My venture

So....it is this time of year when the olives are being harvested and olive oil is being made...something our entire family just loves....the greener the olive oil means the earlier the harvest, the more ripe (purple olives) produce a golden olive oil. There is a myth that the greener the olive oil the better....some believe it is better because o live oil that is green in colour may indicate higher levels of polyphenols, the antioxidants associated with many of olive oil’s health benefits. The Trequanda olive oil festival was the weekend of the 22nd October and the 23rd October....my friend was playing in a concert on Sunday so we decided to visit the festival before the concert. I must say I was a little bit disappointed. I expected more stalls, yes, I know it is an olive oil festival, but I also expected some other stalls. There were a lot of olive oils to taste, all done in the same way, olive oil on white bread....maybe some "thinking out of the box" on how to try it

So....we have finally managed to go and visit a wine farm in Montalcino. In fact, this wine farm was recommended to me by one of the people who I went to Italian school with. She is a Brunello fanatic and visits various farms. Normally small, boutique farms as she prefers them to the commercialized ones. Let me share some facts and history about this wine farm which we decided to visit: Villa i Cipressi, just outside Montalcino. Villa I Cipressi started producing Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino from the year 2000. Villa I Cipressi has three and a half hectares of Sangiovese vines in the territory of Montalcino. The vineyards are located both in the south part of the territory and in the north-west part, and both are exposed toward the south which allow the vines to receive the best sunlight throughout the day. The southern vineyard is located at an altitude of about 250 meters above sea level, with a soil primarily porous and sandy, that produce a grape with a

An evening spent in Florence. Kim booked a hotel by the name of Hotel Golf, close to the train station for the night. You might be asking...Florence is so close to home...why go stay the night...well a few reasons...the main reason....if you want to enjoy a nice dinner out with some wine then driving home is not the best option...and this was a perfect opportunity because my dad was arriving home from South Africa the next morning early and instead of leaving the house very early...why not spend the night in Firenze....a romantic evening. Our journey started with a quick stop at Ikea because we needed some bookshelves and items for the kitchen. After that a quick check in at our hotel to drop the car and then it was time to venture around the city a little bit by foot. The hotel was decent...a little run down but the location was convenient and the price was good and there was car parking which for us was important. We started by walking towards the famous Cathedral and of course

The last blog normally consists of a random few moments while we were in Finland...and this one is no exception...I have some random facts and pictures which I would love to share.... With no exception, we went to the coffee shop which we always go to.....the name....Cafe Rongo....not in the Old Town.....of course Kim and I like the cappuccino there and I LOVE the carrot cake. This time we went there twice....and the cappuccino was not as good as we remembered....the carrot cake though was still simply delicious....but quite a small piece...yet still very yummie....good balance between the cake and the icing. Kim was a little annoyed because the one time we went he felt like a Coca Cola (they do not have any of those "name" drinks) and when he opted for a normal beer their answer was that they only had craft beer...this annoyed Kim. Would we go back...probably not in a hurry. I think the main reason we went back a second time was because it is very convenient with Sofia.

So, as promised...let me tell you a little bit about the what we did in Aland during the three days. on all three days we decided to go for long walks in the morning...and while walking we discovered this small place with animals......called....Lilla Holmen, its a small island just a few hundred metres from the city centre. the animals which we could see were peacocks, rabbits and parrots....Ben and Sofia loved it, and in fact every morning we walked there and "played" with the animals....let me share some pics.... Little Holmen Ben enjoying time with the rabbit Ben and Sofia watching the African Grey Peacocks They also have a small little public beach on the island with a playground and of course we also played there....enjoying the autumn weather and of course the autumn landscape....let me share some more pics.  Autumn atmosphere Sofia and ben enjoying the spiderweb swing Sofia enjoying the beach So yes, if you have children L

So...as promised we are finally on the island know as Aland. Now before I start, I do have to aploogize....there is some time delay....why...because in fact I was writing my blogs on my ipad and when i wanted to post...it kept giving me errors...so guess what, i had to wait until we were back home (Italy) and now post them one after the other....so yes, in fact we are back from Finland...but now back to where we were when I wrote this....Aland. This blog is about the famous Aland's pancakes...or better known as Aland's Pannukakku. No, it is not a normal pancake, in fact it is quite different....contains rice or semolina and cardamon...let me share a recipe (once we were back home my husband made it for us and he made it with semolina flour): 2 dl (4/5 cup) semolina (or the same amount of pudding rice) 1 dl (2/5 cup) wheat flour 1 l (4 1/4 cups) whole milk 2 or 3 eggs 1 tsp salt 1 dl (2/5 cup) sugar 2 tsp cardamom So the first question you might have is...why are we in Al