Archive for the ‘Things big and small’ Category

Jerusalem Artichokes, here they come!

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Jerusalem artichokesTA-DAAA!

It’s the season of this little tubers, and yes I am happy! They are not easy to find but worth trying, also they seem to be terribly easy to grow, so if you have some space in your garden think about Jerusalem artichokes.

They come in different shapes, they are smallish (bigger ones could be tangerine-sized), the ones in the photo I got from a supermarket and they are ready washed, their texture when raw is crunchy, more frozen apple than potato.

Their taste is very good, they do remind artichoke hearts, hence the name, but creamier if possible.

What to do with them is really up to you, they fit in every recipe, from risotto to stir-fry and are very good in soups.

Lots of recipes calls for roasting them with skins on, which you can eat, but I really didn’t like the skins.

The only drawback of these beauties is that they will very likely give you wind…well, let’s drink a fennel tea and keep the windows open then!

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Ponyo! Ponyo!

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Ponyo's dvd

On the weekend I went to see the latest Miyazaki’s film, called “Ponyo on the cliff by the sea”.

We have bought all the dvds from the Studio Ghibli collection, and we adore everything Miyazaki ever did.

Italy has a strong connection with Studio Ghibli and with Miyazaky himself, who showed his love for medieval Italian towns in his films, also he had some good Italian friends who worked in tv (he even named the main carachter after Marco Pagot in “Porco Rosso”), that’s one of the reasons why all Italians of my age know Hayao Miyazaki, we all have seen the serie “Heidi” on tv when we were kids, and I still think it is extremely good.

Studio Ghibli also produced a serie of cartoons based on Sherlock Holmes stories, but in which all carachters are dogs, and while it has been shown in Italy many times, it’s unknown in Japan!

But, coming back to Ponyo, it was really lovely, it is a rather long film, but it has no “dead” moments, it’s the story of a magical fish which get stranded on a beach and gets saved by a boy who wants to take care of it. The fish’s father is a sort of king of the sea, who once was a human and wants his child back, but the fish wants to be a human and live with the boy.

It is told in a lovely way, and of course the drawings are amazing, altough there is a lot of computer graphics involved.

If you have never seen a film by Miyazaki, it’s better late than never! Many of his films have a very strong enviromental story, even in Ponyo there’s lots of rubbish underwater.

My favourite Studio Ghibli films are “My neighbour Totoro” (if you have a child, it is a must), “Princess Mononoke” (one for the grown-ups, enviromental story set in medieval Japan, with the most amazing music) and “Spirited away”…actually, I love all of them!

PS

the photo shows the Italian DVD (in Italy the film came out one year ago!!!)

And let me show off my gorgeous soft toys!!!

ghibli_collection

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Arturo Brachetti in London

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Change by Arturo Brachetti

I am still excited, yesterday we went to the West End to see the great Arturo Brachetti, master of quick change…basically he changes outfit at a speed that leaves everyone open mouthed.

Arturo Brachetti was already great when I was a child and I used to watch him on tv shows and absolutely loved him! When we heard he was going to perform in London we bought the tickets as fast as we could. He hasn’t changed a bit, it’s still the lovely cheeky sweet person I remember from my childhood and he really is amazing.

The costumes were great, the music lovely and the show was really perfect, it was a sort of imaginary conversation between the old and the young himself, where the old self remembered shows he had done in the past, while preparing for his last performance.

He started with an homage to England and went on playing many different characters, at one point doing Hollywood’s famous films, from James Bond to King Kong, Harry Potter to Gollum, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Gone with the wind and a most hilarious Carmen Miranda with a singing banana (yes, a singing banana).

The show is suitable for all ages, just a bit cheeky sometimes, but kids love jokes about boobs! In fact my 7 year old loved it and she laughed at dancing boobs more than any other thing.

The Show ended with an homage to Federico Fellini and his movies.

This is a show worth watching, it’s on until early January , here is the link to the show.

Try typing his name on You Tube, you’ll see some of his acts.

BrachettiIsn’t he cute???

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The beauty of Nature

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Lovely carrots

These carrots arrived in my vegetable box last Monday, they look really cute and reminded me of how great Mother Nature is, producing unusual looking things for us.
I found it really sad that you cannot see any funny looking vegetables in supermarkets, and unfortunately it’s a serious problem for farmers as well, who must meet the standards of big companies, who only want perfect looking fruit and veg.

So try and visit farmer markets and buy local organic products from the people that actually grow them!

have a look here:

www.farmersmarkets.net

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Blood oranges

Friday, March 13th, 2009

blood oranges

Blood oranges are a kind of oranges that is unfortunately quite difficult to find, they are grown in Sicily and come in season in late winter.

They are smaller than regular oranges, their skin is not so smooth and is sometimes dark orange. As for the taste, it is slightly different from regular oranges, and quite hard to describe! They sometimes have pips, usually not more than 3-4 each.

Blood oranges are an absolute treat and if you are able to find them, make yourself a juice and you’ll be happy!

Oranges are great providers of vitamin c, lots of antioxidants and research show that they can prevent cancer of the stomach and esophagus.

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