Well… I am not sure what to write about today. I flicked a Euro in the air to help me decide and it rolled under the chair, never to be seen again. So, today I will only give you a little flavour of a day in the life of an Englishman living in Italy.
Bring back Sterling
Mrs Sensible left the house in a happy mood this morning. She had just learnt that she had been awarded the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award by 1write way.wordpress. Personally, I am gob-smacked. I am not sure why she won the award, because this is my blog. Mrs Sensible is the cook and the woman that keeps me out of trouble, she doesn’t put ink to paper. A couple of months ago during a glass of fine wine, I did suggest to Mrs Sensible that she should start her own blog. She thought it was a good idea and started to discuss the possibilities of “Living with an Englishman” and “Living with the man who burns Pasta”. Fortunately, I managed to steer the conversation onto more pressing matters and away from a blog discussing her life with me.
Mrs Sensible’s blog award.
(There will be a post about the award later…..) Massimo, the builder who had come to look at our roof and gutters, following the tornado that wandered through my garden, nearly fell off his ladder this morning. We, me and him, propped a rather large ladder against the side of the house and while I did the technical bit of putting my left foot against the bottom rung of the ladder, Massimo climbed to the top.
A rather long ladder
My conversation with Elsa (the landlady and daughter of Luigina) was abruptly interrupted by Massimo shouting a lot of rude words and waving both of his hands in the air. Damn fool I thought, he is supposed to be using one of his hands to hold on to the ladder. “Vespa!! Aiuto!! Porca miseria” he shouted as he waved his hands about. I calmly suggested that maybe he should descend the ladder before he fell off and squashed my pot plants. He took my advice and came to ground zero, sporting a few rather nice wasp stings to the side of his face.
I forgot to give him the can of Zig Zag until it was too late. The ammoniaca was for the stings
Oh!! I nearly forgot, earlier this year Mrs Sensible entered a national competition organised by the Italian government, (I wrote about this in March). The competition was to organise who would get full-time contracts within the Italian School system and who would continue on temporary contracts. The Government has decided that their competition is far too complicated and they can’t add up who has won, so they will now announce the winners in September 2014. Fortunately Mrs Sensible has found a place for this year at the same school she taught at last year, so we will make it through another year. PS. I made lunch today,
Dog meat pasta
I used onions from my vegetable patch, some cans of meat that resembled dog meat, but I am assured it is the Italian equivalent to corn beef (as I said dog meat) a clove of garlic, a bottle of wine (I always cook better with a glass in my hand) and some tomatoes. Through gritted teeth, Mrs Sensible said she enjoyed it. If you are lucky I might upload the menu.
Englishman in Italy 
Lunch looks delicious.
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Thanks..
It is the first time that I have cooked dog meat pasta. The tin had a pic of a cow on it and the words Simmenthal. So I threw 2 cans in
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Does ammonia relieve wasp stings? I didn’t know that. My youngest (12) was stung by wasps recently and asked for white vinegar. I didn’t know about that either. I don’t seem to know much about wasps!
Your lunch ‘looks’ okay – pasta-y and tomato-y. Can’t go much wrong there… especially with enough wine! 🙂
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The wine was purely medicinal, honest.
Over here if you get stung by a wasp, they slather you in ammonia. I don’t know about bees, if one stings me I will let you know what they do to me.
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Well, at least you didn’t burn the pasta!
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Nope, and at least I wasn’t fool enough to climb a long ladder and get stung
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I got stung standing in a bloody bus station! I’ll try ammonia next time. Although you could just rub yourself with that dog meat and no self-respecting wasp would ever go near you I’d imagine. Food for thought there! 🙂
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lol, fortunately, they didn’t sting me.
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Yeah, might look a bit weird if you started smearing your handy man with meat 😉
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Please Mrs. Sensible, do start a blog of your own and I will definitely follow you and un-follow your husband! =p
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😦 I am off to cry into my cappuccino
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Just teasing you =p I still think it’s a good idea though! =)
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🙂
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Where would you be without Ms Sensible? Down and out in GB or just down and out? I am jesting/joking here. 🙂 I am also glad that the roofing man did not fall of the ladder. Doesn’ t anyone climbing that high need wings?
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I was going to mention Red Bull energy drink, but I don’t think they need me advertising them.
There was no way I was climbing the ladder.
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That is a FINE ladder
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She won for moral support and saint-like patience, obviously!
Add me to the list of people who have never heard about the ammonia remedy.
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1) Mrs Sensible is very happy that you and others think she has saint like patience, now enough with this before she decided to start a blog.
2) I think it is about time I did a post on medicines in italy
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That looks like a splendid lunch! Mr Decisive might make me a sandwich if I’m lucky (if it was, say, my birthday or something) – certainly not a pasta dish.
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I enjoy cooking providing a) I can choose what I am going to cook and b) I have a glass of wine handy.
🙂
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Here here! 🙂
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Congratulations on the award Mrs Sensible!
And well done on your cooking 🙂
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Thanks and thanks 🙂
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Congrats on the award and keep posting pics of your culinary creations, they’re fascinating. What did Mrs. Sensible do to make you cook like this? The Husband can’t boil an egg.
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She has a big stick!!!
🙂
Actually I love messing in the kitchen if I can have a glass of wine in my hand
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Oh, I see! That’s why! I only have a rolling pin, albeit a wooden one. I ll refurbish my arsenal then
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Mrs Sensible has wrote 30 menus for my book. There will be one at the end of each chapter.
I think it is only fair that I should try to cook each one, so tonight I cooked.
Maccheroni con Zucchine fritte e Ricotta salata
(Pasta with fried zucchini and hard salted ricotta cheese)
Apart from charring a few zucchini, it turned out rather well. 🙂
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Mmmmmm! Sicilian cuisine, always my favourite:-) bravo!
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PN! i’m impressed! that pasta looks edible 😉 and, bravo mrs. sensible! i think we all agree you deserve an award and are very curious as to what a blog from the other (better? ;)) side would be like!
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Hopefully written in Italian… 🙂
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Congratulations to Mrs Sensible on the award… and to you on that pasta, it’s looks pretty good!
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I have been know to cook with wine, sometimes I even put some in the food…
AV
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That is the best way to cook.. A glug for me a bit for the sauce a glug for me …
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The same problem befell El Robio as he was installing my N Korean rocket silver log burner chimney with a spinning top. In his unintelligible Andiluth Spanish his effin bees resounded throughout the village. 3 cans of insecticide almost wiped out the population adding to Climate Change. The wasps are still there feeding on the cat food meat on my rear balcony.
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Spain sounds a lot like Italy 🙂
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LOL at your “ordinary day of an Englishman”… was the dog-cat canned meat Simmenthal?
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That’s the stuff. it is ok if you throw enough garlic and spices in
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I think a post on Italian medicines and remedies sounds like a great idea! Well done Mrs Sensible on your award (you obviously deserve it) it would be great to see life with PN through your eyes! 😉 PN your lunch looks very delicious and I must say I am so looking forward to your book, both for the humour and the recipes! 🙂
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I have spent many hours pointing out all the reasons Mrs Sensible should NOT write a blog about me… Who would clean up and cook food while she was busy writing and answering questions???? Nope one blog is enough.. 🙂
I think I will do a medicine post
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Well you’d have to repair the Whirling Dervish (if indeed it needed repairing in the first place!) and you could cook, now that you know all those wonderful recipes that are going in your book! That would give Mrs Sensible plenty of time to blog!
You should absolutely do a medicine post, remembering to include all the typical remedies the Italian Mother’s/Grandmother’s would use! 🙂
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Hi HI ,
I can even burn corn flakes!! We have a draw that is full of potions and medicines, I bet we could supply Médecins Sans Frontières for a good month or two 🙂
Personally, I won’t take anything unless I am poorly sick and dying, and then it is under a lot of duress.
Ok I am working on a post… great idea…Thanks
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I’ll look forward to it! 🙂 Burn corn flakes eh! 😉
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