Wales have been suffering from as well. On Tuesday Rob and I journeyed down to London - he had a meeting and I wanted to go shopping and sight-seeing - and we came back late yesterday afternoon. I do dearly love London despite all her ugly quirks (the pollution, the crime, the crowds), but it was nice to hop back on the train yesterday and hear the lilt of Welsh accents.

Tuesday afternoon we caught the tube to Westminster in the vain hope that the Abbey would be open for visitors (it wasn’t). We decided instead to have a pint in a pub we know down the road, which was where we spotted the grave menu mistake you can see in the photo above. I don’t know about you, but when I have dessert it certainly doesn’t come served with vegetables!

Tuesday evening we met up with some old friends who took us to a funky Hungarian/Italian restaurant that had puppets hanging from the ceiling. I ordered the haloumi bruschette, only to be presented with some pieces of haloumi and vegetables on a shishkebab stick. I’m not sure how they came to the conclusion that a bruschette involved skewers.

Wednesday I was on my own as Rob had his meeting, so I caught the tube to Marble Arch and had a wander down the Primark-end of Oxford Street. Then I caught the tube to South Kensington and visited the V&A, one of my favourite museums. I spent a lovely few hours wandering around all the random bits and pieces they have on show there, and then sat out in the V&A courtyard (bottom left of the picture above). The V&A Museum shop is a sight to behold, I found so many things there I wanted including the tea accessories above (bottom right).

We then caught the train back up - it’s four hours from London to North Wales - and watched St Petersburg trounce Rangers in the UEFA final last night. I have so much work it’s coming out my ears and we’ve got a busy weekend ahead - help!

Now that I’ve had time to sleep and recover from the RyanAir flight from hell, I’m feeling much more inclined to talk about all the delicious Italian food I’ve sampled over the last two weeks.

The Antipasto:

One of the best things about Italy is the antipasto, which is effectively the dish you eat first with your lunch or dinner (sort of like a starter course, except the Italians also have a first course and second course that come after the antipasto, as well as dessert).  You can also eat antipasto as a single course casual lunch or dinner, which we did a few times over the two weeks so that we could sample some of the local meats and cheeses.  Some of the most common antipasto dishes are parma ham and mozzarella, vine-ripened tomatoes with mozzarella, or parma ham and melon.  When we were doing our own thing and putting together big antipasto feasts for ourselves, we had beautiful cheeses (like pecorino), delicious meats (like mortadela, which is essentially a pressed meat with olives throughout), fantastic olives (young and green, black and sun-wrinkled, or just drenched in olive-oil), and some of the best asparagus and cherry tomatoes I’ve ever tasted.  On the last night we spent in Rome, we also tried shaved uncooked artichoke with shaved Parmesan and walnuts coated in an olive oil and lemon-vinegar dressing which was surprisingly delicious.

The Pasta:

In Italy pasta is usually served as the first course, and is usually a smaller portion size so you have room for your second main course and dessert.  The most common pasta dish is the absolutely delightful spaghetti pomodoro et basil (a really light tomato and basil sauce on preferably home-made pasta with a sprinkle of parmesan).  This was basically what I ordered every time I ate out, because I love it.  Another popular dish is of course spaghetti bolognese, although I’m not quite sure that this is ‘authentic’ Italian - I think it’s on the menu for all the tourists.  Other beautiful pasta I tried while I was away included homemade tagliatelle with tomato, eggplant and mozzarella; homemade gnocchi (the best I’ve ever tasted) in a tomato, garlic and basil sauce; and steaming hot penne in a tomato and olive puree.  My dad tried an interesting looking dish - spaghetti (home made) with shaved truffles and a light truffle oil dressing.  He apparently went back to the same restaurant three times just so he could have it (one dish of the stuff cost him $20 EU).

The Main Courses:

The main course in Italy is always meat, and in general (every restaurant I’ve eaten it with the exception of one) you have to order your vegetables SEPARATELY to your meat.  This is good really, as it means you can really mix and match to get exactly what you want.  Common meats served as main courses include veal (scallops in a creamy sauce), beef (roasted), or fish (baked, fried, in soup, steamed, shell-fish, you name it).  It’s not common to see chicken on the menu, but in a lot of restaurants there is usually other poultry available such as duck, pheasant or quail.  Other interesting main courses include wild boar (roasted usually), thrush (fried or roasted whole), and pesce zuppe (fish soup - literally loads of different seafoods in a tomato broth).

The Pizza, Bruschette & Panini:

Now I know that the bread-based meals that are served in Italy are far more popular with the tourists who think of the food as being ‘authentic Italian’ than what they are with the REAL Italians, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid them altogether.  A nice, simple bruschette (toasted or grilled slices of bread, dressed with a fresh olive oil topped with chopped tomato, spanish onion, basil and parmesan cheese, sometimes with a few flakes of garlic) is one of the best things to have on a hot day, and a basic margherita pizza (tomato and mozzarella, sometimes with basil) is unbeatable if done in a wood-fired oven.  Panini, meanwhile, is great if you have it made in a deli - you can choose the meat and cheese, and they’ll make it fresh.  My tip for ordering ‘authentic’ pizza would be to ask the waiter for his recommendation - without doubt they’ll suggest the most simplistic pizza on the menu, because that’s as close to what they would consider eating themselves as you can get.  None of this twenty different toppings bollocks - tomato and cheese, and maybe some olives, nothing more.

The Pastries & Desserts:

There’s a reason I managed to gain 1.5kgs in two weeks, and it is solely due to the beautiful pastries you can find in Italy.  I can’t imagine how they could be beaten by any other country’s selection.  In the two weeks I was there I tried: cornetto marmelata (croissant with apricot jam filling), cornetto creme (croissant with custard), chocolate mousse tart, chocolate mousse croissant, lemon custard cornetto, lemon-iced pastry twist, hazelnut chocolate pastry twist, cherry almond tart, apple baked tart, the best tiramisu I’ve ever tasted, glazed fruit tart, lemon creme cornetto, lemon iced Easter biscuits (short-bread based), and limone delizia (lemon sponge with lemon creme, lemon gelato and limoncello).  And that’s not to mention the sorbet and gelato - I’ve had lemon (with lemon rind chunks), melon (literally puree rockmelon/cantaloupe), strawberry, green apple, aranciata (red orange fizz), ananas (glazed pineapple), lime and raspberry.  Then there’s the lemon granite which is literally just frozen lemon juice slightly melted into a slush that you can drink through a straw or eat with a spoon.

The Drinks:

Italy is quite regionalized with regards to its drinks, and it’s not unusual to find unique mixes or varieties in areas you haven’t seen anywhere else.  My favourite from last time was the Bellini (the peach alcoholic cocktail famous in Venice), while this time the limonata (lemon soda in a can, made from fresh lemon pulp and lightly sweetened soda) came out on top.  I also enjoyed the local Amalfi coast white wine (really cheap and actually tasted like it had alcohol in it, unlike the Chianti wine my parents brought back from Tuscany), the fantastic Italian coffee (brewed strong and properly) and the best soft drink/soda I’ve ever tasted by Pellegrino (they did aranciata, limonata, and some strange lime/lemon blend).  Rob had a great time with the beer - he tried one which was 12% alcohol (quite high for a beer) which was called Diabolique and had a graphic of a devil on the label.  He also had his fair share of Peroni and Biera Nazionale, and a few local brews.  Campari and soda also never fails as a great sunny-day cocktail.  Of course, the other great thing about the Amalfi coast is that it is the home of limoncello liqueur, which I LOVE, so we had a fair bit of that.

The Junk Food:

One of my favourite things about travelling is discovering the different sorts of junk food that are available.  Italy has some great crisp varieties - they do an incredible cheese puff and a beautiful paprika flavoured crisp.  The chocolate that’s available in the Amalfi region is worth trying too - dark and white chocolate with lemon flavouring is delicious, and of course there is the orange and lime rind coated in chocolate.

I think that just about covers everything I’ve tasted over the last few weeks - its no surprise I’ve been craving a good cup of tea and a simple tub of yoghurt!