It's that time of year again!

Once the fuss of Christmas is over and done with, every Friday in January finds me at the counter of our local bar demanding of the owner “are they in yet?”  He knows what I mean.   Every time Vito mentions he is going to the bar at the weekend, I ask him to ask the same thing and warn him not to dare return home without any if they are there.  Vito always laughs at me, and sometimes pretends he forgot or didn’t buy any just to tease.  What are “they”?  They are these, “Bignè di San Giuseppe” as they are known in Rome.

Are they in yet?

In other parts of Italy they are called differently.  These cakes are made in two ways.  They are either baked in the oven, or there is a much greasier, richer, fatter and in no-way-low-on-calories fried version, which of course make the latter without a doubt the tastier option!  Believe me, to die for, and in my humble opinion, worth dying for!  Traditionally made to celebrate the feast of St. Joseph (he of carpenter fame), which falls on March 19^th, these cakes are not made at any other time of the year.  Thankfully celebrations seem to start earlier each year and certainly local bars and patisseries begin to stock their bignè by the end of January.  Our local bar sells them at the weekends, and this is what keeps me going during the flat stint after Christmas until spring arrives.  They are our weekend treat. 

They are our weekend treat

The bar owner orders the cakes from a baker in Albano, which has a well-deserved reputation for his wares.  Some places serve them with fillings that are too dense, or too rich or sweet, or the cakes themselves too greasy or even too dry.  However to quote Goldilocks, these “are just right”, (and believe me I’ve tried plenty).  The fact they cannot be bought after the festival ends does a lot to assuage the guilt of overdoing the calories.  I mean you can’t get them after 19^th March, so might as well have one (or maybe two) now.  Can’t have them later can you?  Not as if you are eating them all year round is it? (In which case I’d probably be all round too). 

Can't have them all year round

Oh and one other use I found for them the other day apart from eating them which ended up with us laughing hysterically in the street outside the patisserie in Rome where we bought them while waiting for my dentist appointment.  Vito had been teasing me mercilessly while he happened to be eating a bignè.  I don’t know what made me do it, but my hand moved upwards.  Folks they also make wonderful custard pies!  Smash one in someone’s face and they find they are covered in thick yellow custard. 

They make wonderful custard pies too!!

 Vito will, I’m sure, back me up on this as he was the one who got covered (yessssssss!!!!!!!)  Except of course now he’s threatening revenge L 

It never rains but it pours

The car wheel hit a hole in the road one evening, and Vito, who was driving at the time, said the tyre “literally exploded”. 

The borrowed tyre

It transpired not only the tyre but also the wheel had been damaged beyond repair, so the tyre shop kindly lent us another while we waiting for the replacement to come in.  Two days later the same thing happened to the borrowed wheel, causing me to miss a lesson. What caused these tyres to explode?  Roads like this,

Roads like this

and holes like this. 

Holes like this

The entire area is a disgrace, and that was before the floods began on Friday L  Friday was an M.O.T. day for me.  You know the kind of thing, eye test in the morning, and dentist in the afternoon etc.  Vito took the day off to be my chauffeur (otherwise I’d still be circling Rome looking for a place to park), and warned me that our first port of call, was best described as “the back of beyond” in terms of distance to our place, and we’d have to leave really early.  So 7.30 Friday morning found us steering through driving rain, a solid grey mass of sky stationed menacingly above us.  The fields we passed had become reservoirs, and the roads were literally awash.  Vito, still fuming over the unexpected expense of a new wheel this week, had plenty to say about the roads. “Look, look, they how they made this road.  There’s no drainage, none! 

Water sloshing back and forth

Look, can you see how all the water goes to the centre barrier and not to the outside and off the road?  How can they build a road like that, where the water flows back to the central barrier and not to the outside edge of the road?”  He was right too; water sloshed back and forth across what was left of the tarmac with nowhere to escape.  At one point the heavy traffic drew to a stop and Vito looking ahead, noticed a vast lorry driving in the opposite direction in the lane by the central barrier. “Wait for this” he warned.  I looked up.  The lorry was hurtling down the road, spewing up water from its heavy tyres as it went.  There was a wall of water higher even than the lorry itself, working its way along the barrier a bit like a Mexican wave.  As the lorry thundered by, the car got hit with an avalanche of water, slamming onto our car and making me giggle with almost childish delight.  Don’t think I’d have found it so funny if I’d been outside the safety of the car though.  Then on reaching an area near Spinacetto, Vito took a detour from the blocked main route (he knows Rome like the back of his hand and we dip and dive all over the place, but rarely sit in traffic jams) and I suddenly heard him yell, “Look!!!”  I followed his pointing finger to our right. 

A waterfall

Literally a waterfall cascaded down the bank on the side of the road and then over it.  And yes, we did have to drive though it. 

We drove through it

 It took us nearly two hours to reach our destination. That appointment duly dealt with, and with a good few hours before the next, we made our way firstly to Marconi to pop into a shop there.  By this time the streets were heavily under water.  The cars were parked in the middle of the road as getting out at the kerbside required wearing flippers and a wet suit. 

Needed flippers at the kerbside

As we picked our way through the water to try and find some dry patches Vito was muttering, “welcome to the Lake District, more like Cumbria every minute”.  Then we moved on to Via Ostiense stopping at one of our favourite Chinese restaurants for lunch.  Usually this place, situated across the road from the university is packed at lunchtime, but the torrential rain had obviously put people off that day.  This meant we could actually get a table by the outside wall that looks over the Tevere (or river Tiber to us).  Looking out I couldn’t believe how high the river was, trees were literally up to their necks (?) in water,

Trees up to their "necks"

and a steady stream of flotsam and jetsam flowed down the centre of the fast moving, filthy river. 

Flotsam and jetsam

Under the window of the restaurant was a pile of debris,

Debris under the restaurant window

 which our waiter assured us, hadn’t been there a couple of hours before.   We even saw, what the waiter reckoned was a motorbike being swept down towards the sea.  Later in the afternoon, having visited the dentist we began what almost felt like a swim home.  On reaching Tor De Cenci we found the water had now risen really high in the road, and easily reached the doors of the car as we ploughed through. 

Water almost up to the car doors

 We were glad to finally get home to the warm and dry.   Since then the media has been full of tales and pictures of the far worse damage than mine show done by the water to the roads everywhere, and as a consequence also to a lot of cars.  I wish everyone reading this safe driving J

Mud sticks!

When I left for work this morning, rain was beating down and a strong wind blowing.  I always feel guilty leaving the beast outside in filthy weather, but he simply isn’t to be trusted not to pee indoors while I’m out.  Added to which of course he’s supposed to be a guard dog so his true place if I'm being honest, is outside anyway.  As soon as he hears me come downstairs with my shoes on he stands by the front door ready to be ousted.  

He settled down

He knows.  Although he has a perfectly good kennel he always prefers to shelter in a hole in the ground.  I think this is a throwback to the days when he was a pup, living out in the wild, when his mother Bella would dig a hole for herself and the two pups to take refuge in at night, or in bad weather.  So this morning he settled down – and then I noticed something not too far away.  He's at it again!  And I never see him do it!! 

He's at  it again!

This time they are Vito’s.  I swear if archeologists ever dig up our property in some distant future, they are going to think the house was occupied by a one legged couple!!  As it happens my lesson was cancelled, so just over an hour later I got home to find the beast had re-organised the furniture while I was out and made himself more comfortable.

He'd rearranged the furniture

He was very pleased to see me and to go back into the house.

Just love muddy pawprints - NOT!

Just wish he’d wiped his feet first.   Got big feet, our boy!

Christmas Lunch in the UK

Almost exactly one month ago, we were sitting down about to begin our Christmas Dinner.  It had been years since Vito and I had had a full-blown British Christmas lunch, and we’d been looking forward to it ever since our tickets had been booked.  We were not disappointed! 

Presents!!!

I found that Lisa had already been very busy even before I got up on Christmas morning, and the table was already beginning to look festive.   Her parents arrived a while later, and we decided to start the day off with opening all the presents “Father Christmas” had brought.  No-one it seemed had been forgotten J  The little pooch had a great time “killing” her new toys. 

Killing her toys.

 Then Lisa, her mother and Andrew got busy in the kitchen while we steered clear so as not to get under anyone’s feet.  Andrew decided we should formally start proceedings and opened a bottle of champagne,

Champagne!

 a lovely treat!  Our tummies soon began to rumble as delicious smells wafted across the room from the kitchen area, and by the time we sat down to eat we were starving. 

The table looked beautiful.

The table looked absolutely beautiful, with lovely candles, sparkling glasses and crockery and of course Christmas Crackers.  Crackers are an old British custom at Christmas.  They are put on the table, one for each person who offers one end to a fellow at the table while holding on to the other.  Then the crackers are literally pulled apart. 

Christmas Crackers

Inside there is a specially treated strip of card, which creates a small “bang” when the cracker is pulled.  Inside there is a paper hat, a small toy or ornament of some kind, and a (usually appalling) joke!  Pulling the crackers is almost the first thing to be done once people have sat round the table, and the paper hats are immediately worn,

Paper hats are immediately put on

 and often the jokes are read out loud, accompanied by loud groans when the punch line is reached.   Then the meal begins.  Usually a light starter is served as lunch is so enormous and it’s almost impossible to move after the main course.  Lisa had made a dish with asparagus and eggs

A light starter with asparagus

 to whet our appetite before we moved on the to the main business of the day. 

Roast Turkey

Roast Turkey and all the “trimmings”.   By trimmings we mean things like “pigs in blankets” which are little sausages wrapped in bacon,

Stuffing (left) and "Pigs in blankets" (right)

 and stuffing, that is made of onions and sage and which fills the cavity in the turkey, and then of course there are all the vegetables.  

Brussels sprouts, carrot and potatoes

Traditionally we have Brussels sprouts, and often roasted parsnips, potatoes and carrots.  Also served is cranberry sauce a traditional accompaniment to turkey, and also bread sauce, made from, you guessed it, bread.  One addition I was not expecting was that of Yorkshire pudding, which I have always associated with Roast Beef.  It was explained to me that in Yorkshire (where we were) the pudding is in fact served with all kinds of meat, and not just beef.  I am not exaggerating when I say the entire plate was to put it mildly, rather filling! 

Filling plate with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blankets, carrots, parsnips, brussels, yorkshire pud, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, and not much room to put anything else!

Then came the “pud”, or Christmas pudding, a rich type of cake, made of dried fruits and served flambéed in brandy and accompanied with cream or a special type of custard.  In fact we were so full of food after the main course that we saved the Christmas pudding for the next day as none of us had space left for it. 

Christmas pudding

 Although Vito and I hadn’t had a proper Xmas dinner for years, we agreed afterwards that Lisa and Andrew had really done us proud.  It was well worth waiting for, and we enjoyed every moment we were with them.  Hope we can do it all again without having to wait another seven years though!   If you’d like to know more about Christmas dinner traditions around the world, click here.  You need to scroll down to read about the UK.  There is more on the origins of Christmas pudding here.