H B DAY PA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my lovely Amico Paolo Maria Elmo! A thousand DAJE's and TANTI AUGURIIIII's to youuuuuu!!! :-D <3

BUG IN THE HOOD!

Doc called me into the living room today, to show me the youngest tagger I've seen yet! This kid was about six years old, and had some fat chalk! After writing her statement (seemingly a protest or warning about some guys jarg taste, or lack of eye for a bargain) she ran away, then came back and went over it again in a different colour! By which time I had stopped laughing enough to grab my camera!
I love my neighbourhood!

WHAT'S COOKIN'?!

Today I made Gnocchi! It was a cheats recipe. Like this:

* 50g (2 oz) instant mashed potato
* 225ml (8 fl oz) boiling water
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 200g (7 oz) plain flour


1. Place potato flakes in a medium bowl. Pour in boiling water; stir until blended. Let cool.
2. Stir in egg, salt and pepper. Blend in enough flour to make a fairly stiff dough. Turn dough out on a well floured work surface. Knead lightly.
3. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a long thin roll, the thickness of a breadstick. With a knife dipped in flour, cut into bite-size pieces.
4. Place a few gnocchi in boiling water. As the gnocchi rise to the top of the pot, remove them with a slotted spoon. Repeat until all are cooked.

RED-BEAN BUNNY BUNS!

So yesterday at the show, I talked snacks with Becky J and Even, and he reccomended some very intriguing chinese deserts. Today I went to the chinese supermarket and sought out the bunny rabbit buns he described. They were only £1.65 and there's ten in a packet! Steamed some up tonight for the house-boys! They're like soft white bread-dough with a big slap of rich subtly-sweet red bean paste in the center. Gorgeous! Try some!

BUG-POP-BABY-DAY!

I agreed to have my niece for the day today, so lastnight I spent ages baby-proofing, as she's just walking, and putting everything in her mouth! As I work from home, there were jewellery parts, beads, charms, fastenings, links, and pins hidden EVERYWHERE around the room and ingrained into the rug! The day was hectic, to say the least! SO exhausted now!!! Here's a picture of her morning nap-time. The calm before the storm! Haha!

POOR-TUNE!

"DON'T LET YOUR MIND WANDER. IT'S TOO LITTLE TO BE LET OUT ALONE!" Gee Thanks Mister Blue Dragon! So glad I spent 30p to have you tell me I have a tiny mind! Haha! What a start to the day! Although, I guess in truth, the advice is pretty fitting and hence well-suited. Off with the internet and on with the design Thinking-Cap! ;-)

WORSHIPPING THE VOLCANO!

Leaving the island today. For our last night, we went for a drink at a sea-edging cocktail bar. These cocktails were ridiculously good! The bar is known as the Island's best vantage point for seeing the neighbouring Island's lava displays! YES! The whole of the nearest island is an active volcano, which erupts every 15 minutes. Always. So we sat and watched it again and again, showering it's distant but unmissable orange-red glow into the blackness. Today I looked at the volcano again, its lava bleached from sight by the bright sun, and I thought about negative space, and light and dark, and what colour is!
And then I had to go and pack!

IL POSTINO!

Ending the holiday on Salina, at a too-swanky hotel! We are still eating the best food ever, and having funny adventures and rambles through rocky dusty terrain! Today we hired a car (littlest one, Alessia, had to sit on a knee so we all fit. Oops!) and all went out to see the mountainside house where the fantastic Italian film "Il Postino" was filmed! I LOVE this film, ever since my Dad bought me it on VHS, so was very star-struck and excited!
Me and Gia walked up the side of a vast, cloud-skimming mountain overlooking the house deciding to head back, only when it got too steep to carry on, and we realised that the two huge screeching birds of prey 30 ft above us were definitely sizing us up, and would probably win in a fight!

BLISS IS THE LIFE!

Holiday is located in heaven! I have turned into the Eliza Doolittle of the party, merely for the fact that literally EVERYTHING around us, and the beauty and luxury we have been living in, excites and enthuses me, and brands me with a permanent silly grin, and a hundred thankyou's! The rest of the family have enjoyed it all, but it has been taken very much more in their stride! Soppy-Enthusiastic-Overexcitable English Girl, anyone?! ;-)

VACANZA A FILICUDI!!!

Mr G's Dad has brought the family on holiday to the Eolian Islands- a small row of rugged, arrid islands off of Sicily, with pebble beaches and the clearest sea water I have ever seen. So much Sun, and Realx, and gooood food! Apart from being stung by a Jellyfish yesterday within 3 minutes of entering the sea, I am in heaven! Infact, I even quite enjoyed that experience as part of the adventure!

BRAMBLING ROMAN STYLE

I did so much Blackberry picking when I was a kid. Free stuff, doomed to dry out and fall off it's tree-perch, unless you, the hero picks and eats it! And weren't they ALWAYS growing in abundance in some walled off wasteland, or bit of somewhere that you couldn't quite get to?! We went picking in a big wasteground by the American School today, and in Roma they get to pick wild figs too!!! Really! We got a ton, and they were the best fresh figs I have ever tasted! YUM!

BACK FROM BEYOND!

That was such a dark month! It was all pretty traumatic, and the shock and sadness knocked me sideways, but here we go again with the life thing. It actually DOES go on, as horrible as that first feels!...

R.I.P Dear Garry x

You know that friend who has been around just about long enough for you to forget the first time you met? You know the friend who you can go a few months without seeing, and then your phone rings and they're inviting you out? You know the friend who you really can tell ANYTHING to, without fear of them telling anyone else, without fear of judgement... You know the friend who you can always have an adventure with? During the ten years I knew him, Garry became all of those friends to me, and more.

I had met Garry in the early days of my band. A middle aged man, Peter Pan character, with stripes shaved into his hair, a long pointy beard, and an endless supply of sharp suits and Rock'n'Roll memoirs! He had always been there and done that, constantly throwing in stories about "that time I put on a Bow Wow Wow gig in the local park" and "when I was lost in India in the sevs"... He delighted in embarrassing me with his saucy tales and photographs of weekends past! He indulged me in some of my own Rockstar moments, and consistently gave me reviews and critiques on my band's performance and progress, as he followed and promoted us. He had very strong opinions on everything, and would always say it like he saw it. His advice was almost always invaluable, as was his support and coaching in times of self-doubt.

He knew for a few months he was dying, and I got to spend some precious moments with him before he went. I know he knew I loved him, and although it hurts to think I may never see him again, I can still feel what he was, and who he was, and I know my memories of him, and what he left with me will never go away.

Rest peacefully Garry. You made your mark on this world, that's for sure! xxxxx