I am the only Englishman in our company, we have a lot of Italians, one Albanian and two savage cats. But only one Englishman.
Every year just before Christmas, everyone receives a large Panettone. This is very much like a cross between a soft bread and a fruit cake. And please don’t you Italians get your knickers in a twist over my description because I like them as much as the next Englishman Italian.
Throughout the year, we play quite a lot of practical jokes on each other. Nobody has yet beat my lesson on English swear words. But they do try.
This morning we all received our Panettone, and I had a little gift prepared for them; ten 200 gram tins of Heinz Spaghetti Bolognese (Spag Bog)
As I reverently, handed them out. I was greeted with amusement, bemusement and the odd remark of “ma que skifo” Marco wanted to know if the pasta in the can was dry and did he have to add water, while Lorenzo discretely tried to abandon his can on the desk.
I tried really hard to convince them that this is how we prefer our Spaghetti Bolognese in England.
Merry Christmas to you all.
Pecora Nera
Englishman in Italy 
Class – they haven’t a clue about real cooking have they? – Merry Xmas!
LikeLike
Never a truer word has been spoken. It is my goal to convert the Italians to proper English cooking. For example, the classic recipe, beans on toast or spam sandwiches. And of course the Chinese and Indian takeaway.
LikeLike
They will be erecting statues to you
LikeLike
I love Panettone, I nearly died and went to heaven the first time I tried it. Spaghetti in a tin…. isn’t that for throwing at people you don’t like? Have a wonderful Christmas!
LikeLike
THROWING AT PEOPLE!!!!!! I used valuable Ryanair weight allowance to bring those tins back…
LikeLike
Wouldn’t inflict it on my worst enemy. Now baked beans, on the other hand…..Have a lovely Christmas!
LikeLike
have a great Christmas and New year, from Pecora Nera and Mrs Sensible
LikeLike
Pure awesomeness!
LikeLike
Thank you. The italians still don’t understand my humour.
LikeLike
I know what you mean! 🙂
LikeLike
a song comes to mind…… “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” 😉 – the Heinz spag bog is certainly only for the dogs… and I think Italian dogs would turn their noses up to it….
Buon Natale Pecora Nera! 🙂
LikeLike
Happy new year to you too. For my birthday, I invited a dozen Italian friends over to our house; and then fed them home made Chicken Tika Masala. Had I thought about it, I could have made a Heinz spag bog starter.
LikeLike
you introduced them to the delicacies of exotic food… never been tasted before by an Italian mouth…. 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
Heinz Spag Bol in a tin – yuk. However, I like your joke on your workmates! 😀
LikeLike
Happy Christmas, mate! Some people just don’t know what is good.
LikeLike
Merry Christmas to you too
LikeLike
Merry Christmas!! (You must be hell to work with :-))
LikeLike
Mmm, just a bit of fun. Merry Christmas.
LikeLike
Hey man, I just couldn’t forget to send you my best wishes for a fantastic New Year! Blessings and Happiness to you, your saint of a wife ( 😉 ) and I hope 2013 will be a great one for all of us! I hope all is well!
LikeLike
Hi Livinitalia, You started me on this blogging 🙂 Have a great New Year and I how some of your dreams come true. Mrs Sensible sends her best wishes.
LikeLike
Say hi to Mrs. Sensible and wish her a Felice Anno Nuovo! You know we have to make it a date this year to meet sometime, cuz now we have to! Enjoy your day today and tomorrow diet for everyone, hahahahaha!
LikeLike
Thanks, yes we should meet up. Tomorrow we leave Sicily for Piemonte, I will toot the car horn as I pass Napoli. Have a good 2013
LikeLike
You too! Maybe this year we can organize something! Ciao for now!
LikeLike
Ha ha! My father played exactly the same joke on my husband once.
Hubby got revenge by scouring the shops in England till he found “English fried breakfast in a can”. It included a fried egg, beans, a sausage, mushrooms, and a tomato. Dad looked at it and wept!
BTW you cannot scare Italians with spam sandwiches. They have spam anyway, they just pretend it’s posh by adding pistachio nuts and calling it mortadella.
LikeLike
Hi! I’ve nominated your blog for the Sunshine Award, which is an award for bloggers who positively and creatively inspire other bloggers. Here’s my post on the award:
http://siciliangodmother.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/ive-won-a-sunshine-award/
LikeLike
Thank you for the nomination. I will go and have a glass of wine and think of an appropriate post and who to nominate. Can I re nominate you… tee hee.
LikeLike
Spaghetti in a tin – Gag! My daughter, when she was little, went through a period during which she would only eat the Canadian version of that – Spaghetti-Os. After that it was Kraft Dinner. Those were the darkest moments in my career as a single mother, lol.
LikeLike
Don’t knock spaghetti in a can 🙂 I loved it when I was young.
When I lived in the UK , my Sicilian mother in law to be came over to help with the wedding preparations. We went off to the supermarket and as she was loading pasta, bread etc into the shopping trolly, I started to load canned spaghetti hoops, canned spag bog and ready made bolognese sauce in a jar. She had a tizzy fit and ordered their removal.
LikeLike
Anything called spag bog should be illegal . 🙂 You’ve inspired to me torture my co-workers with a culinary nightmare. I’m American, so it should it easy.
LikeLike
That is what co workers are for… 🙂
LikeLike