I was tagged by my favourite site: The Cottage Smallholder. It’s a down to earth, no nonsense site which is full of common sense and tips on cooking, gardening and smallholding.
Vita Lenta nel Bel Paese also tagged me on the same theme. I only found this site recently, but it’s already among my favourites. She has a good eye for detail and her photos sum up life in Italy.
The rules are that I should give six details about myself, link back to the original site(s) and tag six more people.
As I was tagged twice, I’m offering eight details and tagging eight people. (I’d rather that than do this twice!)
- I don’t like I’m not too keen on parties.
- But I love dinner parties. It doesn’t matter if I’m the host, or the guest as long as there aren’t too many people around the table. My preferred numbers are five, seven and nine – just call me odd.
- I don’t like department stores. This has everything to do with the neon lighting and air conditioning. My dislike intensifies during the winter months when the heating is on so high that the sales assistants are wearing short-sleeved blouses/shirts and I am struggling to find what I came in for whilst sweating under layers of clothing.
- But I love markets, village shops and specialist stores.
- Like The Cottage Smallholder, I cry easily. In my case, too easily.
- But I love to laugh. I have lovely side-splitting laughs with one of my very best friends, whose company I miss terribly. We speak frequently on the phone, but it’s not the same. (Oh for goodness sake! I’ve started to cry again and this was supposed to be the happy bit!) I also have great laughs with my sisters, and Dan and I have at least one good laugh and several giggles every single day. My favourite comedians are Eddie Izzard, Paul Merton, Billy Conolly and the late Tommy Cooper. I also adored the fantastically whacky Spike Milligan. Perhaps the person who makes me laugh most is my dad, who starts to laugh so much himself when he tells a funny story, that he can never reach the end. It doesn’t matter though, because the journey is always hilarious.
- I’m not very good at reading fiction and have read fewer novels than I care to admit. The last novel I read that I can honestly say I loved was: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, by Mark Haddon. It made me laugh (particularly the battenburg bit) and (this won’t surprise you) it made me cry too.
- But I love reading non-fiction, particularly books on linguistics, history of language – anything by David Crystal or Noam Chomsky. I also read cookery and gardening books. My greatest loves are poetry and Shakespeare. OK – just call me odd and pretentious.
Here are the people I’d like to tag:
Ogni Piacere: Because she’s got a HUGE heart and loves dogs and poetry.- Jo at Little Ffarm Dairy. Who makes her own goat’s cheese and is an Artisanal Gelato maker. She left a really informative message on my ‘Gelato‘ post.
- Compost In My Shoe whose post “Angels Come To Dinner” is one best I’ve seen recently. Not sure this tagging thing is up his street, but I wanted to share this with you, in any case.
- A Tuscan View From Umbria whose blog I always read. Moreover, they tagged me a while ago, but I messed up!
- The Feast Within written by Gabi in the States. She once left a message here saying she wished she was my neighbour. “Ditto”, except that I couldn’t keep up with her incredible cuisine.
- Proud Italian Cook. Another great cook who also offers many cook-ahead dishes, which I always love to do when entertaining
- Napa Farmhouse 1885, because she always starts with good basic ingredients, doesn’t mess about with them and comes up with some great recipes.
- Lastly, I really want to share this site with everyone: foodOgraphia. I’ll eat my hat if this guy isn’t a professional food stylist and/or chef. He writes in Italian, but then gives a translation in English. Apart from the photos, there are some really original, yet simple ideas for desserts – always my weak point, but his I think I could do and would love to eat.
Casalba News 
This was never intended to be a personal site, but when The Cottage Smallholder calls, I’ll always answer. (The photos were taken just up the road in Staffolo, apart from the last one which was taken outside the Paper Museum in Fabriano.)
You are both my victims: you for the poetry and Julian for the humour. Great mix. When are you coming for dinner?
No Ingrid. All, bar one, of the photos were taken in a nearby village.
sally, these types of posts are some of my very favorite because i get to know my blog buddies just a bit better! (i wish i was your neighbor too ;-)
i hope to do my tag justice very soon…
un abbraccio grande…debbie
I’m laughing along with #6 — it is the ultimate best medicine. I remember a time when I was with my mom, and laughing hysterically after cracking a joke that was on this side of rude. I apologized afterwards for the vulgarity of it all, but she surprised me when she replied, “But it made you laugh didn’t it? Laughter is good for you!” Sure miss her not being here.
As for the hike. Last night my brother walked in and asked if I’d do the tunnel trail again. I just looked at him, smiled, and we simultaneously said “Only if it’s been dry for a week! I’m not doing the mud bogs again!”
Love the photos and the responce
I had a good chuckle about Hawaii’s animals being in the wrong place — they are! But that doesn’t beat what hooked onto the end of my line late yesterday afternoon. In this instance, I believe this creature was in the wrong place at the wrong time! ;-)