Heatwave

During all the years I spent dreaming about a move abroad I had one vision firmly planted in my mind, it was a vision of a long wooden table full of wonderful food and wine, surrounded by family and friends.  The setting was equally important, it would be outside, with trees and a climbing wisteria casting shadows forming a dappled pattern across the table in the sunshine. The only sounds I'd hear were laughter and crickets.  Can you see it? 

Well I finally have the setting . . . . . 

The reality is somewhat different, whilst I don't want to sound as though I'm complaining, I'm really not, I just found it amusing to realise that the image I nurtured over the years brought the words rose, glasses and coloured to mind :-D

The truth is it's far too hot to sit outside and if you do manage to ignore the copious amounts of sweat leaving your body, you are likely to be plagued by flies, eaten alive by mosquitoes and perhaps bitten by a spider!

I take comfort from the fact that I'm assured by the locals (and the lack of the sound of chainsaws working in the forrest) that this is not 'normal' summer weather for this area, with temperatures in the mid to late 30's and humidity at over 90% they also keep promising that the heatwave is going to break tomorrow, I'm still waiting . . . .

Meanwhile Andy is working in the UK for a few weeks to bring home some much needed cash, I'm a little envious of his weather reports :-)

We are still up and outside by 7am, the tomatoes which we transplanted far too late are finally producing fruit, I'm not sure if they'll ripen so we may be making green tomato chutney come autumn.  We have a bumper harvest of cucumbers and are collecting upto 18 a day 

We've eaten them for breakfast, fed some to the pigs and chickens and made sweet cucumber relish, I'm working on a recipe for cucumber and mint jelly based on a recipe I use for making sweet chili jam.  I'll post recipes and photos later.

The ducklings and bantam chicks are thriving . . . . 

I hope I don't offend anyone with my complaints, we may be short on money and long on heat but this incredible journey has given me not only the skill to be able to distinguish which bug just bit me, but the ability to take great pleasure from the smallest achievements and the realisation that I don't 'need' nearly as much stuff as I thought I did ♥

Much Love from Tineggiori xx

So much has happened . . . .

Where to start?

It's been so long since my last post and my head is so full of news I can't wait to share.

We're in the middle of a heatwave here in the mountains, the temperature has fluctuated around the mid to late thirties for three weeks and doesn't seem to be going anywhere!  Phew! We're fast learning as hardy Yorkshire folk to get up early and work while the sun is still 'simmering on the back boiler', midday sees a hasty retreat into the casa and cold showers reduce the number of times I wish we could afford air-con.

Lewis, Amelia and Amy have been for a visit, a lot of time was spent by the river in an attempt to keep cool, I think they were all finally a little relieved to get back to the English summer. It was so good to see them, we cried a bit (or in Andy's case, a lot) when they left.

We hatched another batch of chicks at Tineggiori, our first of 7 bantams arrived on day 21, we called him/her monkey, the last came on day 24 and we managed to 'catch the hatch' on video, not a great example of videography but we were surprised by it's late arrival, I've called him/her Charlotte.

We were out and about this morning, transplanting chillies, digging over more planting space and clearing a small paddock ready for our new pigs.

Ruth was on breakfast duty and served us a fantastic plate of homemade bagels with scrambled eggs and prosciutto, they were so much better than the shop bought varieties and reminded me how self sufficiency may mean less money in the bank but is not a compromise on quality of food.  

More news to follow on chicks and pigs.

Much Love from Tineggiori xx

It's Good to be Home

I've been away in the UK for a bit, I spent a lovely 3 weeks with my mum, we cooked together, spent time in the garden and did an inexplicably large number of jigsaws, I'm not sure if what I've come home with is classed as an addiction but it comes pretty close.

I also got to spend some time with my son Mark and his girlfriend Laura, I'm extremely proud of both of them, they have a drive and ambition that will take them both far, it was good to leave the 'ratrace' behind though and head for home.  The journey back with Andy and Tilly took three days due to delays at Calais, there was an equal mix of singing, bickering and slow baking in the heat of a three seater van with no air-con.

Safe to say we were really, really glad to get home.

Ivy did a great job with the tomatoes, cucumber and broccoli, we're a bit late with the toms but are hopeful the longer summer will make up for our short comings.

The weather has been hot and we've enjoyed eating outside every evening, the TV is not up to much so we came back from UK armed with board games (thanks to Ivan and Dom's dad) and had a great game of Pokemon Monopoly last night. I do know how sad this sounds but my advice is give it a go, we all forgot how much fun you can have with some beer, a few folks and Cluedo :-)

Much Love from Tineggiori xxx