Dragged out of Retirement

Well, it's the start of the second Bank Holiday of May, and it's pouring with rain, cold (a measly 7 degrees!) and there's a robin in the bird-bath......... is it REALLY May ?    I went out food-shopping this morning in the wet but I'm not stepping out again today if I can help it !  The first Bank Holiday of the month the lovely Ricardo (aka bazanges) was here for the weekend and it really did feel like Spring.................. especially with having some lovely gelati at Amorino in Soho

What's that bright thing outside ? ...my goodness it's the sun !! I've been very brave and watered the garden and all the pots as everything was so dry, but with so much frost recently it didn't seem a good idea before now........ quite a few of the bulbs in the pots seem a bit slow or stunted, I'm sure it's a mix of cold and dry, so there, I've done it !

It's the mildest day since we returned from Italy last Tuesday...... I'm VERY behind (as usual) posting anything about the wonderful week we had.

Our week in Le Marche started off with rain (heavy), fog (thick) and snow (picturesque!). In fact without the sat-nav I doubt we would have found the hotel we were staying at near Urbino.  The view from our room window when we arrived was.....



....luckily the next morning we could see what was really there.....

Yesterday morning we left Ravenna under a blanket of heavy rain which had started the evening before and carried on non-stop all the way to Bologna airport (including a little mosaic stop-off!). It seems it was a wet day all over Italy. It very rarely happens, but we arrived back in the UK (at Heathrow) to brilliant sunshine and blue sky, albeit it still very chilly. It's not often we go away for a week and come back to find the garden exactly the way we left it - all the spring bulbs frozen in time !!

Today is back to grey !! And it's amazing, after a full week of doing quite a lot of sight-seeing etc, how today has whizzed by with me doing very little............. laundry, light-dusting, and lazing (and gazing) at the computer !!

These little fellows amused me in Fano (a small town on the coast in Le Marche.......

My mother gave Franco london1967 an Amaryllis bulb for Christmas, it's not quite as dark as the picture on the box indicated but it is a wonderful colour..... the first flower-head has died but I think there is a little sign at the base of the leaves that another bud may be coming.......




The two orchids my mother chose for Mother's Day (the cream one is from Christmas) and some flowers I got her too....





Our auriculas have really suffered over the winter and I thought we might loose them all, but on a not-to-chilly dry day a couple of weeks ago I re-potted them all, finding more bits of roots that I thought, and in spite of over-night frosts and hail they appear to be pulling through.......... it looks like a nursery full of premature babies !

On Friday afternoon there was a get-together at the Garden Museum to formally introduce all the "new" staff who have come to work (paid) mainly behind-the-scenes....it's been feeling distinctly like "them and us" since the beginning of the year.... we also had some updates regarding the proposed "Phase 2" of the development of the Museum.  I think most of us (volunteers) were thinking we'd get a chance to "air" a few things....... but in the event that was somewhat nicely side-stepped LOL ! - maybe for the best, or we may have ended up there all evening and with a slightly less than jolly atmosphere !

There was also an organised light-hearted "Bake Off", which apparently was my idea...... I must have said something in the past and it had been remembered !   There was a wonderful array of delicious baked goods, the overall winner was a lovely fresh raspberry Bakewell Tart, and my favourite was Beatrice's chocolate dipped honey flapjack, she'd asked for ideas for decoration and I suggested making marzipan bees........ she added fresh violets.

As for me I trialled a rose chocolate cake, which turned out ok and attracted the "show-stopper" rosette, but I found it a bit bland..... it's quite difficult to judge how much rose to include without it tasting of shower-gel !!

Whilst I've been away from LJ lately I seem to have missed wishing a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to jeffurrynpl and kung_fu_monkey I hope you both had wonderful days !!

As part of Franco's (london1967) day out on Saturday we had a very special afternoon tea at The Goring Hotel.  It's the hotel Kate left on the morning of her wedding to William last year, so we expecting something good, but it exceeded expectations..... as Franco said afterwards, 5* surroundings, 5* food, 5* service = 5* hotel !

So, pizza, it originates from Naples and was "street-food" until the 1830s when pizza restaurants began to open, and we expected to try a couple whilst there.  We did attempt to eat at a trattoria one night (for a non-pizza meal) but had such a strange experience trying to get a table we gave up and left in the end........

Three pizzerias on one block all belong to one family, they have been there for years and apparently there are 21 siblings/relatives working in them... I'm guessing with some rivalry ! The one with the biggest "queue" outside was Sorbillo, Gino's one, but we found a few doors down another one of the Sorbillo's clan and got a table straight away.

Fast service, a very sweet waitress, and a great pizza (one of the best I've had)...  lovely and fresh ingredients...




as with other pizzerias in Naples, coffee is not an option at the end of a meal, so I had to "make do" with a glass of limoncello whilst Franco enjoyed a lemon dessert.  

The next evening, after the aborted attempt at the trattoria we tried another pizzeria further up the street, a very tight fit at a draughty table...but again, once the order was taken the food arrived in next to no time....... so, it's just the base that's baked, with green salad, rocket, tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan added - it was divine ! well, at least I thought so.....  so fresh !



The next evening we dined at what appeared to be a "chain" restaurant, however the guy seemingly in charge ran it as if it were his own (ie: well).... no food photos except to show the novel way the bread came to the table, and the "themed" crockery, the design of which I thought was great...




On the last evening we decided to eat "early" and managed the get a table in "the" Sorbillo....all I can say is surly staff, very draughty table, BUT great pizza brought to the table unbelievably quickly !!