Feeling hot hot hot...

Hello from cloudy England!

Once again I am writing from the UK. I know, I know, this is supposed to be a blog about Italy, and in fact I fully intend to write about Italy. Today, dear readers, I am going to write about the recent heatwave in Italy. Here is a picture of said heatwave:

Well, more or less anyway. To the right, just out of view, it reads: CALDO INTENSO E AFOSO. A rough translation of this would be: BLOODY HOT. 

At the start of July I took a short trip home to the UK to see my parents' new house in Norfolk (which, by the way, is delightful). After a few days of rest, relaxation and eating lots of fish and chips, I was once again Italy bound. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I always get cold on planes. Is it just me, or do they really whack up the air con to frighteningly cool levels? Anyway, in preparation for this I wore jeans and a jumper. Well done Amy. Two hours later, as I stepped onto the tarmac at Pescara, I was already plotting how I could sneak back onto that chilly plane. There was no air. You couldn't breathe. The heat hit you and smothered you. OK OK I'm being a tad dramatic (just a tad, mind) and I was wearing jeans and a jumper, the latter of which I removed IMMEDIATELY, not caring about my wildly flailing arms as I struggled to get the thing off amidst all the other passengers surrounding me. I wanted my cool, British air back. Oh, and did I mention, this was at 9pm? Uff.

Anyway, I naively believed (along with millions of other Italians probably), that this heatwave would last a few days, a week at most, then flutter off back where it came from and leave us with a nice 29/30 degrees during the day. Well, it didn't quite play out like that. 

Until the very moment that I got back on the plane to come back to England again for a longer stay, said heatwave did not cease. Not for one moment. For three whole weeks. Well, we did have a storm and a drop of rain (which I stood out in and enjoyed...much to the bewilderment of bystanders...possibly due to the fact that I was yelling YES! YES! ...ahem) but fast forward half an hour an the air had become even hotter than before. 

At first, it was just hot. Then the nights got hotter. No bed sheets, fan pointed directly at my face as I slept. Well, I say slept. 4 or 5 hours a night was a good quantity if I was lucky. Gallons of water. Three showers a day. And the SWEATING. Oh dear readers, simply SITTING became a sweat inducing activity. For a while I continued to apologise for it. Then I was too hot and tired to even do that. I simply couldn't wait to get back to England for a beautiful, cool night's sleep. I complained every day to anyone who would listen (and even those who wouldn't). Even the Italians couldn't believe it. (The heatwave, not my complaining. But probably also that too.) 

But for fear of being a negative Nancy (who, me?), I do wish to point out that it wasn't all bad. The small amount of time that I wasn't complaining/sweating/not sleeping/putting my face dangerously close to the fan, I tried my best to enjoy the gorgeous sunshine: trips to the beach, evening swims, mountains of gelato and several glorious sunsets. One evening I took a dip in the sea at 8pm and I have to say that it was simply beautiful.

Yep, heat makes me jump.

So there you have it. That's how a Brit copes (or indeed, doesn't cope. At all) with a heatwave. Seek out shade, copious amounts of gelato, and bodies of water in which to immerse yourself. Oh, and air conditioning. FIND AIR CONDITIONING. Let's just say that I was nowhere near my jeans and jumper for the flight back to the UK this time...

In the summetime...

...the weather in southern Italy is GLORIOUS. And also BOILING. But instead of just going on about how darn hot it is, I thought I would make a little list to illustrate exactly what it's like to experience summer here the heel of the boot. So, here it is:

1. Summer will arrive suddenly. One minute you're still in your jeans and a jacket and the next? You're wondering if it's acceptable to walk around in your smalls because it's so ridiculously warm (just for the record, it's not).

2. Sweating will become part of your daily life, and it'll be tricky to find a deodorant that will prevent you from leaving sweat marks all over your t-shirt. The good thing is, however, that people here don't seem to care too much. A shiny face or a few damp underarms don't seem to bother anybody. Being smelly on the other hand, does. So make sure you wash.

3. Between the hours of 12pm and about 5pm during the high summer, there will be no-one, I repeat, NO-ONE, on the streets. At this time of day it's simply impossible to be outside, and so people either choose to sleep, or at least relax in their air conditioned houses, if they're lucky enough to have them.

4. When people do venture outside, their walking pace will become tortoise-like. People here walk slowly enough as it is, so add in a nice 35°C to the mix and everyone becomes practically stationary.

5. Shops don't really stock chocolate any more. As you all know, heat plus chocolate equals goo. Ice cream, which is already goo but at least it's cold goo, will become your regular sugar fix.

6. When mid June comes around, everyone will start going to the beach. Understandably so, because in the towns and cities it's just far too hot. If you're looking for a peaceful beach day, avoid Sundays, as all the of lidi become jam packed. Screaming children to the left, dialect-speaking (or-yelling) families to the right and in front? A whole host of speedo-clad men.

7. Even though it's scorching outside and the only thing you feel like eating is a light salad, Italians will still continue to eat pasta dishes for lunch. Yes, this is probably why all they can do in the afternoon is sleep.

8. In the summertime, despite the extreme sweatiness and the fact that you don't have any energy whatsoever, la dolce vita really begins. Lazy beach days, shorts and sandals, endless amounts of gelato (or maybe that's just me?) and long, summer evenings of aperitivi and cocktails. What more could you ask for?

Kinder Bueno Cheesecake

Hi folks! I hope you all had a great weekend. On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending my very first southern Italian wedding; my stomach is now in recovery, and I will be posting all about it in the very near future! For now though, check out this delicious (and very simple) Kinder Bueno Cheesecake recipe, which I recently made to try and impress my boyfriend's family, along with a couple of other calorific treats (have a look at that blog post here)

  To give credit where credit is due, I actually took this recipe from boutiquebake.com. I only made one little alteration: just a little extra butter. I found that the original amount didn't quite bind the biscuit together as much as I wanted.

Here's what you'll need:

For the biscuit base: 300g of digestives and 200g of butter

For the cheesecake: 350ml of whipped cream, 450g of cream cheese, 150g of sifted icing sugar and 6 single Kinder Bueno bars. You can obviously use more Kinder Bueno bars if you wish!

 First, place a sheet of greaseproof paper in a circular spring clip tip. You could use a normal tin, but it might be a little tricky taking the cheesecake out later. Melt the butter and then crush the digestive biscuits well. Then mix them together and press into the tin. Make sure they are nice and compact.

Whip up the cream, and in a separate bowl mix the cream cheese and icing sugar. You can do this by hand but I found it much easier using an electric whisk! Melt the broken up Kinder Buenos either in the microwave or over a saucepan of hot water, then mix all of the ingredients together. Spread the mixture over the biscuit base, making sure it's smooth and level.

Put the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 4 or 5 hours to set properly. I left mine in there overnight at this was perfect. I then topped it with chocolate sauce and some extra Kinder Bueno chunks.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can modify it easily. In the future I'm going to use the same basic recipe to make an Oreo or Snickers cheesecake. It's making me hungry just thinking about it....

Buon appetito! :D

A sweet success!

Well well. As I sit here typing this I am feeling pretty darn chuffed with myself. Why? Because, dear readers, I happen to have demonstrated that my baking skills are, in fact, not bad at all. As you all know, I am fan of eating dolce. A big fan. A massive, super sweet-toothed fan. And yes, every now and then I do get involved in a bit of cake making and sometimes I even share my little sponge cake or cupcake recipes with you. But this time, this particular weekend, I think it's fair to say that I just about surpassed myself. As it was my boyfriend's birthday, I calmly volunteered to make a birthday cake. Momentarily forgetting (great big face palm) that 'making a birthday cake' here in southern Italy does not involve wedging a couple of sponge cakes together with some nice chocolate icing. Oh no no no no.

Firstly, there can't just be one cake. Absolutely not. There must be a 'selection' of treats, as every person's plate must contain at least 3 or 4 different types of dolce. Now, this is not an 'official' rule, but it may as well be. Previous birthday ''get-togethers' that I have been to have left me with a tummy full of 5 or 6 different cake samples. Secondly, in our list of 'cake requirements', the standard of the cakes must be no less than excellent. There's no 'Oh-it's-the-thought-that-counts' mentality here. It has to be bloody brilliant. And finally, he or she preparing said cakes must be able to deal well with stress. The thought that it may all go wrong, or that the standard of the cake won't be up to par, or that people will passively insult your cakes by leaving big slices of them uneaten on abandoned plates...in other words, get ready to put blood, sweat and tears into your dolce if you're cooking for a load of fussy Italians.Especially a good 25 of them.

So you can imagine that, after uttering the words 'sure, I'll make your birthday cake', my world started crashing around me. OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. But only a bit. Even deciding on which dolce to make was a trauma. Cream? Chocolate? Fruit? Oh why are there so many options. Anyway, in the end I decided on the following: A vanilla, two-layer sponge cake decorated with crema pasticcera, crema Chantilly , fresh strawberries and grated white chocolate. This was to be the 'main' cake. The piece di resistance. I would also do two Kinder Bueno cheesecakes and a plate of fairy cakes topped with crema Chantilly. For several hours, my kitchen turned into a pasticceria and I turned into a mean, cake making machine. Once the process was finished, and I realised that I hadn't sat down in over three hours, I stepped back and surveyed the situation. The cakes looked pretty darn good. All had gone to plan. But my kitchen? It looked like a great big bomb of cream, strawberries and Kinder Bueno bits had gone off in it. Dirty pots and containers had been abandoned all over the place and the electric whisk looked like it had had better days. All of this didn't bother me so much however. As the party was drawing nearer and it was almost time for my cakes too be judged by a ruthless panel. I mean, eaten by my boyfriend's loving family. Ahem.

Fast forward to several hours later, and the fruit had just been devoured. (The order of food here goes like this: savoury, fruit, dessert, liqueur. Always.) My heart was actually pounding as I brought out the dolce and presented it on the table. Nobody said a word. And it wasn't that sort of 'stunned by the beauty of it all' silence. No. They just weren't really fussed. Buuuuh. It's OK, I said to myself. Clearly the presentation isn't so important. Wait until they try it. Slices were plated up. Said plates were distributed. And I waited. For a while, nothing. Munch munch. Chew chew. Then suddenly:

Excellent...delicious.

Really nice Amy.

I had started to breathe again.

Is there any more? I'd quite like another piece.

YES. Fist pump.

At this point I was grinning like a loon at my little success. Plates were being finished! People were asking for more! My man beamed at me. But then I heard this:

Very nice Amy. Yes...can we book you for the next birthday party?!

.......*Amy shaped hole in the wall*

The goods.

Recipes for these cakes to be published soon!!

More documents please!

As I'm sure you know, I'm not usually one to rant and rave on my blog; preferring to focus on the more positive elements of life- peaceful southern Italian living, delicious dolce and...more delicious dolce. But today is different, dear readers. Why? Because today's topic of conversation is the infamous Italian bureaucracy.

Recently, I have found myself in the middle of a bureaucratic nightmare. Not only do I need to renew my passport (a UK passport obviously) and therefore require Italians to take care of translations, photos etc, but I also need to renew my driving licence. Oh, and I recently got my official residency here too. Like I said: it's a true bureaucracy-fest, and here, you either sink or swim. I'm swimming...but only just. I won't bore you with all the gory details, but I'll tell you about a few 'special occasions'- where the Italian bureaucratic system has really demonstrated how fabulous it really is (yes yes, that's sarcasm.)

1. It took at least 20 minutes for the man at the local town hall to decide what to write as my place of birth on my identity card. Great Britain? United Kingdom? England? I insisted, he didn't listen, instead preferring to call two other equally as clueless colleagues for help.

2. I had to go to aforementioned town hall at least 5 or 6 times to do various, rather useless things. The man who works there grabbed my arms and told me 'not to be scared'. I was.

3. The local Motorizzazione (Driving Licence agency) is a terrifying place, where everyone is angry and shouty. EVERYONE.

4. At said Motorizzazione I was given completely the wrong information and told that I could not convert my licence to an Italian one. After several phone calls, Internet searches and a lot of time wasted, we realised that this was not the case and actually, I COULD convert my licence. Now I understand all the shoutyness.

5. With all the necessary documents, I arrived at the local court to do my translation (traduzione giurata), just to be told that the judge who usually deals with these matters wasn't available and I should return the next day. Any advice on what other supporting documents I might need? I asked the man hopefully. Unsurprisingly, he didn't have a clue.

6. When I returned to the local court to do my translation, there was nobody waiting in front of me and the judge was available. Result! It was too good to be true however, as I had to wait 20 minutes just for her to finish her coffee/rant at her colleague.

These are just snippets. And they are pretty tame ones at that. There will undoubtedly be huge numbers of other expats who have felt the wrath of the disorganised, nonsensical bureaucratic system here in the Boot.To all of you, I offer my sincere condolences for your wasted time. To those of you who are considering diving into this mess, my advice to you would be this:

1. Take a patient, real-life Italian with you when you have meetings and appointments to go to. Any linguistic issue you may have, they will take care of. And the person who you are dealing with may have issues about your foreign-ness, so the real-life Italian may help to cushion this too.

2. Do your research online (there are lots of sites and forums- just google 'Italian bureaucratic nightmare' and you should get something) and get as prepared as you can. There will ALWAYS be something else that they need though, so just try and control your anger when they make you return 2 more times with other useless documents that were not mentioned on said online forums.

3. Have a nice glass of whisky/glass of local red/big bar of chocolate/tranquiliser ready for you when you return home. You will need it.

Good luck to you all, my fellow expatriates!

Easter (Over)eating

Well, WHAT a week!

My parents arrived in Puglia last Saturday, and what followed was a super busy seven days full of excursions, family meet ups and masses of overeating. We took trips to Trani, Castel del Monte and Matera (write ups to follow) and, despite the pretty bad weather, had a very lovely time indeed.

But let's return, for now, to the aforementioned 'overeating' part of the Easter vacation. I've written many times before about the fact that, on special occasions, Italians really up the ante and enjoy ridiculous amounts of delicious food. So, who were we to say no to anything! Throughout the entire week we indulged in all sorts of tasty treats, including...

Yes, this is what Italian Easter eggs look like. None of that funny box business like in the UK. They can be pretty pricey too.

We sampled these delicious typical dishes at a wonderful party that was thrown by some friends. Here, you can see Parmigiana, Pancotto (a dish made with vegetables and bread), pasta with a vegetable similar to chicory, panzerotti, tomato pizza and some local Rosè wine.

And theeeeen came the dolce. Oh my. From the top, a forest fruit cheesecake (which was deliciouss because it wasn't too sweet), a nutella cake, red wine cake, typical Easter colomba cake, pistachio cake, tiramisù and finally, a pineapple and cream cake. Of course, we sampled them all. Well, it would have been rude not to!

Cake close up.

A slightly lighter (yet no less delicious) dessert that we had whilst in Matera (at the Soul Kitchen restaurant). White chocolate semi-freddo with fresh strawberries and balsamic.

On Saturday, we decided that (at least) a week of 'sensible' eating was in order. This was going very well indeed until a birthday celebration that we were invited to yesterday evening.

 Oh dear.

Easter treats

Well would you look at that. Easter is almost upon us! It's almost time to start scoffing chocolate eggs, which makes me very excited indeed. What makes me even MORE excited than consuming vast quantities of chocolate however, is that soon my parents will be arriving. It's been several months since I've seen them, and so it's about time that we saw each other. There are already several family meet-ups organised, the majority of which involve lunches or dinners (of course), and I'm once again looking forward to witnessing the (amusing) reliance on non verbal communication. Mine don't speak Italian, his don't speak English; you get the idea. In all seriousness though, it's amazing how much a big smile and a warm embrace can show affection and can create bonds. My boyfriend's dad does have one token phrase though; the ever-useful 'WHAT TIME IS IT?!'. I'm quite sure he doesn't know how to actually tell the time in English...but at least he's making an effort.

In other 'news', it has been a while since I've posted some pics of delicious dolce, so I thought I'd better deliver. The other morning, myself and my man went out for breakfast, and instead of a nice healthy colazione, we went for nice and unhealthy instead. Cappuccino? Check. Crostata alla nutella? Check. Small, cream filled croissant? Ohhh yes.

As I was enjoying my sweet breakfast, I also snapped a few pics of the cream cakes on offer at the bar. Sunday is the day of dolce, and so the counter was filled with all sorts of tasty treats.

And finally, a little while ago I discovered a cute little bar which serves great cocktails. Not only this, but their aperitivo is also pretty impressive.  And all for €6, cocktail included? Yes please! I recently went there with a friend and we had a very nice evening indeed.

Have a happy Easter folks! :D

Hello April!

Well can you believe it. It's actually April now. A whole week into April! (Don't worry, not all of this post will be in short sharp sentences which express my disbelief at how quickly time is passing by). Soon, the Spring will be in full flow (it's got off to a pretty good start) and then of course, those long, balmy days of summer will arrive. This (pasty) Brit absolutely can't wait. There comes a point when getting all snuggled up in comfy warm jumpers, drinking hot chocolate and enjoying hearty soups gets a bit, well, old. For the last month or two I have been impatiently waiting for warmer days where I can switch to a light jacket and enjoy daylight until 7pm.

Two Sundays ago, myself and my man headed to Termoli, which is a lovely resort town in Molise; just north of the region of Puglia. In the Summer it's packed with people and a hefty dose of international tourists too, who can't get enough of the gorgeous beaches, lively bars and seafood restaurants. The well-restored historical part of town is the perfect place to have a nice little stroll (whether it's summer or winter), and this is exactly what we did that Sunday afternoon; ice cream in hand of course. We weren't the only ones who had this idea however, as the town was absolutely packed with people. It seems as though I'm not the only one who is craving that Spring feeling! Here are a few photos that I took (minus the hoards of people of course). Isn't the sea so beautifully calm?

Have a great week! :D

Caves, Culture and Cuisine: Marvellous Matera

Last Saturday lunchtime, following a morning of absolute CHAOS teaching a group of young children in a local primary school, myself and my wonderful man made a break for it, and headed away from our little town for the weekend. Our destination? One of the oldest towns in Italy: Matera.

Matera is famous for its stone houses, or 'sassi', that are built into the rock face and have been inhabited for thousands of years. While the town has now become a glittering gem of the region of Basilicata, it wasn't always this way. The living conditions in these houses were cramped and dire, as 10 or 11 people (there were around 20,000 in total in the sassi) would usually live a small 'house' (which was more like a cave) and share their living space with animals. They had no heat or sanitation, and if that situation wasn't bad enough, they also used to conserve the animal excrement to use as fuel. Pongy or what??

 You may be thinking that, OK, hundreds of years ago this may have been a rather 'normal' situation for poor and working class citizens, but unbelievably, this was the situation in the 1930s and 1940s. This extreme poverty here was finally brought to light during this period, and Matera and its sassi became a huge embarrassment for Italy. In the 1950s a relocation programme was put into action, with sassi-dwellers being moved to newer, less dirty and disease-ridden parts of town. For a long time the caves remained abandoned, but in the 80s, a revival truly began, as the stone houses were bought, and re-modelled into cool cafes, bars, restaurants and B&Bs. In fact, in 1993 the town of Matera actually became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now if that isn't an impressive turnaround, I don't know what is!

OK, history lesson ends here! Myself and my man were gobsmacked at the former living conditions in the sassi, and paid a few euros to enter one that had been decked out in 1930s style- fake horse and all (Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario). We listened to a guide talk about the dwelling, and made several appalled expressions at some of the animal excrement comments that were mentioned.

See that room at the back? Yep, that was where the smelly stuff was kept...

But what impressed us the most, was the sheer beauty of these sassi; looking out over the rock face at all of these small caves, especially when they were lit up at night, was just incredible. There were plenty of viewpoints to stop at, as we explored the winding streets and passageways of this historic town, so we managed to get plenty of great photos.

Our B&B was called Alle Malve and was located on Via Bruno Buozzi, right in the centre of the sassi. The owner was helpful and accommodating, as she gave us an easy to follow map and, the following day, a lovely breakfast of homemade cake and biscuits, as well as the standard coffee and croissant. Despite being located in an actual stone cave, the bedroom wasn't at all humid; in fact, it was lovely and warm.

On Saturday night we had hoped to eat at local restaurant 'Il Pico', which my lovely friend Ali (http://cilentofairytales.blogspot.it/) had recommended to me after she and her hubby had dined there during their stay in Matera. However, we couldn't get in as it was full, so instead we headed to 'Soul Kitchen'; a wonderful little place located in one of the sassi, where you can enjoy local dishes and very good service. We tucked into a chef's speciality plate of antipasti, which included local burrata cheese, radish and mushroom salad and a strange (but absolutely delicious) baked ricotta dish. We then followed it with a primo of pasta with sausage and mushrooms. The wine was also local, and of good quality, as we didn't suffer from any form of headache the next day!

Delicious anipasti

On Sunday morning we went for another stroll around the town, and also checked out the Museo d'arte Contemporanea and the Chiesa di San Pietro, before stopping for a very tasty coffee at Kiev Cafe on Via Bruno Buozzi.

Chiesa di San Pietro Caveoso

Our trip to Matera, albeit brief, was simply fantastic. What an incredible place, and only about 2 hours from where we are in the province of Foggia. As well as the delicious food, warm hospitality and unbelievable history, this is also the place where Mel Gibson shot his film The Passion of the Christ. If it's good enough for him....

Perfect Puglia

Well, would you look at that...it's now March! Doesn't time fly? And, as per usual (oh dear!) this Brit is way behind on her blogging...

A couple of weekends ago, it seemed as though Spring had already sprung here in Puglia. The sun was out, the sunglasses were on, and the thick coats were off. Myself and my man were incredibly lucky, as we had chosen this particular weekend to go on a little trip down to the beautiful Baroque city of Lecce (often named the 'Florence of the South', and it's easy to see why). We were blinded by the sun all the way down and even OPENED up the windows to let in some air, as the car was getting pretty hot. In FEBRUARY. Anyway, we had chosen to say at the Risorgimento Resort in the city centre; a rather chic five star hotel. And before you start thinking that I have rather extravagant tastes in accommodation , I actually stumbled across this place on Booking.com back in December, and snapped up a great price for that weekend. Myself and the Italian were very impressed, even if the staff weren't the friendliest bunch.

comfiest. bed. ever.

From the Pasticceria 'Natale'. I simply URGE you to go there.

We relaxed, drank coffee, ate delicious cakes and explored the city; in short, we had a wonderful (albeit brief) time in Lecce. Check out my recent article on charmingitaly.com if you want to know a bit more about lovely Lecce: http://www.charmingitaly.com/article/luxurious-weekends-in-lecce.

When Sunday rolled around, and we (very reluctantly) rolled out of what may be the biggest, most comfortable bed I have ever slept in, we said goodbye to Lecce and headed towards the seaside town of Polignano al Mare.

A visit to this little town, which is located right on the Adriatic sea in the province of Bari, is an absolute must for anyone who has the pleasure of visiting Puglia. Not only is is packed full of history, as it has been around since prehistoric times, but it is also home to cute little shops, restaurants and pavement cafes. Make sure you take time to wander around the windy little streets and read all the arty little messages that have been painted into the stone.

Next weekend we will be heading down to Matera. It is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, and home to the famous 'sassi' (stone houses). Roll on Saturday!