What's new with me
What brings me back to Italy for the next 3 weeks, exciting (if ambitious) building plans for the garden, plus my first ever Giveaway.
As I was going through the list of topics I have been squirrelling away for my newsletter, it occurred to me that I have never so far used this medium for exactly what it says on the tin: tell you my most recent news. It’s been an eventful month, I’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline, so I thought now would be a good time to do that.
Greetings from Veneto
First things first, I am currently writing this sitting at my parent’s kitchen table. Joe and I arrived two days ago, and we’ll spend the next three weeks here in Italy. I wish I could tell you that we have a riveting grand tour of Italy planned, but alas there are no holidays for us on the horizon, but rather a mix of work and family commitments: I am resuming my Branding course at a University in Udine, and we are preparing to welcome our latest member of the family (my baby nephew) in a matter of hours, which means I will be employed part-time as a professor and part-time as an aunt, looking after my other nephew, who is three years old.
In saying this, I am aware some of you might still consider this as a holiday: it’s Italy after all, isn’t that a holiday by default? That was the reaction we got from our lovely neighbour upon learning we were yet again jetting off to the homeland for weeks on end. I don’t blame her, I can totally see how sunny Italy looks rather holiday-like, especially when considering we had a record-breakingly rainy winter in London this year. But the truth is, going home-home for me is rarely a relaxing experience: as much as I love being back and catching up with family and friends, my time here usually turns into a race against time to see EVERYONE, do ALL my medical check-ups (my personal history with the NHS is a topic for another day) and carry on working, which means by the time we are back in London I am left feeling I need a holiday from the so-called holiday.
Still, I am looking forward to all the sunshine, all the food, and starting to teach again. As some of you may know, I am a graphic designer by trade, and Branding has been my bread and butter for the past decade or so. I started teaching this subject 3 years ago, an experience I found to be way more rewarding than staring at my computer for 8 hours ever did (all that “shaping of young minds” etcetera etcetera).
Speaking of shaping young minds – yesterday I managed to persuade my 3-year-old nephew to use the word vorrei instead of voglio (“I would like” instead of “I want”), which is possibly my greatest academic achievement to date. We last saw him at our wedding, and in the 8 months that ensued, he turned into a proper little character. He is now thoroughly obsessed with stickers and has reached nearly full mastery of the language, as well as the intricate art of pulling on one’s heartstrings and bending them to his will.
I am still hoping we’ll be able to squeeze in a couple of leisurely day trips during the weekends: Venice is only less than an hour by train from my hometown (which is the equivalent of going to Notting Hill from our home in North-East London), and this is a lovely time of the year to visit – neither too cold nor too hot. I am also planning a quick trip to one of my favourite towns in Veneto, Bassano del Grappa (which – fun fact – is where the Italian super alcoholic tonics Grappe originated), which is a mere half an hour from my hometown.
Garden Plans
Flashback to 3 days ago, when lighting stroke as I was sitting at my own kitchen table. I was gazing outside our window and patio doors deep in thought, admiring the brand new, bright green leaves on our firebush plant, which we bought last autumn. It replaced our old barbeque on the patio, just outside our dining room picture window, framing the view onto the garden and adding a layer of seasonal interest (its leaves turn bright red come October). I was wondering what to do with our old barbeque (which has been unceremoniously shoved out of sight behind the trunk of the large lime tree at the back of our garden) and also where to put our brand-new pizza oven – a much-appreciated wedding gift which we still haven’t had a chance of putting to use.
That’s when the lighting bulb went on.
Just outside our garden door, to the left, is our neighbour’s kitchen extension wall, currently covered by a fence panel (see picture below). I reckon the space is just under two metres wide.
Are you thinking what I am thinking?
If you were thinking: “Yep, that’s a prime spot for a mini outdoor kitchen”, you’d be absolutely correct. What possesses me to lavish my precious money away into an outdoor barbeque-cum-pizza cooking area over our poor front yard, which has been languishing in a state of total neglect for the past three years, I’ll never know.
Wait, I do know. Pizza.
There are several reasons why I think this is the perfect spot:
the proximity to the kitchen door means it’s quick to get ingredients and plates in & out.
we already have an external water supply in that corner
the fact that there is a wall at the back means things can get hot without the risk of damaging plants or setting a fence on fire
that corner gets relatively low sun anyways
the outdoor kitchen would sit right next to the area of the patio we use for alfresco dining (towards the garden, as you can see from this picture, taken a few summers ago)
What I envision is a warm-coloured concrete worktop with an inbuilt (and coverable) sinkhole, a recessed coal bed topped with a perfectly-fitting stainless steel griddle, an open shelf on top and closed storage beneath the workbench. What I will get very much depends on whether we decide to tackle this one on our own, and how much longer we can put up with having a pit of a front entrance.
But it doesn’t hurt to dream a little and start building a whole Pinterest board about it, right?
My first Giveaway
March has also been the month where I opened the doors of my home (and pantry) for the first time to host an event – something I have been wanting to try for a long time. I love hosting and I love, love meeting new interesting people via this weird and wonderful world that is Instagram, so it was sort of a no-brainer. The event, which took weeks of meticulous planning and saw me completely emptying my pantry for a tea take-over, was in collaboration with the premium tea mercant Avantcha, and resulted in an intimate morning with 10 like-minded women, spent whisking and drinking Matcha and eating delicious bites of food.
Truth be told, I wish I could have extended the invitation to many more than the 10ish people my kitchen could fit.
This is where the Giveaway comes in.
Historically, I have always shyed away from Giveaways. Something about them never sat quite right with me, and I always questioned how genuine those extra follows were, and weather it was really worth it (the jury is still out on that one). I have always preferred growing organically, even if that meant growth at a slower pace. So when the idea was floated, I paused for a minute. There was something that felt a lot more wholesome and authentic about this one, not just because it involves brands (and people behind the brands) I genuinely love and support, but because to me it felt like a way to extend the invitation and allow someone else to have a little taster of the wonderful experience we all shared together.
Another reason I was never a big fan of giveaways is that the list of requirements in order to enter seemed to grow longer and longer, demanding to follow a handful of accounts, tag as many people as possible, reshare etc. For this reason, I tried to keep the entry rules as straight-forward and minimal as possible: all you have to do is like the post and tag someone who you think would enjoy the bundle. After that, weather you want to follow me or any of the generous other brands involved, is up to you, and weather you are genuinely interested in what we have to offer.
If you want to participate in the giveaway, you have time until this Saturday, 30th of March. Simply head over to my Instagram following ☞ the link here.
Good luck!