Is a month enough?

This blogger is officially BACK.

Back in her hot, stuffy apartment, with both her coffee and pizza needs well and truly satisfied. For now. And also back at her computer, ready to continue filling you in on all things southern Italy related. Well, apart from today, that is. Today's post is actually a celebration, if you will, of all things British. I have spent the past month enjoying not only the delightful English weather (not even a hint of sarcasm there...it really was delightful) but also great British wit, British television and of course, British food. Ladies and gents, behold: A month of the UK-in pictures...

Breakfast in the garden. YES, it was actually possible!

Tea time, obvs.

My aunt's curry. Not to be missed.

MASSIVE YUM. That is all.

Yes, I actually witnessed this. Absolutely incredible...and oh-so-sad for Eastbourne.

Summer school fun and frolics

Relaxing at the Great British seaside.

This is what teachers do on their afternoon off.

Brunch at Bill's.

Erm...

Exciting camera angles.

Post cocktail, bus stop shenanigans.

If you haven't tried Mix-ups...I urge you to. NOW. But beware, it's far too easy to scoff the whole packet in one go.

Erm...shop much? High street, I salute you.

As I departed Bristol airport on Saturday afternoon (after a torturous wait at security, which thankfully didn't involve a strip search of any kind but DID involve me almost exploding with impatience), I took a moment to reflect on whether I was actually ready to come back. It's always difficult saying goodbye, and leaving behind the country in which you grew up, with which you are familiar and where everything is just easy, but usually I'm well and truly ready to return to Italy. This time however, I was divided. I couldn't wait to enjoy some Italian summer, eat some real pizza and get back to my comfortable, albeit stuffy, apartment. Yet I had had a great time in the UK: friends, family, fish and chips and Primark (sorry, that last one wasn't in keeping with the alliteration but you know...it deserved a place on the list). Had a month been enough? Would I have started to really crave Italy after even just a couple more days? Who knows. For now however, I will not wallow in my thoughts, and will begin, once again, to eat my body weight in gelato, torte, and tomatoes...

The Best of British!

You only have to spend a few minutes on my little blog to realise a couple of things. One, is that I am not a fan of the Italian post office. Another, is that I love exploring southern Italy. But one of the most obvious thing you can find out from my blog, is that I love Italian food. Dolce, pizza, pasta, gelato... the list of things I love eating here in Italy is endless. But underneath all of that love for Italian cuisine, I am still very British. There are a huge number of British products that you can't get for love nor money here in the Boot, so I may have literally yelped with joy when this wonderful package found its way to my door:

check out the FLAG!!!!

Thanks to the lovely people at the British Corner Shop (http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/), my cupboard is now well stocked with some yummy goodies, including (but definitely not limited to) chocolate digestives, walkers crisps, Cadbury's fingers, Jamaica ginger cake and, the piece de resistance... LYLE'S GOLDEN SYRUP. Over 400g of thick, sugary goodness now sits in my kitchen cupboard. 'Is it like powdered sugar?' one Italian friend speculated. I corrected him by slowly prising open the lid and dazzling him with the golden GLOW.

One week after ordering, my package arrived on Monday. I discovered (via the handy UPS tracking service) that it had had a (relaxing?) weekend stuck in Bari. Trust the Italians to delay my British goodies. My Italian man was just as excited as I was about the package. 'Ooo my crisps!' he (incorrectly) stated. After a peaceful night's rest, safe in the knowledge that I had all sorts of deliciousness sitting downstairs, I did the only sensible thing possible: made a load of flapjack.

With 250g oats, 100g of butter, about 120g of brown sugar and two tablespoons of golden syrup, I recreated one of my favourite British recipes. My boyfriend took a load of the stuff for his parents to try and they apparently LOVED it. Well, what do you know. Those food-fussy Italians do enjoy some quality British grub!

In some of the flapjacks, I even added a cheeky bit of  Green and Black's cooking chocolate, which had also arrived in my package. And guess what I'm having for my tea tonight? Oh yes, WARBURTONS CRUMPETS. ( 'So, do you like, make a sandwich out of these or what?' Silly Italian.)

So, if any of you fellow expats fancy a quick fix of some tasty British treats, check out a massive selection of stuff at the British Corner Shop, which also has an ever-growing American section too. Next on my list? Quavers and ginger biccies!

Happy eating! 

Buon anno...

To all my readers, fellow bloggers, and those of you who have only just stumbled across by little webspace, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Yes, I know it's a little late what with it already being the 8th and everything, but the year still feels nice and new to me. Stretching out ahead of us, full of promise and countless opportunities to explore, discover and of course, eat delicious things.

Talking of eating (which I almost always do), like many other human beings I have definitely indulged over the Christmas period. My trip to the UK was filled with family time, seeing friends, watching Sherlock and eating my body weight in Celebrations/Heroes/Christmas cake. But during the festive period, I deem it NECESSARY to enjoy yourself when it comes to food. Especially if, like me, you have 'suffered' (ahem) 5 months of pizza, pasta and mozzarella- a chicken curry and big helping of Christmas pudding are essential to break the routine a bit. As usual, I got rather snap happy with my food when I was at home in the UK, so feast your eyes upon these beauties....

I may have eaten most of what you can see here in a very short space of time....

YES, I definitely do eat my vegetables!

Coffee with a friend at Cafè Rouge (oo la la)

More coffee, this time with a nice helping of carrot cake

Best way to enjoy eggs? Benedict style of course.

No words are necessary for this.

 Although believe it or not, it wasn't all calorific indulgence.

A cold walk on Christmas day...

..plus dog of course

.

Well, when in Britain...

It had been a good few months since I'd been back home, and I have to say that I really felt the difference. Obviously the people surrounding me were no longer all chattering in Italian and gesticulating wildly, nor were they taking quick coffee shots before getting into their cars and failing to use their indicators at ANY point during their journey, but I did notice that the Brits just seem to be more controlled. Sometimes unnecessarily so, sometimes rightly so, but definitely more respectful of rules in general. This is something I both miss and have come to dislike at the same time. I have said this a million times, but living down here in the south, people are a little more 'relaxed' in all areas of life. They walk slower, take their time, don't worry about being late, eat later and don't even understand the concept of a queue. One day during the holidays, as I was standing in the queue in Boots, I found myself eyeing everyone up; ready to pounce if someone wanted to steal my spot in the line. Then I remembered that I was in BRITAIN, and we Britons know exactly how to queue. We're experts at it. Anyway, in short, I think it's fair to say that Italians and Brits are just different people. Who'd have known...

And now I'm safely back in the sunny Boot, willing to see what 2014 may bring. I don't exactly have any new year's resolutions, but I do want to continue travelling and explore this wonderful country. The political and economic situation may be troubling to say the least, and they may not have Miniature Heroes, but no-one can deny just how beautiful Italy really is.