What are you thankful for?

Heather!

Ok, so I have missed Thanksgiving (and now December too - sorry Heather!), but a few weeks ago I made a promise to an amazing lady, funky mum, immensely positive person and one of a handful of long term survivors of a rare form of cancer, despite being given only 15 months to live 8 years ago (you can read about her story here ) that I would write a blog post about something I am thankful for and help people become aware of this terrible disease. As I'm not American, I'm hoping my rather lapsidasical attitude to time keeping to Thanksgiving might be overlooked on this occasion! Plus, this way I get to be one of the first people to push Heather's message into 2014!

Before I write my 'thankfully things' though, part of my reason for not having written this blog post until now is that really, when you look at it, I have so many things to be thankful for, the little things, the big things and the obscure things, I'm not entirely sure where to start. (I know...aren't I lucky, yey!)

Secondly, I'm not exactly a gushy person on the outside (yes, gushy is a real adjective, whereas, there is some discussion as to whether lapsidasical is even a real word...I digress...), so displaying the things that I am thankful for out there, in full view, in the public arena, fills me with some trepidation. The cause, however, is most definitely a noble one and therefore I am prepared to make myself slightly uncomfortable in order to help fight it.

So, I have narrowed my Thankful list to two major categories...here goes:

1. I am thankful for my family - I won't go through them all (although I could because I think there are so many amazing people in my family) but here are the ones I want to share for now:

My two sons who make me laugh, cry, cross, happy, sometimes ashamed but most definitely very, very proud. You are my world, my good, my bad and I will always be here for you...probably far beyond the time that you want me to be here for you, mind you!

My husband, who supports me in all my mad ventures and crazy ideas (albeit a little bit too much of a realist at times for my liking!!), who picks me up when I am down, who loves me when I am horrible and no-one else would and who's loyalty I am probably thankful for most of all. I love you.

My incredible sister, selfless, an amazing mother, role model, woman. I have missed you since I moved away to University and wish I could pop in for tea, go shopping or take you out for lunch. But when we talk it's like you are just down the road and I can't wait to see you again soon.

2. I am thankful for my life. I am in good health, I have food on the table, clothes on my back, a roof over my head, a job in a place where employment is difficult, friends who make me laugh, challenges to keep me occupied and mountain views all around me that take your breath away. In the last 18 months I have experienced things that some people will never experience in a lifetime. My problems are small in comparison to others (although they often feel to me like some of the mountains I am looking at) and I can genuinely say there is something in my life that makes me smile everyday - even if some days I have to look harder for it than others. In all of this I consider myself to be a very, very lucky lady.

On a final note, as this is my 'thankful' post (just in case you had missed that fact!), I am thankful to Heather, for contacting me and asking me to write this. I would never have done it otherwise. 

So, tell me, what are you thankful for?...

Olive oil time!

You could be forgiven for thinking this is another one of my homemade liquors, but no, it is in fact olive oil pressed less than 24 hours earlier, at one of the best restaurants in our Area. Beautiful peppery flavour mopped up with crusty Italian bread - and that was before the meal! And yes, that is, of course, a glass of local Montepulciano d'Abruzzo sneaking in in the background.

The food at Il Torchio in Pettorano sul Gizio is really good, the wine is good and the price is good, what more can you ask for...our own little bit of Abruzzoheaven!

The Coriander movement!

As coriander is really difficult to find here and I love to cook Asian food, I was sooo pleased when all my plants flourished (thank you Donna for the seeds...I have finally used them!)

We had fresh leaves for a couple of months to use in Chinese, Indian and more recently some Guacamole then I allowed them to set seed with the intention of collecting them to grind.


So, I managed to collect one full jar of seeds, but just as the rest of the seed dried out, I hadn't quite got round to collecting them we had a MASSIVE thunderstorm. Result: all the coriander seeds were blown off the plants. I came out in the morning to see my cherished plants stripped bare - I was not a happy lady.

Now though, I can happily say I have several randomly placed coriander plants sprouting up in the garden!! And you never know, from the amount of seed that blew away, if all the seeds germinate I might be starting up my own coriander market here in central Abruzzo!!

The Boys' Veg Patch

Back in February I blogged about Getting Going in the Garden. Looking back now at all the things I enthusiastically wrote about, we have achieved a huge amount, and yet not really many of the things we wanted to concentrate our time on back then!

The area designated for the pizza oven became reassigned as the boys veg patch because we were finding it difficult deciding how to organise the space. It was 'temporarily' planted out with lettuce, rocket, spinach, watercress, melons, tomatoes, courgettes and coriander.







The boys helped us plant the seeds in only the way a four and six year old can. Throw a handful of seeds in my nicely made rows and then announce 'We're bored now' leaving mum and dad to finish all the work!

Everything but the watercress was a resounding success (not enough water I think), we have been creative with courgette salads and I am loving the courgette crisps (recipe here for anyone who wants it). Scroll down for the photos.

Doing it like the locals: Making Passata Pomodoro.

Italy - synonomous with tomatoes bursting with flavour.

So, with our 102 tomato plants (yes 102!) that we have tended since Spring it would just be rude not to store them for use over the winter. You cannot claim to be a local here if you do not grow, harvest and make passata pomodoro from your tomatoes...by the gallon.

 Of course, it meant buying more kit (everything seems to mean buying more kit at the moment) but with a bit of advice from our friend Giuseppe we have a machine that should last us a lifetime. We even got our apartment guests involved in chopping and pulping, much to their delight (I think!).

So we chopped, and we pulped, and we re-pulped, to make sure we got every drop, and we bottled and we boiled and now? ...Now we just have to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labour.

With passata fresh from our home grown, organic tomatoes pasta pomodoro will never quite taste the same again! Bellissimo!

Limoncello update

The official verdict is - that stuff is GOOD!

Making Limoncello...yum!

Inspired by my host country (they haven't kicked me out yet!) and my friend Katy, I have tonight been making Limoncello. Vodka, Lemons, Sugar and Water...it just sounds right, doesn't it?!

Here are the wonderful ingredients...

Zest your lemons (this is one of 6 large ones)...

Tip into the sugar, water and vodka mix...

Give it a good stir...

... and bottle.

Leave for a minimum of 24 hours or up to three months (yeah right!)

Sieve, put in the freezer and then drink, freezer cold.

I'll let you know what it tastes like tomorrow then!!









I used Lorraine Pascale's recipe, but there are plenty of them out there on the internet if you want to give it a try. And on Friday, with the juice of the lemons that are left behind I will be making homemade lemonade for our secret seven meeting in the shed...I did promise Jake after all!!